In this episode, we analyze the application strategy of a high-achieving student preparing to apply Early Decision in the 2025–26 cycle. We evaluate her academic and extracurricular profile, explore how to elevate her thematic positioning around identity, language, and global impact, and assess which colleges offer the best strategic fit for her ED choice.

——

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

Great Minds Advising’s unique, hands-on mentorship program and its deep strategic insight into the application review process have earned the company a nation-leading track record of excellence, with 100% of its students gaining admission to a top-choice school in the 2024–25 application cycle.

Its students have recently gained admission to Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, and WashU (among many others) and are admitted to the Ivy League at a rate 14x the national average (90% when applying early).

Contact Form: https://tr.ee/contactgma
Web: https://linktr.ee/greatmindsadvising
Email: info@greatmindsadvising.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising
IG: @greatmindsadvising

In this episode, we break down the profile and application of a top student deciding between Yale and Stanford for early action in the upcoming 2025-26 application cycle.

We analyze both the strengths and weaknesses in her profile, identify admissions hooks that portray the most compelling view of her resume, and overhaul the initial draft of her application, optimizing critical themes and through-lines while removing potentially costly errors that could jeopardize her chances of admission to top colleges.

——

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

Great Minds Advising’s unique, hands-on mentorship program and its deep strategic insight into the application review process have earned the company a nation-leading track record of excellence, with 100% of its students gaining admission to a top-choice school in the 2024–25 application cycle.

Its students have recently gained admission to Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, and WashU (among many others) and are admitted to the Ivy League at a rate 14x the national average (90% when applying early).

Contact Form: https://tr.ee/contactgma
Web: https://linktr.ee/greatmindsadvising
Email: info@greatmindsadvising.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising
IG: @greatmindsadvising

Much of what students and families worry about or hear in college admissions actually matters less than they might know.

In this episode, we expose the most overrated pieces of the process—and traditional guidance—from the importance of leadership, service, and GPA weighting to launching “passion projects” or communicating with admissions officers.

——

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

Great Minds Advising’s unique, hands-on mentorship program and its deep strategic insight into the application review process have earned the company a nation-leading track record of excellence, with 100% of its students gaining admission to a top-choice school in the 2024–25 application cycle.

Its students have recently gained admission to Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, and WashU (among many others) and are admitted to the Ivy League at a rate 14x the national average (90% when applying early).

Contact Form: https://tr.ee/contactgma
Web: https://linktr.ee/greatmindsadvising
Email: info@greatmindsadvising.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising
IG: @greatmindsadvising

In this episode, we flip the script and walk through the 10 fastest ways to sabotage your college admissions chances—so you can do the opposite.

From staying “well-rounded” to avoiding commitment to a hook, we discuss common traps that smart students fall into. We cover why being passive and waiting for permission or perfection when it comes to resume-building are silent application killers—and how trap essay prompts, misaligned majors, or poor testing strategy can sink student candidacies.

By emphasizing the most frequent ways students jeopardize their odds at selective colleges, we shed light on how you can avoid the same pitfalls.

——

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

Great Minds Advising’s unique, hands-on mentorship program and its deep strategic insight into the application review process have earned the company a nation-leading track record of excellence, with 100% of its students gaining admission to a top-choice school in the 2024–25 application cycle.

Its students have recently gained admission to Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, and WashU (among many others) and are admitted to the Ivy League at a rate 14x the national average (90% when applying early).

Contact Form: https://tr.ee/contactgma
Web: https://linktr.ee/greatmindsadvising
Email: info@greatmindsadvising.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising
IG: @greatmindsadvising

In this episode, we answer three listener questions on the following topics:

• how to best strategically position a pre-law student
• how to take college courses that improve your candidacy
• the role of legacy in admission to top colleges and early application strategy

——

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

Great Minds Advising’s unique, hands-on mentorship program and its deep strategic insight into the application review process have earned the company a nation-leading track record of excellence, with 100% of its students gaining admission to a top-choice school in the 2024–25 application cycle.

