I recently read an article that asked students who just graduated from high school about their advice for getting into selective colleges. The problem with this type of article is that it is a myth that current high school students can help you get into a selective college.
They can tell you what they did but that is no guarantee that this approach will work next year. In fact, just because this approach worked for this student doesn’t mean it would work for any other student.
There are too many variables to say that because one student was involved in theater and got into Yale that the way to get to Yale is by becoming involved in theater. Or because a student with a 3.95 GPA and a 2,250 SAT was admitted to Williams does that mean that a student with a 3.97 and a 2,300 SAT is guaranteed admission to Williams? Absolutely not.
There is a new website that provides essays from past students as examples of essays that can help the student get admitted. However, if you follow the format of these essays and apply to the same schools your chances of acceptance will be very low because the colleges will quickly figure out that students are taking the idea for the essays from someone else and recycling them.
It is easy for journalists to say “Look at these students who got in. They can tell you how to get in also.” And it is tempting for younger students to look at those graduates as the guides to college admissions.
Unfortunately, college admissions isn’t that simple a process. You need to do the work to understand how college admissions works and what factors you might use to make you the strongest possible candidate. With that understanding you can be a stronger candidate for admissions.
I think students look at a huge sea of applicants and hope for a “magic bullet”—a spell that, if they just cast it right, guarantees success. But admissions officers want to build well-rounded learning communities. They don’t want a bunch of students who are the same—same essay, same activities, same grades. The best thing students can do is develop passionate interests and some expertise, while they build an academic foundation that will let those interests become the deciding factors.