Another season of college admissions has come and nearly gone. Offers are being made and school choices are discussed. Some are weighing their options among the nation's most selective colleges. A few are still anxiously hoping to get off the waitlist. And still others are declining the waitlist. Me?
At 2 p.m. on April 1st, applicants were finally able to hear from their Ivy League colleges. Minutes later, waves of "I cannot believe it" washed over my home office in Sunnyvale through instant messaging, phone, and email. At 2:22, a joyful headline: "Admitted to Princeton" followed by a phone call "I got into Harvard" followed by "I got into Princeton..." and then "I got into Yale." One student even asked me if the admissions看花眼了of her application.
Good news came first, followed by the not-so-good news. That same day, I got a phone call from a disappointed parent. Her child did not get into her reach schools. The conversation between the two of us was extremely difficult. Later in the evening, another student updated me that she did not get into Harvard or Princeton. To these two students, I did not make a difference. Cases like these, while extremely painful, are the ultimate humbling experience.
To continue to learn and improve, first on the agenda, is a 6-college campus tour on the east coast where I will meet with faculty, staff, and students. High school students interested in Dartmouth, Middlebury, Williams, Amherst, Brown, and Rhode Island School of Design can follow me on
Twitter for campus updates the week of April 12.
This year, essays continue to play an extremely limited role in the most selective admissions. Essays, like extracurricular activities, are useful only when a student has distinguished himself in one area or another, such as an exceptional academic achievement and truly significant leadership. Essays cannot substitute four years of academic excellence. The grades, test scores, teacher letters of recommendations, and achievement in one
distinct area are still the primary data.
Among all selective colleges, I would say that MIT and Caltech continue to be predictable in their admission decisions. This is primarily because these two schools do not take "family connections" into consideration.
Today in the many-chefs-in-a-kitchen admissions field, many students receive advice about going to a remote area (such as Tibet, Sichuan) to help the poor and to ultimately impress the admissions office. However, I continue to believe that doing something meaningful overtime and excelling in what you do count for more than scattered involvement.
I also believe that a good writer can make any topic interesting, and a weak writer can make even the most dramatic topic weary. For example, have you ever heard about the lines "work like you don't need the money, dance like nobody is watching, and love like you've never been hurt?" This seems to be somewhat boring to me. How about:
Love like you don't need the money,
Work like nobody is watching,
Speak up like you've never been heard.
Finally, I want to thank all the families and students for bearing with me during this extremely long and rigorous admissions season. I especially want to thank the parents who brought food to the office to feed their hungry advisor. Because of you, I will continue to be what I eat.
Congratulations, IvyClimbers!
