A brilliant, charismatic student has her heart set on Princeton.
From the first day of high school, she keeps her eye on the prize, filling her schedule with as many APs and activities as humanly possible. She aims to be the best, and she is: Top of her class. Valedictorian.
She doesn’t see why Princeton would reject her, but just to be safe, she applies to at least ten other Ivies and Top 20 schools.
When Princeton puts her on the waitlist, she is devastated.
But what’s really shocking is that come spring of senior year, she has not a single acceptance letter from a single school.
Before we talk about where she went wrong, let me assure you this anecdote isn’t real. Though it is instructive.
It’s the story of Devi Vishwakumar, the heroine of Netflix’s hit show Never Have I Ever. (Maybe your kid has seen it?)
While Devi’s story is pretty extreme and unlikely to happen in real life, a less harrowing version of this does happen to super smart, high-achieving kids all the time. They end up let down, confused, perhaps a bit embarrassed to tell people where they’re going.
And the reason is, like Devi, they skipped a crucial step:
Building their college list, thoughtfully and intentionally, rather than simply sending out applications to all the perceived “best” schools.
It may sound simple. But it’s actually quite a rigorous process. We spend around 75% of our admissions consulting time getting this right, because it’s the most important input underpinning our 95% success rate. And as they say in computer science, “crap in, crap out.” In other words, the quality of the output is determined by the quality of the input. That’s why we can’t afford to choose colleges based on flawed data or biased reasoning even though that’s how it’s usually done.
So what does it look like to build your list in a way that guarantees you end up at a college worth celebrating?
Here’s are 3 key steps in our process:
1. Structured & Strategic Self-reflection
Few kids are given space to reflect on who they are, what they care about, and where they truly thrive — let alone taught how to connect that to their best future. When we take students through this process, they find they’re not so interested in the same schools as everyone else. They build a list that’s unique as they are, and that makes them uniquely competitive.
2. Evaluating the Options Beyond Brand-Name Hype
Schools go to great lengths to compete for your tuition dollars. And many news sources have exposed the rankings to be misleading. The worst part? When kids choose schools for the wrong reasons, their applications read as hollow and generic. That’s why we start with deeper reflection, and make tailored recommendations from there.
3. Creating a Holistic Strategy for Success
The sooner a student has their list, the better, because then they can focus their efforts in high school towards improving their candidacy. A good list is ambitious, but also realistic. We encourage clients to reach for hyper-selective schools when there’s an authentic connection to those schools, and confidence they can thrive there academically and socially.
Now you may be wondering…
How do you prompt that kind of self-reflection in your kid so they select colleges for authentic reasons, and come alive in the process?
How do you honor their preferences while still guiding them towards the best foundation for their future?
What criteria should matter most when it’s time to research, evaluate, and narrow down the options?
And what’s the right balance of reach, match, and safety schools to make sure your kid doesn’t end up disappointed?
We’ve put together this free College Clarity Toolkit to answer your questions and get your college list started the right way.
Sign up to get:
- The Campus Compass Checklist: a reflection tool to clarify your kid’s “must-haves” beyond name-brand hype
- The College Organizer Template: our spreadsheet to track all of your research, requirements, campus visits and deadlines in one place
- Plus, Insider Insights for Parents on how to activate you kid’s motivation so they stand out on their applications
There’s a lot to consider when it comes to choosing colleges. And it’s easy to be misled by the marketing hype. This will help you focus on what matters and ignore all the rest, so you can guide your kid towards the best possible school for their future.
