Do you ever feel like preparing for college is like fighting for limited seats on a train?
This can make you feel anxious, overwhelmed, and frustrated.
After all, there are only so many 'seats' available, right?
There are only so many valedictorians, so many science olympiad winners, and only so many captains of the team. The seats on the "we're better than everyone else at everything" train are indeed very limited. And there are countless people fighting over them.
But there is a better way.
In fact, what if the selective colleges you feel like you are fighting others to get into aren't that interested in passengers of that train?
Because the train tracks were laid by someone else before you, selective colleges are more likely to only want a few of the passengers of the "better than everyone at everything" train, and are more interested in finding students who paved their own path.
How do you pave your own path?
1. do the self-reflective, introspective work to figure out your core values.
2. identify a problem in your community that violates one of those core values.
3. work to begin solving it.
4. discover you don't know how to solve it-- yet.
5. do effective outreach to professors or other experts who are solving this problem, and either join their team or recruit them to join your team.
6. solve the problem (or make meaningful progress)
7. effectively communicate your core values and impact project in your college application.
This is not only orders of magnitude more effective than fighting for spots on the train, it is also easier, more enjoyable, and actually prepares you for a successful and fulfilling life.
The ability to align your choices with your core values not only makes your application stand out for admissions officers, but it is also the key to a more fulfilling life.
Being able to identify and solve problems in your community not only provides evidence to the admissions officers that you truly do have those core values but it also shows them that you have the emotional intelligence, communication skills, leadership, grit, and resourcefulness to solve real problems in the real world.
Oh, and if you are able to solve real problems in the real world as a high school student, you will also be empowered to solve real problems in the real world as a professional-- nothing prepares you better to start your own successful business or earn meaningful promotions in a larger company.
I teach all of this in the Ivy League Challenge.
The ideal age for the challenge is grades 8-10, but some students are ready earlier, and any student who is serious about becoming competitive for a selective school will want to learn this before applying-- even if they are rising seniors now.
Registration for the July 14th cohort is now open. We will meet weekly on Thursdays for 12 weeks, beginning July 14th.
Please reach out to me and schedule a discovery call if you need clarification on anything before you register, but don't delay. Registration for this cohort ends at midnight on July 13th.
Links to my Calendar: tilc.to/meet
registration: tilc.to/register
see you in the Ivy League Challenge!
