Sally, as an “Admissions Expert” as your profile displays, wouldn’t it be more powerful to share examples across your many years of advising students rather than just stories about your son? However relevant or recent your son’s experience was it is simply a sample size of one.
The reality is elite colleges have many more highly qualified applicants than slots in the freshman class. So in elite admissions speak:
- be memorable = don’t write yet another cliche essay
- be involved = don’t be a joiner, make an impact
- demonstrate interest = don’t regurgitate sound bytes from the website, be genuine and make it personal
And be rational. If you come from a huge state with hundreds of high schools and you are ranked 53 in your graduating class, odds are, unless there is something very compelling about you, the highly selective elite school will not have a spot for you. Recognize only a few kids from your entire county get in. And that is okay, find the schools that will show you the love.