<p>Friedokra, if applying to all the Ivy League schools plus Standford and Duke works for your brother, more power to him! I’m just saying for SOME kids the more traditional approach may work better and I don’t think it’s lazy. Building a solid list from the bottom up can entail many campus visits, attending classes, and meetings and ongoing communication with students, professors and department heads; then, effectively communicating ‘fit’ in the application. It’s really more involved than just cranking out essays over Xmas break.</p>