I’ve read what Cheng said and he has no admissions experience I can find. Of course, of course, he purports to know the insider info-- it’s how he makes his living! He’s marketing his services.
@milee30 You mean me? There are no secrets. Imo, the mumbo jumbo is the folks who a) give up, declare it’s too hard, blame adcoms, yield management, URMs, legacies, and whatever else strikes. And b) those repeating the same old “advice” they picked up from others on blogs and forums.
For heaven’s sake, if you want a tippy top- these 5% schools- how hard is it to explore what, eg, Yale, S and H look for, pull in addl examples from them, put the pieces together. And, for kids who think they are HYS quality.
No, it’s not easy. I don’t believe it should be. After all, these kids think they’re HYS quality. Or other fiercely competitive schools to get into. Rise to it.
@intparent- Yes, one does have to be regionally or nationally ranked for such sports–my point was that it is easier to attain that expertise since the number of participants/applicants is much lower. My DD switched from basketball and soccer to fencing and had a high ranking in a few years, then Ivy recruitment. Her grades and test scores were top level, but it was the sport which tipped the scales.
Parents need to understand that their child’s emotional/mental maturity and identity is far more important than what school they go to. Putting a 14 year old in a position where he/she has to be cutthroat competitive with peers and put their self-worth and identity on a school with a 5% acceptance rate is an emotional assault. It’s toxic at the highest level. Psychologists call it narcissism by proxy.
@lookingforward “I’ve read what Cheng said and he has no admissions experience I can find”
I was responding to the below statement that “spike” doesn’t exist. It does exist and Allen Cheng’s HS experience and application demonstrates an example of his “spike”. Pretty easy to see why he was a very attractive applicant to Harvard.
As I mentioned in another thread, a close friend’s D also was accepted to H and other than having a perfect 36 ACT, u4.0, all 5’s APs, excellent LORs, co-Val, her “resume” showed her deep interest in public policy, city government, mayor office volunteerism, etc. that told a compelling story that she would be a great fit as a political science/government major. The only college that outright rejected her was EA at Stanford. I would say she had a “spike” that was recognized by at least 8 tipping top colleges. There was nothing random about why she was highly sought after by the top colleges in the US.
“There’s no such thing as “spike” when you apply to colleges like that. After you reach a certain thresh hold in grades, scores, and essay, it’s impossible to stand out.”
I prepped a young woman from a very disadvantaged background for college interviews in 17. She was interviewing with Yale, and a half a dozen other schools, to include Ivys and some big scholarships. This young woman was unreal not only in what she had already accomplished in the sciences (with an ultimate eye toward veterinary science), but remarkably humble and personable. She wound up with some Ivy admits, though not Yale. Ultimately, she chose to go to Georgia Tech on a full ride. Her accomplishments were unique. She won competitions with incredibly unique ideas. She started in middle school. Some kids just are hyper focused, and very talented. She wasn’t cut throat competitive with others, just very talented and self driven. Nor was my own high stats/achievement kid cutthroat. Don’t assume that the parents are emotionally abusing their kids.
@socaldad2002 What makes you think Cheng knows what got him into Harvard? From that long blog, he spends some time pushing his “comprehensive guide to getting into top schools.” lol.
He says, “…this spike is what makes you world class and makes colleges think you’re going to accomplish great things in your lifetime.” You really don’t need to be world class, just “tippy top college class.” Most tippy tops also are more focused on your 4 years, than future greatness. Yes, there are kids who shine so strongly, you know they will after grad.
But the focus, again, is on you fitting at that college. I’ll stop there.
The bit about public policy mirrors an example I was going to use. You only noted two things, city govt and mayoral vol work, but I suspect she had some impact, in contrast to many kids who say they were on some committee and the only detail is “attended meetings” with other kids. Maybe 2x/year. lol.
@narline1 Just noticed this post, thought I put in my 2 cents.
Speaking as a parent of athletes who were recruited, excelling in sports have certainly given my kids a strong advantage, literally, into the school of their choosing. They obviously had to also excel in their school work and other ECs. But being very focused in their sport gave them extremely fine tuned time management ability. Despite spending almost 5 hours 5 times a week training, they were able to manage and enjoy their other EC’s as well as being able to keep up their school work in challenging classes, and get good scores on SATs. What’s interesting is that many of my kid’s athlete friends who are also top ranked in the sport seemed equally as focused and done very well outside of sports as well. This was the strong hook getting them recruited and admitted into their top choice schools.
