Here’s the #1 thing I wish I knew as a freshman in high school.
It’s even more relevant for 9th, 10th, and 11th graders today.
It will spare them a lot of wasted effort.
And it will help them become someone selective colleges enthusiastically want on their campuses.
So let’s get into it — because it’s not a simple hack.
It’s a mindset shift.
You see, until I got to college, I felt like I was a passenger in the backseat of my own life.
My job was to work really hard to check off the next achievement and get to the next leg of the journey.
(Let’s say it was a Flintstones’ car, and I had to run to make it go.)
All the while, I wasn’t the one choosing the route or the destination.
Not until I moved out of my parents’ house did I realize:
I’m in the driver’s seat. I can shape the course of my life.
High schoolers who realize this sooner than later have an easier time with the college process.
Whereas, most kids who come to me for admissions consulting in their senior year face a steep learning curve.
Usually, they’ve spent high school busily doing everything their parents pushed them to do.
Or everything they thought would look good on their college application:
Working the hardest. Getting the highest scores. Pursuing the most impressive-sounding accomplishments.
They’re just like I was, speeding through life in the backseat.
And while achieving “the most” went a long way back when I was a teenager:
It’s not going to be enough to get these kids into their dream schools.
The reason is, schools today are SELECTIVE, not competitive.
Meaning: with thousands and thousands of applicants all working just as hard to be the best in the traditional sense of the word — colleges don’t just award the highest achievers.
They look for an X factor.
Or as I call it: The Remarkable Factor.
Every kid has one. And it’s very rarely what parents think it is.
In fact, I often find it by asking better questions about the pastimes parents think are frivolous.
Or the experiences that had nothing to do with impressing anyone but spurred a lot of personal growth.
Above all, the Remarkable Factor comes from taking the driver’s seat in your own life, and actually living.
When the road you take is yours, full of your own curious detours and unexpected waypoints:
It’s bound to teach you something different.
It’s bound to make you one-of-a-kind.
Come senior year, you’ll have a much easier time knowing what you want — and presenting yourself accordingly.
Ultimately, selective colleges want kids who know who they are, what they care about, and what makes them special.
High School is your kid’s chance to find out.
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HOT TIP: Admissions consulting is not just for senior year.
After a few sessions, you and your kid will be on the same page about what they should prioritize throughout high school.
You’ll have a north star and a strategy so that come senior year, their application process will be seamless.
