The "Secret" to Getting Into a Top College
This past Tuesday I was back to back on client calls, especially with Class of 2024 students, bragging about their college acceptances. That's fun!
But they don't all go that way, unfortunately. Part of the job of college advisor involves consoling and doing post-mortems on "what went wrong."
But here's the thing...
Just because someone doesn't get into a particular college doesn't mean that something "went wrong." Even if other, supposedly lesser-qualified students managed to get accepted to the same college.
It's never One Thing that gets a child rejected, or admitted, even though our tendency as humans is to attempt to find an obvious answer, whether or not based on actual data, instead of feelings.
I'm not writing this note to suggest that we change our way of thinking, or wiring. This pattern recognition trait is probably what got us out of the Serengeti and to the top of the heap of the animal kingdom, so who am I to contradict it?
But I will say, that on the post-mortem phone call in question, it turned out that my client -- who managed to get into a top college that admitted 6-7% this year -- did NOT take one critical bit of advice that I gave, multiple times, over the course of two plus years working with him.
Is that The Thing that kept him out of a handful of top colleges that he aspired to attend? It's hard to say, but it might have helped. Now he's on the waitlist for three or four schools that he was gunning for. I bet he gets off at least one college's waitlist. We'll see.
I'm going to share this advice, a hiding-in-plain-sight "secret" that I've seen make a difference in college acceptance results one week from today, in a live (non-streamed) local workshop at the Bryant Library in Roslyn, NY, April 11th.
There's no charge and nothing to buy (not a time-share presentation) but there is one catch:
The room is relatively small, the invitation list is capped at 20 people. Seats are first-come, first served.
If you have an 11th grader or younger child hoping to get into a competitive college in the near future, it will be worth your while to show up, promise. Here's where to get all details:
Speak soon,
- Andy Lockwood
P.S. I've significantly cut back on 15 minute free consultations, but I can offer you something much more thorough and arguably better:
A 45 minute meeting, in-person or Zoom, after which I deliver a written, easy-to-read Competitive Analysis and Positioning (CAP) Report that -- objectively -- tells you how your child "stacks up" to his or her competition your odds of getting scholarships or other financial aid and answers all of your questions.
It also covers specific recommendations for your student, and for you re: financial aid and merit aid, strategies to optimize your child's odds of admission and more. Here's the page that describes it all:
P.P.S. Here are other ways we can help:
Summer Applications and Essays Bootcamp
Tutoring and Small Group Classes