Iris was the ‘perfect’ candidate—at least your friends who never read this guide would say so. She dreamed of attending Stanford, or perhaps an Ivy League school. 

She did exactly what most ambitious teens do:

• She took all the most rigorous classes available at her high school (12 APs). 

• She earned excellent scores (literally all 5s) in all of them. 

• She had excellent SAT test scores.

• She was a varsity athlete.

• She was on student council and in many clubs.

• She played the flute in the band AND in the orchestra.

Despite being the top student in her high school, she was rejected by Stanford and every Ivy League school she applied to.

You probably know many, many teens like her. 

But Iris’ story is particularly interesting because she was only a junior when she applied to college. Her best friends were all a year older than she was, and she wanted to skip her senior year and go with her friends to college. She had worked out a way to graduate early. 

But when she was rejected from all the schools she wanted to attend, she decided to return to high school for her senior year and try out the strategy that I’m about to teach you in this guide. 

You can listen to Iris tell her story in her own words, if you want—I’ve made two podcast episodes with her interview.

To summarize, she first dropped all the activities that were dragging her down—things she thought she was ‘supposed’ to do because they were impressive or showed how hardworking she was. 

She dropped out of her clubs, her sport, her music—everything. 

With her freed up time, she committed herself fully to the strategy in this guide.

First, she figured out her core values.

Those core values would form the foundation for her personal theme (or personal narrative) to be presented in her application. 

It was not enough to work hard and get great grades, she needed to clarify where she might belong in this rich, diverse class the admissions officers were shaping. 

After about a month of diligent effort, she clarified her core values and outlined her application theme. 

She discovered where she belonged in the ecosystem of a freshman class. (In this case, Iris was the person who helped different groups look past their differences and find common ground. Don’t worry if that doesn’t describe you, there are lots of different ways to define how someone can fit into a class.)

Iris could now tailor her essays and activity list to her needs, and she could guide her recommendation letter writers to reinforce this theme as she defined it. 

But she needed evidence to go beyond her words. 

One of her core values was gender equity. And she loved economics. 

She realized that every econ textbook she learned from had been gender biased in the examples and pictures. 

So, with her core values clarified, she set to work creating her impact project.

She collaborated with an economics professor to write a gender-neutral Intro to Economics textbook for middle school students.

She had just enough time to write, publish, and distribute this textbook to several middle schools in her area before her regular decision applications were due. 

The second time around, with fewer activities, a less rigorous senior schedule, no sports, and no music, Iris was admitted to several Ivy League schools, as well as her dream school, Stanford.

So, why was Iris so successful the second time? 

As this case study shows, great grades and test scores combined with a crazy number of activities and leadership roles did not get Iris into any of the top schools she applied to. 

But great grades and test scores combined with clarity around where she fit into the class and how she might make the world a better place after she graduates got her into many top schools.

Now we know what colleges are looking for. So, how do we communicate to them that we meet those character traits?

First, we need to understand what it is like to be an admissions officer.