Ready for the Ivy League Challenge?

Transcript

SPEAKER A

Welcome to the Ivy League Prep Academy podcast, where we help you make a meaningful impact in your communities and get accepted to your dream university. Becoming the person that Ivy League schools recruit is more enjoyable and meaningful than you ever imagined. Come find out why. Hello, everyone. I am so excited this week to have with us Maddie Kaylor. Maddie is a program coordinator at Harvard Business School. Executive education. She executes on campus and virtual programs for global executives and organizations across various industries, and Maddie graduated from Dartmouth College in 2017. She has been through this process, so she's currently pursuing a graduate certificate in Organizational Behavior and in our leadership class at Harvard. I got to know her personally. I think you'll agree that she has a lot to share with us about high school life, about how to stay balanced and healthy during the stressful application season. Maddie, thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER B

Thanks for having me, Steve.

SPEAKER A

I wanted to start off just by asking you a little bit about yourself. What was life like for you in high school?

SPEAKER B

So in high school, and even before high school, I guess starting from the age of three, I was a figure skater. And so that became incredibly important to me in middle school and especially in high school as I kind of pursued my dream of going to the Olympics.

SPEAKER A

Wow.

SPEAKER B

Yeah. So obviously I didn't get there, but I spent a lot of my time, most of my time actually, in high school, figure skating, and that was leaving school one period early every day. I worked on my schedule with my advisor so that my free period was at the end of the day and I would leave and go skate for about three to 4 hours Monday through Friday and then on Saturdays training on the ice. Training off the ice and meeting with coaches and advisors and judges to help me be the best skater that I could be. Kind of what was also really important to me was education, and so that kind of made me unique in terms of elite figure skaters. Not totally, but in the sense that I went to school for most of the day. In order to be an elite athlete, oftentimes you have to sacrifice a full day of school in order to train all the day. And so for me, I wanted to stay at school. I wanted to develop a more normal school experience, more normal school friendships, while at the same time pursuing that elite dream and kind of having a balance between school and skating. It was a really interesting high school experience, but one that I really enjoyed. And I think being able to both skate and go to school was actually helpful in both regards, because when I was at school, I focused on school, and then when I was skating, I could focus on skating. So they were kind of outlets in themselves so that I could pursue these passions and learn new things and really challenge myself, because school was not easy. And skating, obviously, you fall a lot. So it was really good to have both of those as part of my schedule.

SPEAKER A

Fantastic. Yeah. There's actually a lot to unpack here. So first of all, I am familiar with the workload that an Olympic athlete needs to take on. I have some friends who trained for the Olympics in gymnastics, and you're absolutely right. These are, in this case, a girl who I think she had 2 hours of schoolwork a day, and that was not done at school because she had to work with her own tutors to stay caught up with the rest of her class. And the rest of the time, six, seven, 8 hours of training a day in the gymnastics facilities. And it sounds like that's kind of where you were at as well.

SPEAKER B

Yeah, I did. Except I guess I did more of the reverse in that I went to school for the 6 hours and then I skated the three to four.

SPEAKER A

Yeah. Well, I love a couple of things. First of all, you talk about how you needed to communicate with the school and work out a system that they agreed with, that you could agree with, that you could each reach your goals. Right. The school was happy because they have this performer who might be reaching the top levels in her craft, which is a school is going to be happy for you and try to promote you and support you. If you're a musician, if you're an actor, a figure skater, an athlete, schools will try to support you. But you do need to communicate with them and let them know that your ambitions are real, that you're not skipping school to go watch movies, that you really are training to be one of the best in your field at what you do. And can you talk just a little bit about that? Did your parents help with that process of communicating with the school and getting them on board?

SPEAKER B

Absolutely. Yeah. So one of the reasons that I chose to go to my high school is that it's kind of a long story, but basically my family lived in the Detroit area so that I could train at the Detroit Skating Club, which is one of the premier training centers in the country and arguably in the world. And so I chose my school because eventually my parents wanted to move back to Cleveland, which is where we were from, and then I could hopefully board at my school and then go skate in the afternoon. And it was great because I was able to leave school early. I mean, there were definitely years where it was harder, and I was generally the last person at the rink. But I had a full day of school before that. I learned a lot, and I was able to prepare myself for college in terms of balancing both academics and extracurriculars and also obviously just developing strong relationships.

SPEAKER A

The other thing I wanted to point out is you mentioned that going really hard at school and then going really hard at the rink almost helped in both ways. It's like some advice that I give to students who are kind of this work hard, play hard kind of personalities is that a vacation is not sitting on the beach necessarily. A vacation is just changing what you're doing. So if you're studying hard all day, every day for two weeks, a vacation would be going out and bailing hay right. Going out and doing construction work, because then you're moving your body and giving your brain a rest. And the other side is also true. If you're outside working all summer, doing heavy labor, then getting back in the classroom just feels like a wonderful vacation, because now you're working your mind instead of the body. And it sounds like that's kind of the approach that you took as well. You were able to work really hard academically during your school hours, knowing that in a short period of time, you'd be hitting the ice and you'd be working your body really hard.