Its students have recently gained admission to Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, and WashU (among many others) and are admitted to the Ivy League at a rate 14x the national average (90% when applying early).

Contact Form: https://tr.ee/contactgma
Web: https://linktr.ee/greatmindsadvising
Email: info@greatmindsadvising.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising
IG: @greatmindsadvising

In this episode, we reveal three common pieces of misinformation that admissions officers so often convey to applicants and their families, breeding a false sense of complacency and a dangerously naive view of admissions at top colleges. In particular, we cover:

• how applications are actually reviewed, with many being discarded long before they are given a “holistic review” as admissions officers purport
• the great myth of “test optional,” or that students failing to submit strong scores are not at a disadvantage
• how the limitations of students’ high schools––such as lacking course offerings, missing high-value extracurriculars, or issues such as grade deflation––can be penalized by admissions officers if students don’t take the initiative to overcome them

Finally, we emphasize the importance of understanding admissions at the most selective colleges is not about sugarcoated notions of fairness or “having done enough”; rather, it is a fierce competition that rewards those willing to maximize their candidacy to the greatest possible extent and do “whatever it takes.”

——

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

Great Minds Advising’s unique, hands-on mentorship program and its deep strategic insight into the application review process have earned the company a nation-leading track record of excellence, with 100% of its students gaining admission to a top-choice school in the 2024–25 application cycle.

Its students have recently gained admission to Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, and WashU (among many others) and are admitted to the Ivy League at a rate 14x the national average (90% when applying early).

Contact Form: https://tr.ee/contactgma
Web: https://linktr.ee/greatmindsadvising
Email: info@greatmindsadvising.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising
IG: @greatmindsadvising

In this episode, we perform a case study analysis on acceptance and matriculation data from one of the top private high schools in the U.S. and a well-known Ivy League “feeder school.” We cover the following:

• Most Recent Year and 5-Year Ivy League Matriculations
• Ivy League Acceptance Data for “Unhooked” Students (i.e. non-legacy/donor, recruited athletes, etc)
• Hooked vs. Unhooked Student Acceptance Rates & GPAs

Drawing upon this data, we argue that alluring college track records at many top US high schools—particularly top private high schools—often derive not from the school’s “name brand” but rather from a disproportionate number of students with other well-established admissions advantages.
Finally, we discuss the highly limited applicability of overall high school track records to individual cases—particularly to “unhooked” and overrepresented minority students (e.g. Asian/Indian)—and the harmful effects of relying on school track records or any type of peer comparisons in the admissions process.

——

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

Great Minds Advising’s unique, hands-on mentorship program and its deep strategic insight into the application review process have earned the company a nation-leading track record of excellence, with 100% of its students gaining admission to a top-choice school in the 2024–25 application cycle.

Its students have recently gained admission to Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, and WashU (among many others) and are admitted to the Ivy League at a rate 14x the national average (90% when applying early).

Contact Form: https://tr.ee/contactgma
Web: https://linktr.ee/greatmindsadvising
Email: info@greatmindsadvising.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising
IG: @greatmindsadvising

In this deep dive episode, we analyze the profile and application of a current high school senior applying to Stanford. We pinpoint many critical strategic mistakes affecting the quality of the student’s presentation across both the Common Application and the Stanford supplements––errors that are very often committed by top academic students in general and students targeting Stanford in particular.

——

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

Great Minds Advising’s unique, hands-on mentorship program and its deep strategic insight into the application review process have earned the company a nation-leading track record of excellence, with 100% of its students gaining admission to a top-choice school in the 2024–25 application cycle.

Its students have recently gained admission to Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, and WashU (among many others) and are admitted to the Ivy League at a rate 14x the national average (90% when applying early).

Contact Form: https://tr.ee/contactgma
Web: https://linktr.ee/greatmindsadvising
Email: info@greatmindsadvising.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising
IG: @greatmindsadvising