How to Help Your Kids Get Accepted to the Best Colleges? With schools transitioning to distance learning and SAT becoming gradually obsolete, many students and parents feel lost in the the path to get into top colleges. The admissions criteria for top colleges have definitely been changing over the past decade and continues to change, but it’s actually fairly straight forward. The admissions office can’t reveal what they really look for in students for CYA reasons, but fear not… The purpose of this article is to reveal the secrets on how to help your kids get accepted to the best colleges.
Who are we to say? First, a bit of info on why we are qualified to provide this info. We are co-founders of Koderon, Megan and Ivan. Graduating from high school, Megan was admitted to every school she applied to, including Stanford, and decided to attend Yale on full scholarship. While on her way to become one of the youngest executives at Southern California Edison, she was awarded full scholarship to attend UCLA Anderson. Ivan attended Cornell University where he obtained his bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and masters in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering, and subsequently attended UCLA Anderson for his MBA and became an executive at Stryker, a Fortune 100 company, before co-founding Koderon. Not only were we able to get accepted to the best colleges, we have also volunteered on as applicant interviewers for Cornell and UCLA Anderson, and have helped many high school students with their college applications. At Koderon, we only hire the best teachers from top schools such as Stanford, Caltech and Berkeley, and are very familiar with their secrets of getting accepted into these top schools. Our information is based on a large collection of data from our own stories, as well as from information shared by our friends, former classmates, and our Koderon teachers from elite schools.
What matters? Here are the factors considered in a college application:
- GPA
- Admissions exam test scores (SAT and SAT Subject)
- Advanced Placement (AP) exams and credit
- School-related extra-curricular activities
- Community / Volunteer activities
- Startup / Work experiences
- Personal stories / Application essays
- Major of choice
The over-arching theme these days is to look for something that makes you stand out. Most industry leaders have come to accept that people succeed by exploring their strengths, not eliminating their weaknesses. Companies realize this, and so do top schools. Unfortunately, GPA and SAT scores still focus on whether students are good at everything, not whether they’re exceptional in something. This is why GPA and test scores may not matter as much as many parents and students believe. Look through your application from the lens of “what one thing makes me exceptional”, and it’ll help you assess the criticality of each factor:
- GPA: 3/5 – This is likely the one factor most students spend the most time improving… Since elementary school, kids are trained on the importance of good grades, and they start their quest to get good grades all through K-12. Surely it’s got to count the most, right? WRONG! Students certainly need a decent GPA, and it’s tough to justify a 2.7 when applying to elite schools. But the difference between 3.7 and 4.0 aren’t as significant as you may think. It gets your application into the pile of “I deserve a closer look” instead of the “don’t bother opening me” pile. But getting them to look at your application isn’t enough to get you selected. To use a sports analogy, a good GPA qualifies you to play in the NCAA tournament, it does nothing to help you win the games. If you are the valedictorian, that certainly sets you apart. But a 3.9 in a sea of competitive applicants just aren’t enough these days.
- SAT, SAT Subject and AP: 3/5 – These three categories are combined because they play similar roles. Sure, SAT is more basic and almost everyone takes them; SAT Subject is more advanced for people interested in more selective schools, and AP demonstrates the students’ ability to succeed in college level courses, so in this sense, good AP scores are better than good SAT Subject scores, and a good SAT scores by itself isn’t all that impressive. As a collective whole, however, good test scores may be a differentiator for tier-2 schools, but they just make you one of the crowd for tier-1 schools. It may take a lot of time and hard work to get an AP score from a 4 to a 5, or SAT from 1400 to 1500, but the impact isn’t nearly as strong as if you had spent the time on some of the following categories.
- School-related extra-curricular activities: 3~5/5 – The importance of these activities depend on the role the student plays in these activities. If you’re a player on the soccer team or are part of the marching band, that may help you get into tier-2 schools but are certainly not a big deal among tier-1 applicants. What would be helpful are if you play a leadership role in these activities, or if you and your team achieve impressive accomplishments. Using us as examples, Megan won many regional speech competitions in Southern California and competed at the state level; Ivan was the captain of the math team that won state championship. You can also be the Class President or the Chief Editor of the school newsletter, these leadership positions will set you apart from the many other students who also participate in similar activities. Leadership roles and competition-based achievements matter!