SPEAKER B

Yes, you're very on point, and I totally felt that, especially because school, you're working your mind. It can be stressful, especially when it comes to your junior and senior year, as you're trying to figure out what you want to do with your education and you're maturing and becoming a leader at school. But skating was such a creative outlet. It was also something I was really proud of. I mean, I was watching old videos the other day of myself skating, and I realized that it's just something that I love, and as an adult, I should do it more.

SPEAKER A

What would you say you learned by going so deep into one activity? A lot of students try to be in five or six or ten different clubs, want to be on two or three different sports, and be in music and part of the debate team and everything else. A lot of students try to stretch themselves out over every single possibility that's every every possible club or activity. And you went deep into one activity and really threw your whole soul into it. What did you learn from that choice?

SPEAKER B

Yeah, well, so when I was younger, I also stretched myself. I played softball, I played basketball, I skated, I went to art camp. I tried a lot of different things. But when it came down to skating, first of all, you can't do a lot of different activities if you want to be great. But what I loved about it is that within skating itself, I was able to do ballet. I was able to exercise and build strength, and then I had different programs so I could skate to classical music in one program and tango in another program. But I think what I loved about skating is that I had one goal, I had one dream, and everything I did was in order to support that dream. And I had coaches who were cheering me on. I had my family who really supported it and made sacrifices for it. And every day I woke up in pursuit of that dream. Every day it was about doing my best. And I think one thing about skating and you can say this about anything, but when you do achieve a goal, so, for example, like landing a new triple jump, there's something so ephemeral about that feeling that you don't feel it all the time. And so when you do feel it, when you land a jump perfectly and it kind of feels like you're in a moment out of this world, that pursuit, the toil and the challenge of every day, it means something and it makes you feel satisfied. And so by focusing on one thing, I think that feeling and that meaning was so much stronger than had I stretched myself thin because I knew what I was doing. I wanted to do it, and I could have that focus and that drive and then leverage it in different ways.

SPEAKER A

That's beautiful. I think you can just hear the depth of your love and commitment to that craft and how wonderful that is. And I think that you learned things the way you just described. The full immersive experience. Your whole body, your whole mind, everything is engaged in the moment. How do you land this jump? How do you manipulate your body in just the right way to use physics and use momentum to be beautiful on the ice? And that's magical. And it's something that doesn't occur for people who stay superficial. And so, going deep, you learn things about yourself and how much you can push yourself beyond what you used to think was possible. You learn things about your body and movement, and you learn things about support and how coaches can push you. And all of that is something that I think is absolutely priceless. Would you say that going deep when you were younger into figure skating? Has that been helpful for you when you got into difficult courses in college or after school, when you started working professionally?

SPEAKER B

Absolutely. I think I have found that in parts of my life now. So whether it's speaking in front of a group of executives at HBS, I stand up a little taller and I feel confident presenting myself because I used to stand in the middle of an ice rink and everyone stared at me and judged everything I did. Because now I know that these executives aren't doing that and if anything, they respect me and want to listen to what I say.

SPEAKER A

If I remember correctly, is it your mother or both parents that went to Harvard College?

SPEAKER B

Yes, both of them.

SPEAKER A

Both of them went to Harvard College. Did they talk to you at all about university application process when you were in high school or maybe even before?

SPEAKER B

Yes. So from a young age, I was very attuned to the college application process because my parents served as alumni interviewers, and they still do today for Harvard, but they at one point would hold admitted students parties at our house. So my sister and I would put, like, class of 2017 and 2018 on stickers on our shirts while we passed appetizers at the age of five as a joke.

SPEAKER A

Yeah. How fun is that? Okay.

SPEAKER B

Yeah, it was very fun. So kind of from that age to then going to skating competitions and looking at colleges while we were in different parts of the country. That was always a fun thing to do when we traveled, while at the same time thinking about my story and how I could share that to the college admissions people so that I could share a compelling story and one that people would understand. Because I think something that they recognized with skating is that not a lot of people understand it. They don't understand the time and dedication that it takes to be a good skater. And so they kind of helped me understand that and helped me think about how I could leverage that, along with my other activities, to make me a compelling candidate for different schools.

SPEAKER A

Yeah. Beautiful. And you chose dartmouth. Your parents went to Harvard. You went to another Ivy League, one of the top schools in the world. How did you like Dartmouth? Was that a good choice for you?

SPEAKER B

Yes, Dartmouth is a really good choice for me. I loved it. I think what was great about Dartmouth was it's a smaller school, and it's kind of in the middle of nowhere, but one of the most beautiful places in the country, in arguably, the world. But in high school, I'd spent a lot of time, obviously, skating and leveraging skating in terms of coaching and volunteer work. But when it came time to go to college, and in the months leading up to college, I decided that I wanted to try something new. The thing about Dartmouth is it's a very diverse school, and I really think that anyone can excel there. Because it's a smaller school, you have immense opportunities to do that and to make change. And so I liked the small community because I felt more confident, and I was able to make connections that much better with the broader student body. So I really think it depends on the student. But for me, being in a smaller community, it really was a good fit for me.

