During the fall 2021 application cycle, the average acceptance rate for Ivy League schools was just under 6%. Applying to college has become incredibly competitive and as universities drive down their acceptance rates by increasing marketing campaigns, high school students are now in completely uncharted territory. And as the adage goes, “high tides raise all ships.” In other words, schools that used to be considered “safeties” for top contenders are also becoming increasingly competitive. Having a perfect GPA, excellent test scores, and being president of the student body used to almost guarantee admission into one of the world’s best schools. No longer.
We don’t say this to be alarmist, but the reality of the application landscape requires some serious strategy. (At least for those who want to get into competitive schools).
We help students create a plan that is, first and foremost, manageable across the four years of high school that will ultimately set them apart. Our primary goal is to alleviate the stress of the admissions process by breaking the whole thing down into actionable items and spreading them across several years. (Though we do work with students who join us as juniors and seniors, too).
Our strategy is to help our students position themselves as experts in a particular area. Ultimately, colleges are businesses. And those businesses want to increase their endowments. One way to do this is to turn out highly-accomplished experts in different fields. So, consider that colleges aren’t just looking for a bunch of A+ students who are pretty good at field hockey, participated in the school play, and clocked 100 hours of community service. They want to build classes of mini experts in very niche areas who will go on to be the best in their fields. We work with our students to create an individualized (and highly-specific) academic brand for themselves. In addition to helping students write impressive essays and prepare for tests, we also work with them to make sure that their expertise is clear across the classes they choose, the extracurriculars they participate in, and their summer activities. But most importantly, we also make sure they’re working towards something they’re passionate about. Ultimately, high school should be enriching and fun. And we’ve found this method produces great results: 91% of our students get into their top 3 schools.
Freshman Year
Some people might think it’s aggressive to start talking to college freshmen about university. Our CEO got a call from a parent this week to ask about which school they should enroll their 5-year-old in to best position the kid for an Ivy League acceptance in 13 years.
The truth is, we now live in a hyper-competitive college market where schools that aren’t even in the Ivy League boast single-digit acceptance rates. As we said above, our goal is to make the daunting college process smooth and manageable for high school students and that means spreading the work out across four years. It also means setting up freshmen to succeed throughout high school and position themselves as top-notch students who will be candidates at the kinds of schools they’d like to attend. We start freshmen off with a consultation to understand their goals. Then, we work to identify 2-4 areas of interest. These will ultimately become the student’s area of expertise throughout high school.
We help students choose summer activities, extracurriculars, and classes, and develop a thorough testing strategy that’s manageable for them.
Sophomore Year
It might seem simple, but part of our strategy is to match students with schools that will be best for them. Not everyone should attend every school. We want our kids to be happy where they end up, not just shoot for something because it will impress people at a dinner party. We do this by helping our sophomores identify their likes and dislikes. This requires research (and it should be fun research). We help our students figure out whether or not they want to attend a big school, a sports school, or a school that’s a train ride away from home. College visits are a big part of this process, but online research, virtual visits, (and yes, social media) go a long way here, too. Based on those interests, we help our students build a college list that includes target schools, reach schools, and safety schools. We find that knowing what you’re aiming for also helps guide students throughout the rest of high school.
We also work with our sophomores to continue to build out their AP classes, extracurriculars, and summer activities in line with their academic area of expertise and assume leadership positions in clubs. Additionally, we work with students to create a comprehensive plan for standardized testing, which looks like taking their first test at the end of sophomore year to help make junior year more manageable.
Junior Year
Our juniors are typically done with testing by December of junior year. We find that this really helps alleviate the workload of the following two semesters, so they can focus on their essays and applications without the added stress of the tests. We work with them to deepen their areas of expertise and work on standout projects and initiatives that interest them within their extracurriculars.
We also encourage our students to get to know their high school college counselors and build relationships with specific teachers who will write their recommendations. We additionally focus on expanding those summer activities (or jobs, which are great, too). We also help our juniors finalize their college list with 10 schools and choose AP classes.
Senior Year
Because our students spread the work out across high school, senior year is largely focused on developing excellent and standout essays and applications. Essays are a huge part of our strategy. It’s the way the admissions committee can get to see a student’s personality beyond just the classes they take or the clubs they’re in. We work with our students to complete their Common App, in addition to the supplements for every school on their list. Then, we workshop every piece of writing until it’s ready for submission. By the way, that writing includes things like the Additional Information section on the Common App. Truly, we work with our students on every single thing they write on the application.
We also work with our students to create a plan for final prep on AP classes, and then decompress once applications have gone out!
The college application process isn’t getting any easier, but we find that it can be totally manageable with the right plan in place and guidance. The trick is to really hone in on the things a student is passionate about and then apply that in a very specific way to their academic and extracurricular pursuits across high school. We love working with students to figure out what it is they really enjoy doing and then using that to build an impressive application so it’s an engaging experience for them.
Need help with college essays? Call us. We’re experts at helping students stand out above the crowd.