Notre Dame admissions wrote our student a handwritten note…I was blown away by what it said…
A few days ago, We wrote about the power of standing out in college admissions…we wrote about the power of embracing being different & unique vs. just putting your head down and "grinding."
We wrote about why this is now the case–how every one of the top 40 schools in the country are trending towards single-digit acceptance rates. We wrote how the game has changed vs. 30 years ago.
And we provided an actionable 14 minute exercise to help students embrace this notion of "different > difficult."
Well, we’ve got a fun update...
In case you thought we were just making this stuff up…in case you thought there was no credibility or backing to this methodology…
Remember Emily? The HS Senior, who's been in our program for over a year, and is now bound for Notre Dame?
A year ago she completed the exact same "Different > Difficult" Exercise in our all-inclusive College Confidence Program. The result of this exercise, for her, was to apply for a provisional patent for a seatbelt she had helped design...not only was she super excited about this long term project, it also aligned with her mission to be an engineer.
The process to apply for a provisional patent was not very difficult! It required perhaps 10-20 hours of total work (ex: compare that to the hundreds of hours of total work it takes to complete one extra AP class, start to finish).
But guess what? It was different.
And Notre Dame not only felt it was different...they felt it was so different, so unique…that they decided to mail Emily a handwritten letter expressing this. Seriously. In 13 years of doing this, we can't say I've ever seen something like it. And yet, she received one at her doorstep just this weekend. Here’s the letter:
Did Notre Dame mention Emily’s 1500+ SAT? Or her top 5% grades?
Nope. Those marks are common these days in the ND admissions department.
Instead, they mentioned the item she had on her application that, in all likelihood, zero other ND applicants (zero!) had–she had applied for a provisional patent.
Did ND care that applying for this patent had taken far less effort than if she had simply signed up for an extra club or had taken an extra AP?
Nope. Not at all.
Admissions committees want to see different.
We’ve always known this. But we’ve never had true, paper-trail level proof.
Until now.
Different > Difficult…just ask Emily (or her ecstatic parents). She's off to her dream school because of it.
To your college planning success,
Jack Delehey
Founder, CollegeConsulting.us
P.S. - Have a high-performing high schooler w/ a 3.7 GPA or higher? We'll help get them into at least one of their top 5 dream colleges...and if we don't get them into at least one of their top 5 dream colleges, you don't pay us a penny. Seriously. College admissions isn't rocket science...but it is a science. And we've cracked the code...year, after year, after year. You can learn more about our world renowned all-inclusive, start-to-finish college coaching here and to see if your family qualifies for an introductory call.
P.P.S - Our most common question is "When should we start?!" The answer is, if you truly care about giving your high schooler the best chance of college planning success, you should start NOW. 9th grade is not too early to start! 10th grade is certainly not too early to start! And 11th grade is far, far too late! (supporting data here to show just how much of an advantage you give your child by starting the process early).
