With your limited knowledge, OP, you can’t go helter skelter, picking things you “think” will impress and then seeming to push these on your kid- the “compelling story,” the summer programs, trying to pick the high school where you think good grades will impress more. I can imagine what else you press on her. You don’t seem to process the very good advice you do get. You tend to argue back.
'Every human being has a compelling story"
But you don’t know what this is or what it means. Or what adcoms look for and how they react. What have you done to learn what these colleges really want? Until then, you just seem to want to spin her into something “you” think is “it.”
It’s true that every human has a compelling story. But the best stories - the interesting stories, the ones we remember, and yes, the stories that admission people prefer - are authentic and real. They aren’t created by high-priced packagers or manufactured by well-meaning parents. And the most compelling stories - again, the ones that adcoms love - grow out of a teen’s real experiences and enthusiasms.
That’s what I was trying to convey when I wrote about my daughter, her interest in business, and her fanaticism for emo/punk music. Her “story” wasn’t about some class she took in business or her love of Forever the Sickest Kids. Her story combined both in a way that was earnest and heartfelt and completely hers. It may not sound like much of a story (especially the way I’ve summarized it here), but it was definitely her story and her voice.
There’s a story on CC (and several variations of that story) about crafting an application/essay package such that an admission’s officer could readily create a quick nickname/mental image of an applicant (like “the tuba-playing ballerina.” or “punk accountant.”) That kind of thing is hard to fabricate or massage with summer classes and test scores alone.
“My baby is perfect. But in the Alice-in-Wonderland of college admission, all mirrors are crooked. Except may be UC, MIT, Cal Tech. Ivys require some magic potion of a “spark” and “vitality” that nobody could define.”
Californiaa, what makes you think that the Ivies, MIT, Caltech, etc. are the only worthwhile schools? Do you not get that ALL of us are uniformly telling you, someone who is not from here, someone who came here as an adult, someone who has limited familiarity with the undergrad experience here – that you are just completely wrong, that there are plenty of great schools out there, not just the above dozen or so?
All over CC, we shake our heads at the tales of the students who come in upset because they’ve gotten into some fantastic schools but their ignorant parents think it’s “not good enough” because it’s not an Ivy / Stanford / MIT. Why do you persist in being one of those parents?
Is it the mark of a smart person to ask other people who are more knowledgeable for advice and then completely disregard it?
And no, your kid isn’t perfect, and no, she is no more “deserving” of Ivies / Stanford et al than anyone else.
This is clearly wrong. I hope readers do not hold it against CC advice in general.
Whatever the attributes of the person in question, she deserves to be admitted to academically selective schools more than some other people, and some other people deserve to be admitted more than she.
Otherwise, if each person were no more deserving than anyone else, the hypothetical applicant with 1000 SATs, 2.0 GPA and a criminal record would have the same prospects–be just as deserving-- as the 2350, 3.9, top athlete.
@@ You know what I meant. She is not necessarily more “deserving” to be admitted to Ivies / Stanford et al than any other similarly qualified candidate.
Thing is, “deserving” is usually what a kid and his/her friends, parents and some hs folks think it is. And those kids on the chance threads. And probably based on the stats and some localized idea of what makes a kid a BFD in that one hs.
Not enough people realize what it means to have thousand of top performers standing in line. Rarely do we see someone understand from the colleges’ perspectives. Or try hard enough to get a grasp. Nope, summer programs, programming an app, just racking up vol hours, doing that headstand on a unicycle- or being beloved by Mummy and PopPop, etc, are not what makes a great app.
A good college counselor can take the interests a KID already has, and give advice on where to go,with them. Also, some kids, early on, have too many interests and no real commitment to any one or two things. A good college counselor can help a student hone in on what is really their interest and expand on it.
But a good college counselor cannot, nor should they, fabricate interests that just don’t exist.
Let your student be in the driver’s seat.
Anyone remember the Tracy Ullman skit on trying to get her kid into preschool? It wa hilarious. Well, she tried to package her three year old…but even though her kid said okra was her favorite veggie…and the other applicants said corn…her kid still didn’t get accepted.
Awesome program! I was fortunate to attend MFEA this summer, and it was one of the best experiences. You learn a lot, and it was also tons of fun! I recommend everyone who is currently a sophomore or junior to apply.