I help students get into the Ivy League This is what youre probably doing wrong

Every admissions cycle, top students from around the country apply to Ivy League schools with dazzling resumes.They’re valedictorians with perfect GPAs and test scores, club presidents, nonprofit founders, weekend volunteers, and first-chair oboists. And every admissions cycle, most of them are rejected.In my years of experience as the Managing Director at Command Education, a boutique college consultancy referred to as “McKinsey & Co.

for 17-year-old clients,” I have seen some of the most ostensibly impressive applicants face the sting of rejection.Why? Because most families misunderstand what top colleges are actually looking for.If you think a 4.0 GPA or a prestigious summer program will guarantee you a spot at Harvard or Yale, it’s time to rethink your strategy.

Ivy League colleges and other top schools receive tens of thousands of applications each cycle, meaning that admissions officers have roughly ten minutes — sometimes less — to evaluate each application.If a student fails to hook an admissions officer’s attention within the first three minutes, their odds of acceptance plummet. To make matters worse: What most students and parents assume will impress admissions officers is often exactly what lands their applications in the rejection pile.  There are five common misconceptions that lead to disaster on students’ applications.

Learning how to avoid them can help you level up your odds of admission to your dream school.Here’s what you’re (probably) getting wrong about the admissions process: Every parent wants to believe that their child is uniquely gifted, but a 4.0 doesn’t make your kid Einstein — and it certainly won’t stop admissions officers in their tracks. Given the rising trend of grade inflation, GPAs have gone up even as the nation’s average test scores have gone down.

In 2016, 47% of high school students had a 4.0 GPA; the average GPA as of 2021 was 3.36.This means that simply listing a 4.0 GPA on your tra...