If your daughter enjoys her sport well enough to really excel to be a Div 1 caliber athlete, then it may become a near “sure thing” in getting her admitted to one or more of the top schools in her list.
@lookingforward " What makes you think Cheng knows what got him into Harvard? From that long blog, he spends some time pushing his “comprehensive guide to getting into top schools.” lol."
If you read his college application and the AO’s notes highlighting his achievements (e.g Research Science Institute), his LOR, and his leadership and commitment to pre-med and the sciences all tell a compelling story why a college like Harvard would want students like this.
Having sat in on mock college application reviews with real AO’s discussing why certain candidates are right or wrong for acceptance you start to get a feel for what criteria is very important for admissions. All things equal, having a “spike” (some call it the “And…”) that correlates to your passion and future fields of study can only help an applicant.
Where can I find his app?
I’ve worked with adcoms. Rarely do they use the word spike. Nor “passion.” You’re looking for a pattern of action, plus a level of thinking that both drives your choices (hs) and shows in the app.
Found it. Note how he says, “If I were to guess.” When you said he had adcom comments, I thought you meant actual words, not marks Cheng guesses about.
Plus, in 2004, there were rougly 20k apps for about 2100 slots. (Well, the letter says 1650.) Different times.
We need to agree to disagree. Or continue this another time, privately.
^^please read the whole article before you cherry pick one sentence. Maybe you won’t appreciate his advice and opinion but I believe he makes some interesting points that may help some applicants. YMMV
A couple of years ago, I posted to college confidential asking for some insight into how to start determining schools for my going into 9th grade student (I was more asking for help determining merit rich opportunities as we are a full pay family who doesn’t actually have the ability to be full pay without constraint for the 3 children we will be putting through college). Many of the same posters on this thread graciously took the time to tell me to take a deep breath, and realize that top stats and scores (and incredible ECs) as an eight grader don’t necessarily translate into the high school career they may indicate.
My now 10th grader (a junior in about 2 weeks, whoa how the time does fly!) is a very different person and student than my 8th grader. An equally wonderful, amazing, talented and brilliant child - perfect in my eyes…who has also been working very hard to learn how to deal with a chronic health condition (depression & anxiety). It isn’t an easy path and I must admit that one of the first things I let go of as a parent was any pre-conceived notions of what college would look like for my child. Grades have been hit and miss, test scores still high, EC still excellent but not as super strong in comparison to others in the field. In some ways, my child is the very definition of pointy now; strengths really stand out from the wreckage of some of the ‘weaknesses’, lol.
I’ve learned a lot reading these boards since asking my merit school list question. One of the best takeaways from that conversation is how appreciative I am of the posters here who gave me the advice to take the breath and let things play out as they would before trying to make definitive plans. It was the ‘tough love’ I needed to hear at the time; I’m glad I was given that advice and that we as a family took it because this Spring (as we’ve begun having conversations about what schools might be good to start looking at this summer), our criteria is so much clearer and we know there are a lot of great options out there waiting to be explored.
NOT having put together a ‘dream’ list early helped us immensely as we talk to our child about options and possibilities. There wasn’t/isn’t any failure in knowing some schools are out of reach/high reaches…it has actually helped us in discussions of what is most important in a school. For our child: good [sunny] weather, collaborative learning, strong STEM program, music opportunities and foreign language; for us, as parents, a reasonable COA. There are a lot of schools that have those strengths, we are spoiled for options when it comes to great colleges and universities in this country.
It sounds like your daughter is an absolutely lovely, brilliant and special person. My best advice is to have faith that the next 3-4 years will lead you, your daughter and your family exactly where y’all are supposed to be. Let her explore what she finds interesting, be on the look out for opportunities and experiences that you might recognize but she wouldn’t (and then bring those options to her attention and let her decide if she wants to pursue those extra ops). Listen to what she is sharing and not sharing during these years. And remember to breath.
@beebee3 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My son has had a similar path…the anxiety hit first in 9th grade that led to depression in 10th grade. Unfortunately he is in a high stress public high school which really brought all of this to the surface and his grades have taken a hit. (Like your daughter, test scores are just fine.) As a parent, I have learned and am still learning to understand him, support him, and help him to gain back his confidence.
Your advice is spot on. There are some lucky families who “seem” to just have life fall there way. For the other 99% of us, life happens and we adjust. All we can do is provide opportunities for our kids to learn, grow, explore, and become the adults they are meant to be. Good luck on your continued journey. Sounds like your daughter is fortunate to have a parent like you. Godspeed.