SPEAKER A

Would you say that Dartmouth is looking for students who have made an impact and who show promise that they will continue to make an impact? Is that kind of the type of student that they're looking for?

SPEAKER B

I think so, from coming from someone like me, who does I help with alumni interviewing as an admissions ambassador, when I'm able to advocate for students when I interview them, I'm able to advocate for them when they tell me how they want to make an impact and how they see themselves in the Dartmouth community. As an ambassador and an alumni, I want to see the community grow. I wanted to see it evolve. And I think that by meeting applicants who are excited to be a part of that, I can advocate for them even more, which is really exciting for me and makes my position as an ambassador one that's really fun for me and I enjoy.

SPEAKER A

Yeah. So what would be your recommendation for a junior high or high school student today who has looked at Dartmouth? They love the campus, they love the community, and they've maybe found one or two majors that they're really impressed with at Dartmouth. What advice would you have for someone who dreams about attending?

SPEAKER B

Well, I guess one thing I'll say is that I was really fortunate to go to a school that I was excited about, and I hope that for everyone. But I think that every college education is a great one as long as you make the most of it and embrace it and are excited and explore. I think what I would say, and this obviously applies to Dartmouth as well, is that as a middle school or high schooler, explore those passions that you have. Take part in activities and extracurriculars that align with your interests and the impact that you want to make in the community around you, whether that's doing one thing or many. I think if you're going to do one thing, you want to show not only how you take part in it, but how it impacts others, starting new ventures on your campus that align with that passion or interest. Because for me, it really helped to create a story. At least, I think. I don't know. I could be completely wrong. End of the day, I don't really know why experts agree with you, by.

SPEAKER A

The way, on creating a narrative. So tell us your winning formula, because obviously you were admitted to one of the top universities in the world. Tell us about your story and what worked for you.

SPEAKER B

I think I was unique in that I skated, but also not that I just skated, but I volunteered with this organization called the Far Conservatory weekly, and we had an I show. But I taught skating to young adults with special needs. And honestly, I sometimes liked those days more than I did the actual skating, because I was able to share a passion with people who also had that passion and wanted to improve.

SPEAKER A

That sounds amazing.

SPEAKER B

Yeah. And it was just something that was really powerful and then teaching skating and just using that passion to have an impact around me and tell an authentic and genuine story about who I am. And hopefully it showed that when I got to a campus, I could have that power on the campus as well. And obviously, it just taught me well, and it taught me so that when I did get to a campus, that I definitely leveraged that there.

SPEAKER A

Yeah. So you went deep into an activity that you were completely in love with. You didn't just dabble in it. You went as deeply as you could, and yet you recognized that life is not just figure skating. And so you kind of had this theme of, I care deeply about this, and yet I also care about being healthy and balanced and finding a way to give back to the community. And so this is the way that I struck that balance. I did as much as I could to improve myself through figure skating, and then I worked harder than many of my teammates because I thought that education was also critical for me. And so I spent extra hours in the classroom and then to give back to the community, I volunteered by teaching adults with special needs. And it just shows kind of this theme that you're deeply passionate about figure skating, and at the same time, you're a human being, and you care about being balanced, you care about life after figure skating, and you care about making your sphere of influence a better place. Right. Finding a way to use your passion to make someone else's life a little bit better, which you did by volunteering and teaching other people. That's a fantastic theme and a fantastic story.
SPEAKER B

Yeah, well, and I wouldn't say that I worked any harder than anyone else. I think it was my priorities were a little bit different.

SPEAKER A

Yeah. Fair.

SPEAKER B

And I think the priorities when it comes to middle school and high school are so important, and it's hard to set them it's hard to even determine what your priorities are, and I have trouble doing that today. But at a young age, determining your passions and your values and then prioritizing your day, your week, your life, to meet those values and interests, I think really create you who you are and create that story that you're trying to tell. And by doing so, you'll be a really authentic and genuine person and welcome those, bring in those around you kind of into that sphere of influence that you were talking about. And so I think that was really important to me.

SPEAKER A

Yeah, well, I can just imagine someone listening to this podcast and hoping and praying that when they apply to Dartmouth, they will get to interview with Maddie Kaylor and be able to experience your kindness, your humility, and hopefully they can share their excitement and their passion with you and have you advocate for them that they can have some of the beautiful experiences, growth and learning experiences that you had at Dartmouth. I really appreciate you coming and spending your time with us, your wisdom. This has been fantastic. And on behalf of the listeners who got so much out of this call, thank you so much.

SPEAKER B

Thank you and I would be happy to advocate for anyone. It was a pleasure speaking.