- Community / Volunteer activities: 3~5/5 – Similar to school activities, the criticality of this part of the application depends on the role the student plays in these activities. If you volunteered at soup kitchen: Good for you, we won’t toss aside your application just yet. If you started an organization from the ground up and recruited 500 students from across the country to help you raise $1 Million to help minority kids in bad neighborhoods get a good STEM education, you’ll have Harvard and Stanford fighting over you. Leadership and initiatives matter… a lot!
- Startup / Work experience: 5/5 – About a decade ago, community outreach is the name of the game, each application tries to one-up the next. Through the dot.com boom and the stories of young millionaires and billionaires, the craze has since shifted from volunteer activities to startup experiences. Sure, it shows grit and responsibility if you work at a Costco. What if you start a business to trade baseball cards and recruit your friends to grow the business? What if you open up an online shop to sell custom-made sportswear with encouraging quotes? I knew a kid from a poor family of seven living in a 2-bedroom apartment in a bad neighborhood. He bought candies in bulk from Costco and sold them during recess at school to help his parents put food on the table. Yes, he was breaking school rules, but that can-do attitude and entrepreneur spirit goes a long way in the admissions offices’ eyes. The entrepreneurial experiences are well-respected and are still rare among high school students, so it’s a fantastic way to stand out from the crowd.
- Personal stories / application essays: 5/5 – This is an important factor that deserves a deep dive. Set your judgement aside for a minute, as we aren’t here to debate on the right and wrong, we are here to understand reality and navigate through the rules as they stand today.
Personal stories, as described through the essays, put a personality to the otherwise mundane application. This part of the application shows that the student isn’t just a collection of data points, s/he is a unique, interesting person, with a unique story to tell. Think of what sets you apart and what shaped you. An army brat that moved every two years? A cancer survivor? Overcame certain challenges? Had to sacrifice much of your childhood to focus on one sport or one music instrument while other kids had fun? Lived abroad for a few years? Had parents that believed girls belonged in the kitchen and you found a way to overcome it? What’s your story? How did your experiences shape you? Who helped you? Of course, not everyone has interesting stories to tell, but think long and hard before you say that. What may be mundane to you could be unique and interesting to someone else.
Another aspect of the personal stories is more controversial – Diversity. Like it or not, certain demographics are more qualified on paper than others. A 1600 SAT score from an Asian student in the bay area don’t count nearly as much as the same score from a black or Hispanic girl from Kentucky. Diversity is still valued at all schools; while there may or may not be hard quotas for race, sex or geographical groups, there is no denying that diversity plays a role in the admissions process. Therefore, if it plays to your benefit, use it. A girl applying to electrical engineering probably has higher chances than an equally-qualified boy. A black or Hispanic applicant of similar test scores probably have higher chance of acceptance than an Asian of similar test scores. While you can’t necessarily control the factors in this area, find out if these factors work in your favor or not; and if they do, highlight them in your application.
- Major of choice: 4/5 – Like it or not, some majors are more competitive than others. If a school is ranked high in certain areas, you can bet these are highly competitive. Think Artificial Intelligence major at Carnegie Mellon, science / pre-med majors at Johns Hopkins, and Engineering in general at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It’ll be much tougher to get into these schools the, say, a history major. Of course, you should apply for the major you’re most interested in and compete on your own merit. Applying for a low-popularity major purely to increase your odds are immoral, and you risk not being able to switch to your desired major once you get in, so don’t play that game. But many high school applicants simply don’t know what they want to major in yet. If this is the case and a student is truly on the fence between a few different majors, then apply for the major with higher odds while keeping your options open is a good approach.
