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The college application process is undoubtedly a daunting one. Students spend all their pre-college years preparing themselves to go through unpredictable admissions processes with the hopes of getting into a top college. Indeed, it is likely the first time a student confronts uncertainty. It can be stressful, time-consuming and a lot of students and parents get lost in the process.

Naturally,many cognitive biases will be triggered in both student and parent and cause host of bad decisions throughout the process. At the end of the day, it’s bad decision-making more than anything else that can ruin admissions to the ivy leagues. But it is also the one area that parents can help their children with.Hence, having a good strategy and following it is the very best, most helpful thing you can do for your child. IvyZen provides best Ivy college consulting service is the ideal solution that help high school students unify their achievements and goals to find their one true passion and, ultimately, get them into the school of their choice.

This post will show you how to strategize well in order to make the best possible decisions, and consequently achieve the right outcomes.Let’s start off by looking at why some top students fail to get into their dream schools.

College Applications: Why Top Students Fail

A majority of parents and students begin the college application process in the following manner: they dwell on which colleges to apply to, the best way to tackle the application process and how many acceptances they will receive. That method not only triggers cognitive biases along the way but also makes college applications much more stressful than they should be for both your child and yourself.

Your child is already stressed out about staying on top of classes, balancing academics with sports and extracurricular activities, spending enough time with family and friends, and sleeping at least 8 hours a day. The fierce competition that college applications fuel further impairs their welfare, pressures them to weak their test-taking abilities and exaggerate their resumes things which warp the whole purpose of higher education.

You, as a parent, experience anxiety and stress over various things: your goals and dreams for your child and family, separation anxiety, finances, fear of failure and the unpredictability of the admissions process. Are you looking for the very best to help you gain admissions to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT or Caltech? Then visit IvyZen for admissions consulting in Boston.Our mentoring starts and finishes with the premise that uniqueness will give you the competitive edge to get you into the top colleges.

 The uncertainty and unpredictability are what drive everyone crazy. Students who are used to getting perfect grades, i.e. 100 out 100, are now subject to a situation where even if they have straight As, there is no guarantee that they will get into a top college. That is because there is no standard grading system. In many parts of the world, there is one very hard exam. If you score well on it, you get into the top schools. But the US admissions system is “holistic” so there is no standard testing procedure, and if there is standard testing procedure, then there is still no guarantee.

 It is similar to what investors face when they plunge into the markets. Faced with a losing investment, investors would rather take a loss so they can be certain about what’s going on than continue to face uncertain market conditions when their analysis says to stay in. This phenomenon is completely irrational, i.e.it doesn’t maximize returns or, put another way, it doesn’t get you the result you want. It is so common there is a term for it—a very common cognitive bias called risk aversion. What’s happening is that the investor is overweighting certainty, e.g. taking a loss and ending the nightmare, over what is most likely to happen, e.g. the market is likely to recover and earn a profit.

Risk aversion is most clearly seen in families when they decide on where to apply for early admissions. IvyZen is  the best academic consultants for Ivy League schools or tuition in Michigan that excel at mentoring students to become their very best and make sure these the top US colleges take notice. Let’s say a student has a good chance of getting into Harvard, his first choice school, but the family cannot deal with the stress (from uncertainty) of waiting another five months. So they apply to Cornell early. The problem is Cornell is early decision so the student must enroll, thereby forfeiting a chance at Harvard. They know they made a mistake when they start wondering “what if” and then start researching ways to get out of the early decisions binding requirement. I have seen this happen to dozens of students every year. I have seen parents push their students to do this. And I have seen college counselors do this as well. Don’t do this.

College Applications Strategy: Why It is Important to Have One

The first thing that needs to be discussed before starting the college applications process is strategy. Much of what goes into the hard choices college admissions officers have to make—such as whether institutions are prioritizing matters like diversity, legacy applicants, or athletic recruiting in a given year—is beyond students’ control. So it is crucial to know about everything you can control and learn how to position yourself throughout the process.

Strategy is important because it is designed for decision-making. But what exactly is strategy? Open Yale Courses defines it as “any of the options he or she can choose in a setting where the outcome depends not only on his own actions but on the action of others.” The “others” here are college admissions officers, other students who are competing for the same spot at Harvard and the school/counselor. So any complete strategy absolutely must account for those three groups.

Unfortunately, many students (and parents) start thinking something along the lines of “Well, if I just do my best, if I just focus on me, then everything will be OK.” Let’s be honest for a second, that’s a cop-out; you’re giving up even before the application is sent. Some students are simply misguided while some just buckle under the pressure. This problem is prevalent, especially among top students, so let’s briefly discuss how to deal with it.

