In this episode, we respond to real questions in the popular online forum Reddit from students across the country. In particular, we cover answers to the following:

• Which letters of recommendation do I send?
• How important is course rigor freshman and sophomore year?
• How do you come up with your college essay topic?
• Which GPA do colleges use?
• What are my college chances?

“The Game” is hosted by Sam Hassell and brought to you by Great Minds Advising.

Web: greatmindsadvising.com
Email: info@greatmindsadvising.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising
IG: @greatmindsadvising
TikTok: @greatmindsadvising
YouTube: @GreatMindsAdvising

Many students and families heavily rely on the college acceptance data (GPA/test scores vs. college outcomes) of past applicants from their high school to make high-stakes decisions about their school list, selection of early decision colleges, and likely overall college outcomes.

In this episode, we break down how past college acceptance data is reported at many high schools, and the significant limitations and shortcomings of using such data for students applying to the most selective colleges. In particular, we cover the following:

1. The Limited Predictive Power of GPA/Scores When Applying to Top Colleges
2. The Necessity of Only Comparing to Past Applicants Who Applied Under the Same Decision Plan (ED, EA, RD, etc)
3. Why Graph Averages Can Be Misleading
4. How To View Outliers and Avoid Wishful Thinking
5. Data Expiration: What HS Graduating Classes You Should Be Using
6. The Imperfections of Self-Report Data and Various Inaccuracies/Missing Information
7. The Importance of Sample Size and the Tradeoff With High Quality Comparison Cases
8. Complexities of Test Score Reporting: Test-Optional, Superscores, and Beyond
9. Limitations of GPA, Accounting for Senior Year Grades, and Why The GPA Admissions Officers See Is Often Not The One Reflected in HS Data Systems

Final Takeaways: Best Practices for Analyzing and Using High School Acceptance Data

“The Game” is hosted by Sam Hassell and brought to you by Great Minds Advising.

Web: greatmindsadvising.com
Email: info@greatmindsadvising.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising
IG: @greatmindsadvising
TikTok: @greatmindsadvising
YouTube: @GreatMindsAdvising

In this episode, we review the profile and applications of a premed student who was rejected from both of their early decision schools, roughly top-25 to top-35 national universities. This student attended a top-1% US high school, possessed a 3.9 unweighted GPA, 99th percentile test scores, took 15 AP/honors courses, and had what many would consider an excellent resume filled with many “leadership positions” and “service activities.”

In our case study, we break down several of the student’s application weaknesses and errors, including the following:

• The Difficulty of Premed Positioning
• The Importance of All HS Grades, Not Just Overall GPA
• The Importance of Relevant Coursework (e.g. Premed = STEM course rigor/grades)
• Analyzing Test Scores by Subject/Section vs Overall Scores
• Awards That Matter/Don’t Matter for Admission
• Resume Analysis
  • Why Leadership & Service Aren’t Enough
  • Highly Common/Cliche Activities That Don’t Separate Students
  • Branding of Activities
• Application Mistakes
  • Poor Essay Hooks/Endings
  • “Kitchen Sink Syndrome” (too many themes)
  • Poor and Non-Unique School Knowledge/Details
  • Failure to Show Intellectual Promise
  • Misplacement of Information and Voice (Narrative vs. Analytic) Throughout Application

“The Game” is hosted by Sam Hassell and brought to you by Great Minds Advising.

Web: greatmindsadvising.com
Email: info@greatmindsadvising.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising
IG: @greatmindsadvising
TikTok: @greatmindsadvising
YouTube: @GreatMindsAdvising