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Lucy was eeling confdent as she was hitting submit. Her SA score was inthe top quarter or applicants accepted last year. Her GPA was above themedian. She was a our-year varsity gymnast on a team that had won the state

championship last year. And shed attended a summer program at her frst-choice

college. Ten she got her ding letter. What happened?

I you looked inside Lucys fle, you would fnd this summary rom the admis-

sions o cer who read her application and denied her:

Lucy has great test scores but not similarly great grades. Tat puts her

in the mushy middle. Outside o school, Lucy devotes hersel to

gymnastics. She is team captain and was part o a state championship

team last year. In the summers, she has worked in her athers o ce.

She used her essays to talk about these experiences, but she didnt

oer anything more than what I could get rom her activities list. Im

le with no real impression o who Lucy is, or what she would bring

to our community, or why she is so interested in us, especially since

we dont have a womens gymnastics program. Teres nothing here

that compels me to admit.

C H A P T E R 3

Your Story

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23Your Story

It turns out that test scores and athletic trophies arent enough to warrant

admission, and so Lucy had been relegated to the realm o the LMO (like many

others). As you already understand (but she didnt), her credentials werent

enough. She needed to consider her application as a whole and use it to tell a

coherent and compelling story about hersel, but she didnt. Heres the rub: Lucy

did in act have a good story to tell, and i she had told it, she probably would

have been admitted.

YOUR APPLICATION SHOULD TELL

YOUR STORY

Why didnt Lucy tell a coherent and compelling story in her application? Because

she didnt know she was supposed to. Its not as i the standard college applicationsays, Please tell us your story. No, the standard college application looks like a

collection o to-do itemslists, essays, transcripts, and recommendations promi-

nent among them. As an applicant, Lucy took the checklist approach, working

her way through the various components o the application one by one. She flled

out the activities and honors lists. She had her transcript and test scores submit-

ted. She wrote an essay that had been prooread by her English teacher and her

mom. Tey both told her that it was well written (and it was). In other words,

she did everything that was explicitlyrequired, but she didnt understand that shewas also supposed to do what is implicitlyrequired, namely, to tell a coherent and

compelling story about hersel.

I that is what college admissions o cers want, why dont they just say so?

Most colleges believe they do. Tey point to their repeated statements (in their

presentations, in their materials, and on their websites) that they take a holistic

approach to the admissions process. And they are right. Tat is exactly what

those colleges say and do. Unortunately, unless youve been an admissions

o cer yoursel or are getting advice rom someone who has been, you probably

have no idea what these statements really mean. You think that the holistic

approach means that activities and essays matter and not just the numbers. Tat

is indeed true, but it never dawns on you that by saying they take a holistic

approach, they are directing you to tell a coherent and compelling story about

yoursel.

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24 How to Prepare a Standout College Application

And that brings us to two more Ivey Strategies:

Ivey Strategy #2: Tink like an admissions of cer.

and

Ivey Strategy #3: ell your story.

Why the ocus on how admissions o cers think? Because at the top US

colleges, admissions o cers, not aculty (or a computer ormula), make the deci-

sions: they are the people who decide your ate. Whether the admissions o cers

act independently or through a committee, they have the power. Obviously, then,

you want to understand how admissions o cers think. I you actually use Ivey

Strategy #2 and develop an ability to think like an admissions o cer, you havea competitive edge. (We are using admissions of cers as a generic term here to

reer to all the people in the admissions o ce who have decision-making author-

ity, even i they have dierent titles such as admissions director or enrollment

manager.)

How do admissions o cers think when it comes to evaluating an application?

At top colleges in the United States, admissions o cers are evaluating your

application (and you) on three dimensions: (1) academic achievements, (2) extra-

curricular accomplishments (also known as activities), and (3) personal qualitiesand character. Tis 3-D evaluation can vary a bit in how it is implemented rom

college to college, but all three dimensions are always considered in a holistic

review, and each relates to an essential aspect o your qualifcations and your

potential or contribution to the college. Te academic rating is an assessment o

your academic (and intellectual) abilities and potential. It is a prediction o how

you will are in the classroom and what you will contribute to the academic lie

at that college. Te extracurricular rating is an assessment o what you would

accomplish and contribute to the college community beyond the classroom. Te

personal rating is an assessment o your personal qualities and character. Tats

obviously highly subjective, but youd be surprised how oen admissions o cers

see eye-to-eye across various applicants even on the personal dimension. Admis-

sions o cers believe that strong personal characteristics are intangible but sig-

nifcant attributes that will contribute to your ultimate success at college.

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