IvyZen is dedicated to helping students with Ivy League Admissions. We offer the best college consulting service for students to get admission into top Ivy colleges across the United States. Set up a free consultation today! Let me give you some likely scenarios and, thus, give you clear examples of thinking strategically.

Be Different
Don’t do more of the same activities. For example, many of the top students are part of Model UN. So the typical response of students is to do MUN better than their peers (by heading the school chapter, participating in the conference and winning awards there, etc.). There are many problems with that approach. Because the competition is so stiff with so many MUN students, trying to outdo the competition comes at a great cost. Also, because admissions officers spend so little time (15-20mins) reading an application, they may miss the finer points, e.g. getting a resolution passed at last year’s Harvard MUN conference.

The great risk here is that the admissions officers will see so many applications filled with essays about MUN, lump them all together and pass because they have too many MUN students already. Instead, students should avoid playing the same game and do something completely different. If your student cares about human rights, then they should start an Amnesty chapter at the school, a Human Rights Watch or get involved in Gender Equality issues or LGBTQ campaigns. With something different, it take far less effort for a student to stand out.
 The simple truth is that a counselor will never have the opportunity to know a student as well as a parent does or as a well as a student knows themselves. Students who are interested in applying to top colleges need to assume responsibility for their own success. This responsibility includes preparing early, doing plenty of research, and accepting that the student’s fate largely depends on the student—not the teacher, counselor, or school.

Counselors can be helpful in many ways, the most important of which is resources. An average high school counseling office has access to information about almost every school and will frequently offer college visits with recruiters, financial aid workshops, and even college application workshops. If a student can benefit from any of these opportunities, though, it is one hundred percent up to the student to seek these things and stop expecting a counselor to do the work.

Do you want a second opinion on the advice that your son/daughter’s college counselors are providing? Then contact IvyZen, the best college consultants that offer a comprehensive plan for how to present the most effective college application.

With the arrival of the academic year, high school seniors head to graduation from different colleges and universities across the country. When the summer break starts, juniors have many things on their minds but first and foremost are the college application process. If you are the one who wants to head towards the graduation in Ivy League Michigan, you may be working hard. Maybe you are putting your applications of accomplishments and your potential that shows your capability.As you start with the process of applying for the college, you should consider some of the points that Ivy admission officers look for while reading applications.

The Fundamentals

You will not succeed in this process until and unless you don’t have an academic record. You should have a well-defined academic record which shows your top achievements in your school’s most difficult course load. Try to opt for the toughest courses as you can, spend your time on studies with dedication, and set a goal to achieve the higher points in that course. The fundamentals also include the marks of SAT, ACT, subject tests, IBs, and APs. You can check the Ivy League acceptance rate to start your preparation earlier.It will boost you up during your preparations. The best way is to start from the 9th grade. You should check the syllabus of both the SAT and ACT to decide which will be best to show your skills. Make use of your summers for test preparation and give the SAT or ACT at least 1-2 times during your junior year.

Although APs are not required for the admissions and are also not offered by some of the high schools, you can keep it for self-study. You should look for those that you can do and link it to your academic interests. In case these matches with your interests and strengths, you can use them for independent studies. 

Curiosity

No doubt that grades and courses matter but the UPENN undergraduate admissions want more than the hard-working students or good-grade achievers. You need to learn a lot more by going above and beyond what you learn from your classes.Admission officers expect even more from your academic niche. They look for your curiosity from your interesting fields, courses, projects, and much more. So you should focus on experimenting, creating, exploring, and building to think beyond your study level.

Impact

The students who inspire the admission officer the most are the ones who have positively impacted their communities more often from their academic records. You can visit the IvyZen for the best college consulting. Surely, you will get the help regarding how you can leave a positive impact on the admission officers through your academic records.

A Clear Voice

While reading your essays,admission officers look for your genuineness. They want to know about you, what matters to you, about the things that you do – they get curious to know why you do those things, and what are your goals and target?

You should focus on writing about what you know. Avoid the details of the things that you have done or experienced, but try to reflect the true you how those things have impacted and shaped you. Essays are generally open-ended, so try to write about the things you are interested in. Don’t feel embarrassed or nervous about the topics that have captured your imagination. Just try to show instead of telling the whole story to the reader about the things that make you unique and distinctive.

Character

To build a well-qualified first-year class, top colleges focus on knowing about your personality. How will you be as a roommate, classmate, lab partner, or friend? Are you brave enough to raise your voice against misconduct and the causes you care about?

If you need any guidance related\r\nto how to get into Caltech, how to get into UNPENN, or to any of the Ivy League colleges, you can visit IvyZen for the proper guidance and mentoring.