So, in short, the look at these factors, find something unique about your kids, and lean on those things in your application. If you’re a junior already, these tips will help you put together the strongest application with your existing qualifications and experiences.
What if your kids are still in elementary or middle school, and they still have time to shape their experiences to be more qualified as a college applicant? What should you encourage your kids to do? There are no short cuts, but luckily, many things that colleges look for are also experiences and skills that will benefit the kids when they grow up, so kids will benefit from these experiences far beyond their college admissions:
For elementary and middle-school kids:
- Foster unique interests. With constant school budget cuts, school education simply isn’t enough these days. Find other skillsets that kids are interested in and can be good at over time. If kids love coding or robotics and get good enough to go to competitions, that’s a great way to stand out.
- Follow your passion – When kids know what they love, they will excel at it. Love gaming? Learn coding and build your own games for friends to play. Love making custom jewelry or bracelet? Build an online store to sell it. If your kids have a passion for something, find a way to turn that passion into unique accomplishments. By doing this, kids will be motivated to do well while learning important skills, parents will enjoy cultivating the kids’ interests, and the kids will likely achieve unique accomplishments that they’re proud of. Increasing their odds of getting into top schools is just a side benefit.
For high-school freshmen – juniors:
- Build a business – With the startup successes of the past decade, and the gig-economy that makes starting a business easier than ever, this is a great way to teach kids valuable experiences while setting them apart from the application crowd. There’s no try-out, you don’t need anyone’s permission, anyone can start a business. Imagine how proud the kids will be when the tell their friends and relatives about a business they started and manage! And the best part of their businesses is, they don’t even need to be profitable to provide an amazing experience! It will require some investment up front, but it doesn’t have to be much. Here are some ideas to kickstart your brainstorming:
- Start a tutoring service and invite your friends to help teach – Set up a website, pass out flyers to neighborhood families, invite a few smart friends to teach for your tutoring service, set up a spreadsheet to track all your income and expenses, and you’re off to the races!
- Sell sportswear with school logo on – Get school’s permission (maybe donate a portion of profit to a school club), buy plain clothing and iron-on patterns, design some cool patterns online (can get cheap professional design services on fiverr.com), set up a website to handle online sales (shopify.com is the best way to set up a simple, robust and professional-looking e-commerce website). You can also hire someone to help you develop your shopify e-commerce site for a reasonable price on fiverr.com or just do a google search for shopify designer and you’ll see plenty of choices.
- Start a non-profit organization – Find a cause you believe in, start a “Go Fund Me” page, and lean heavily on your social circle and your parents’ network to raise funds. Be sure to make a big splash and take memorable pictures and videos to capture the moments when you do something good with the money. Not only is this great memory, the pictures and videos should be shared with donors to let them see the good they’ve done with their donation. This shows initiative and leadership, which is huge for a high school application. The actual amount raised is less critical.
For high-school seniors:
- You’re ready to fill out the all-important applications. It’s all about making the best of what you got now. List out everything that makes you unique compared to your classmates. Whether it’s accomplishments or interesting life stories, list them all out, and find ways to elaborate in ways that will make you stand out in the eyes of the admissions officers. Embellishment is good, just make sure you don’t lie.
- You have very limited space on your application to convince the admissions officers to pick you over the next application, use the paper real estate wisely. Make every word count. Remember that students are admitted on their strengths, not the elimination of their weaknesses. So shine light on your strengths, don’t bother wasting space explaining why you got that one C in English during your sophomore year. Colleges want a diverse group of unique students, preferably unique leaders in their own fields. Focus on your strengths and convince them why you’re unique and can be an outstanding alumnus someday that brings fame to the school. If you make a convincing case, you will be much close to getting that acceptance package in the mail!
It has gotten ridiculously competitive to get into top schools, especially if you live in a competitive area like the coastal cities. Find a way to help your kids turn their passion into a unique strength and find opportunities to turn the strengths into entrepreneurial or leadership experiences, and not only will you drastically increase their chances of getting into their dream schools, they will gain valuable experiences and build amazing confidence that will set them up for success in life!
