It’s the stories, not the SAT.

It’s the stories, stupid.

This is probably THE biggest tip that I share in my how-to guide to Harvard and Stanford 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 don’t put themselves in the shoes of admissions officers and application readers.

Admissions committees review TENS OF THOUSANDS OF APPLICATIONS. There are hundreds of valedictorians. Thousands of perfect 2400 SATs. Thousands of national award winners in every conceivable sport or subject.

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 focusing on the small things. You need to PUT YOURSELF INTO THE SHOES of people who ACTUALLY MAKE DECISIONS.

Here’s the big secret: Admissions Committees love hearing stories. They love KNOWING EACH CANDIDATE’S story. They want to understand a candidate’s passions, fears, hopes, and dreams. No student does this well – they focus too much on promoting scores and successes, not on relating to the readers.

So focus on that! Focus on activities that develop your passions. Focus on essays that describe how your experiences have made you who you are.

STOP WORRYING ABOUT BEING WELL-ROUNDED. IT DOESN’T HELP. It’s the biggest myth about admissions.

It’s about depth and quality over breadth and superficiality. That’s the strongest college admissions help I can provide you.

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.