BLOG

“Playing the Cards” for Admission to an Elite College: I often think of the two types of gamblers when working with students applying to highly selective, prestigious colleges. 

The routes that students take to get admitted to a highly selective college can vary. Their “vehicle” (i.e. the combination of grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, etc.) will be unique from student to student. One applicant may be “driving” a Prius, another a Ferrari, and yet another a motorcycle.

College admission is not a zero-sum game. Shortly before admission decisions were expected to hit inboxes, the parents of a student I had been working with through the arduous process of applying to college asked to meet with me alone.  When they came into my office, they sat down with worried looks on their faces. “We have made a terrible mistake,” they confessed.

This is my third post addressing the college admissions process for introverts. The last two posts in this series addressed extracurricular activities and the admissions interview.  Let’s now turn to the letter of recommendation.  As an introvert myself, I’ve had to ask many people to write letters of recommendation for me when I applied to graduate schools, jobs, and other opportunities. And I believe that introverted students face particular challenges in thinking about letters of recommendation for their applications.