There are two things any high schooler can do to drastically improve their chances of acceptance at top schools. The first is early decision, which can give you 4x better odds at schools like Vanderbilt. The second is your story: the ability to summarize your entire application in one to two sentences so a bleary-eyed admissions officer reading their 80th application of the day can say, “I get this kid.” These are low-hanging fruit that most families never think about until it’s too late.
I wanted to take this quick video to discuss two things. Two things. If you have a high school senior, these are things they can do to drastically improve their chances of acceptance if they’re getting close to applying to college.
By the way, these two things also apply if you have a high schooler who’s a junior, a sophomore, or even a freshman. They will still apply. You’ll just know earlier.
Let me walk you through both.
Contents
Cheat code one: early decision
The first thing is fairly self-explanatory. Early decision is a cheat code for college admissions, and it’s something I think all parents of students who are potentially interested in top 30 to 40 schools in the U.S. need to understand.
Early decision, while yes it is binding, will drastically improve your child’s chances of admission.
The Vanderbilt example
Let me give you an example. I’m wearing a shirt from my alma mater Vanderbilt right here. You can go and you should Google “early decision admissions rates versus regular decision” at whatever school you’re interested in. They also have conglomerates if you’re interested in seeing how the Ivies do it.
The data is shocking.
Regular decision at Vandy, the last I saw, was like 4.8%. I would never, ever get into Vanderbilt if I applied today at 4.8%.
But do you want to know what the early decision rate is? Like 18% or something like that. Over four times a greater chance if you just check the button that says early decision.
Low-hanging fruit
I know there’s so much talked about in the college planning world: “How do I have my essay perfect? Should I put this period here? Should it be phrased this way?”
This is low-hanging fruit.
Sometimes my students get caught up in the nuances of stuff like that, which of course is all important. But when you’re talking about a four times greater chance just by checking a button? This is the cheat code.
The downsides of early decision
Yes, there are downsides to early decision:
- You can only do it at one school
- You should be certain that if you get in, you want to attend, because you’re bound
- You kind of just have to accept whatever financial package comes with it
There are certainly downsides. But if the one reason that your child isn’t going to apply early decision is because they just haven’t thought about it enough? That’s not a good enough reason.
Have the conversation now
Early decision across the country is either November 1st or November 15th. Have that conversation with your child right now.
The excuse of “I just haven’t really thought about it” or “I haven’t really assessed what my top choice is” is not good enough.
Think about early decision. That is a cheat code to drastically improve your child’s chances of acceptance, particularly at the top 30 or 40 schools in the country.
Cheat code two: your story
We talk about the four main tiers of college admissions:
- High school grades
- Your standardized test score
- Your college essay
- Your story
The second cheat code I want to talk about today is category number four: your story.
Why story matters now more than ever
Back when my parents applied to college, your story probably didn’t matter. If you had exceptional grades and an awesome SAT score, you could probably get into an Ivy League school.
These days, everyone who is applying to top 30 to 40 schools in the U.S. has the grades and the test scores. That is a given. If you don’t, you’re not getting in.
So it really comes down to category three (your essay) and category four (your story). But your essay takes a while to write and is often done over the summer. I want to talk about something you can do quickly to improve your chances. That’s your story.
The 8-minute reality
The average college application gets reviewed for eight minutes in the United States.
Let that sink in. 18 years of a child’s life, summarized into something that will get reviewed, judged, assessed, and put into a reject or accept pile in eight minutes.
What that means is your high schooler needs to make it as easy as possible on the admissions rep to say:
- “I see what they did in high school”
- “I see what they’re currently doing now”
- “I see how that is a nice, easy paved path right into the doors of my college where they’re going to do this to help benefit our community”
The problem I see constantly
I often see students who have the grades, have the test scores, maybe even have a beautiful essay, but don’t understand this fourth component of your story.
Their activities are kind of all over the place. Or maybe they say, “Yeah, I do a little bit of this, I do a little bit of that. I’m well-rounded.”
Well, to a certain extent that’s nice. But you must have that nicely paved path for college admissions. You must.
If you’re not sure whether your student has a clear story, take my free College Story Audit. It shows you exactly where the gaps are.
How to build your story
There are two approaches depending on whether your child knows their intended major.
If your child knows their major
If your child actually knows what they want to study in college and they have a major in mind, great. Have them select that major and then work backwards.
What have they done in high school to help show that the major is the right choice and prove that the path just continues?
- What they did at 16
- What they did at 17
- What they’re doing at 18 right now
- What they’re going to do at 19 when they’re at college
The major is the easiest way to build the path. But you’ve got to work backwards and show that everything they have done aligns with that major choice.
If your child is undecided
The most common major selected in the United States for high school seniors going to college is actually the major I selected: undecided.
If your child is undecided, that is okay. The child can be undecided. I was, and Vanderbilt still accepted me.
But here’s the thing: if your child is undecided, they don’t have the easier path of saying, “Here’s my major, so let’s define my path and work backwards from that in my application.”
They’re going to have to work a little bit harder.
My undecided example
I’ll give you mine. I was undecided. I wanted to use my first couple years of college at Vanderbilt to figure out what I wanted to major in.
