It’s the stories, not the test scores.

It’s the stories, stupid!

This is one of the biggest secrets that I share in my guide to elite college admissions.

Students are doing it TOTALLY WRONG. They focus on the WRONG AREAS – areas like an extra 30 points on the Math section of the SAT; 2 more AP tests; joining another science club at school.

It’s COMPLETELY WRONG.

Here’s why:

Students fail to put themselves in the shoes of application readers and admissions committees.

Admissions committees review TENS OF THOUSANDS OF APPLICANTS. There are thousands of valedictorians and salutatorians. Hundreds of perfect 2400 SATs. Thousands of national award winners in every sport, subject, or hobby.

Regardless of how successful you are – there are many people who are equally if not more successful.

What does this mean?

It means you need to stop worrying about the small, meaningless things. You need to WEAR THE SHOES of people who ACTUALLY MAKE THE DECISIONS.

Here’s the secret: Admissions Officers love hearing personal stories. They love KNOWING PERSONALITIES of the candidates. They love understanding a candidate’s passions, fears, hopes, and dreams. No student does this well – they focus too much on promoting accomplishments, not on telling their personal stories.

So stop worrying about your SAT score! Focus on activities that develop your passions and build on your life story. Focus on essays that describe how your experiences have made you who you are, stories that build a connection with the reader and make them understand who you are as a person.

YOU DON’T NEED TO BE WELL-ROUNDED. IT DOESN’T HELP. It’s the biggest lie about college admissions.

It’s about depth over breadth, always. That’s the one college admissions tip that you need to know.

In future posts, I will go into the details about how to build these stories. But the simple secret is – stop worrying about your SAT. It will never get you into Harvard or Princeton.