But you know what I knew? I knew I had an entrepreneurial background. I’d run an exterior painting company growing up. And so I used that entrepreneurial path to say: “I want to explore my horizons at Vanderbilt if accepted, and here are a couple of the areas that I think I could at least explore. I’m going to use freshman year to learn more about this.”
I at least showed that path of: “Hey, I’m kind of the entrepreneurial guy.”
The thesis statement test
Some other college coaches call this a “sound bite.” I’ve heard another call it a “thesis statement.” But in essence, it’s a test to see if you actually have satisfied category four: your story.
The test
Your high schooler, after they fill out their application, should be able to take a step back and say:
“I can summarize my application, the story of my application, in one to two sentences.”
If they cannot, then they don’t have a clear path. They don’t have a clear story. They need to make it more concise. They need to pave that road.
It’s probably still a little rocky, a little dirty. Make it easy for the admissions rep to say:
- “Oh, I get this student”
- “Oh, I know what they’re all about”
- “Oh, I see the path”
Make it as easy as possible. They’re reading sometimes like 80 to 100 applications in a day. That’s so many. And so you’ve got to make it easy.
My thesis statement
For example, by the way, I got lucky. I didn’t actually have strategies like this. I kind of just winged it. And that’s why I do what I do now, to really teach students.
But my path that I put in my application, without meaning to, was:
“Hey, I’m Jack. I’m the entrepreneurial guy. I’m looking to use college to explore more of my entrepreneurial tendencies.”
Done. That was my thesis.
And if you saw the activities, the awards that I had in the honors section on the Common App, the essay I wrote, it all aligned with that path.
So eventually it made colleges say, “I get this guy.” And at Vanderbilt’s sake, it was: “His grades align, his test score aligns, his essay is great. But where is that ‘it factor’? Oh, look at this story. That’s a cool story. I can see how he can add to the Vanderbilt community. Admit.”
Practical tips for your Common App
Now that you understand the importance of your story, here’s how to execute it in your application.
Order your activities strategically
The activities that relate to the story you’ve defined should be at the top of your activity list on the Common App.
Don’t make them work for it at number eight or nine. Put your story front and center.
Use the additional information section
One last thing I’ll say on this: the additional information section on the Common App is there to be used.
If after going through the activities section, the honors and awards section, the essay, the personal statement, and even the supplemental essays, you feel like you haven’t made your story clear enough, there’s an additional information section where you can basically add whatever you want.
Use it to put that exclamation point on your story if you feel you haven’t relayed it enough.
A personal note
As an aside, for those who are interested: I was not admitted right away. I also did not use the cheat code of early decision. I was regular decision, waitlisted, and got in.
I got lucky. I kind of just winged it. That’s why I do what I do now, to make sure students don’t have to rely on luck.
Two conversations to have today
So here’s what I want you to take away. Two things you can bring back to your high school senior right now and say, “Hey, how are we doing on these two areas?”
One: Have a discussion about early decision. Look at the data. It’s not a fit for everyone, but just saying “we haven’t thought about it” is not a good enough excuse.
Two: Your story. Does your child have a concise story with an easy path, so the admissions rep who’s bleary-eyed and on their fifth cup of coffee can say, “Ah, I get this kid”?
Don’t make them work for it to figure out your child.
Early decision. Your story. I hope this helps. And if you have high schoolers who are juniors, sophomores, or freshmen, this is coming up. In fact, something like your story, you can start thinking about now, doing things now that align with your eventual story.
Ready to take the next step?
If you want help figuring out your student’s story and building a strategic plan for the next few years, book a free 45-minute college planning strategy session with our team.
We’ll walk through exactly where your student stands and what needs to happen to maximize their chances. Whether they’re a senior needing to tighten their story before November, or a freshman with time to build it from scratch, we can help.
Frequently asked questions about these cheat codes
What if we need financial aid? Can we still do early decision? Early decision is binding and you generally accept the financial package offered. If financial aid is critical, you’ll need to weigh the admissions boost against the financial flexibility of comparing offers. Some schools do allow you to back out of ED if the financial package is insufficient, but this varies.
Is early decision worth it for schools outside the top 40? The admissions boost from early decision is most pronounced at highly selective schools. For schools with higher acceptance rates, the benefit is smaller. Check the specific ED vs. RD rates for your target schools.
What if my child genuinely doesn’t have a top choice school? Then don’t force early decision. But “I haven’t thought about it” is different from “I’ve thought about it and genuinely don’t have a preference.” Make sure it’s the latter before passing on ED.
Can my child be undecided on major and still have a clear story? Absolutely. I was undecided at Vanderbilt. But I had a theme: entrepreneurship. Your child needs some thread that ties their activities together, even if they don’t know their exact major yet.
How do I know if my child’s story is clear enough? Ask them to summarize their application in one to two sentences. If they struggle, the story isn’t clear enough. If they can do it easily, you’re on the right track.
Does this apply to freshmen and sophomores too? Yes. The earlier you start thinking about your story, the more time you have to actually do things that align with it. Seniors are working backwards. Freshmen can build forward.
