Advertise on podcast: The Game: A Guide to Elite College Admissions

In this episode, we reveal five “rules of the game” of elite college admissions and why the process is fundamentally different from almost every other performance domain students—and their parents—are used to. The core idea is simple: admissions outcomes can be modeled like a points-based competition, where the students with the highest “candidacy point totals” earn admission. Points come from obvious sources like grades, course rigor, and test scores, but also from factors such as a student’s hook, resume strength, institutional value (diverse, legacy, etc), decision plan advantages (like Early Decision), and other forms of differentiation that colleges reward. The winning “point cutoff” is always relative to supply and demand—top schools effectively accept the highest-point applicants needed to fill a class. Finally, we discuss the game’s most dangerous feature: there is no scoreboard. Students don’t know how many points they have, how many points other applicants have, and the points are only tallied once—at the end—when it’s too late to adjust. —— “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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

Course selection has arrived for many students and is just around the corner for many others.  In this episode, we shed light on a particular “hidden trap” that many students fall into when beginning their selected courses, causing them to remain in classes that jeopardize their transcript, and ultimately, their candidacy at 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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

Many applicants to top colleges obsess over “activities” and significantly overlook the value of more informal pursuits such as hobbies.  In this episode, we break down seven major advantages of a student’s hobbies––from piggybacking on existing uses of a student's discretionary time to signaling high degrees of intrinsic motivation and coming across to admissions officers as potentially “less performative” versus other more formal extracurriculars. We discuss how hobbies can play a pivotal role in identifying a student’s core passion and interest––their admissions “hook”––and even make their way into a student’s application via the activities list, additional information section, and essays. —— “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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

Many students and families waste time solving the wrong “problems” or worrying about the wrong things in admissions. In this episode, we debunk five common anxieties that don’t meaningfully move outcomes, from overthinking a student’s number of SAT/ACT sittings to visiting schools that will not play a significant role in a student’s ultimate 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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

Families with younger students often treat building a college candidacy as a long, low-intensity process simply because the deadline is far away.  But, in this episode, we explain why this common mindset destroys one of the most precious competitive advantages––and any hope for differentiation among extremely talented applicants––when it comes to earning admission to elite colleges. We argue, instead, that top outcomes don’t come from spreading effort thin over many years but rather from urgency, intensity, and compounding skills long before pressure forces action and everyone also starts “trying their hardest” as well. Using analogies from a host of domains, we illustrate why the best candidates at elite colleges don’t operate with a “normal” mindset that trades off time and intensity, but rather stack capabilities, advantages, and serious execution when most others remain complacent. —— “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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

In this episode, we discuss the strategic implications of “school fit” and “college preferences” for students who are specifically aiming for admission to highly selective colleges. When competitiveness and admissions strategy are layered in, many students end up with a highly fragile candidacy and a high risk of striking out on many, if not all, top colleges when their “preferences” end up eliminating too many colleges, especially those that are most viable. Finally, we argue that weaker candidates with more flexible top college preferences often earn better outcomes than superior candidates whose preferences tend to be much more rigid, exposing their candidacy to strategic liabilities and greater risk. —— “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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

In this episode, we discuss one of the most strategic schools every applicant to top colleges should consider adding to their list and that may make or break their candidacy. —— “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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

Why do elite colleges consistently reject “strong” applicants with impressive but scattered resumes? In this episode, we explain the strategic framework admissions officers use when evaluating applications—and why focus has become the dominant signal at top colleges. Drawing on admissions psychology and institutional incentives, we outline five reasons focused applicants outperform well-rounded ones. Finally, we address why not all focus is equally valuable: in oversubscribed areas like engineering, computer science, biology/pre-med, and business, focus alone is insufficient, and applicants in these areas must further differentiate their candidacies. —— “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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

In this case study episode, we analyze the profile of a high-achieving junior targeting Yale and other top colleges, with strong grades, near-perfect test scores, and a deep set of extracurriculars spanning environmental conservation, theater, and ethics. Despite an impressive volume of resume activity, however, the student’s profile currently lacks the level of scarcity and scale required to truly compete at the Yale tier. These problems are compounded by further strategic liabilities, such as the particular strength of Yale’s environmental and humanities-focused applicant pool, as well as other demographic headwinds (over-represented minority and over-represented as a female in both humanities and Yale’s pool more broadly).  We stress-test the student’s resume against Yale-level standards, identify the most advantageous positioning, and outline specific strategic moves—refining academic course selection, sharpening interdisciplinary narratives, and scaling high-impact initiatives—to close the gap between a strong profile and a truly Yale-caliber candidacy. —— “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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

In this case study episode, we analyze the profile of a high-achieving 10th grade student targeting top engineering and STEM programs (MIT, Princeton, and Georgia Tech), with strong grades, advanced math/STEM coursework, and some early depth in STEM-relevant activities. Despite a solid foundation, however, the student’s extracurricular profile currently lacks a clear, differentiated through-line, as well as activities and awards that are necessary for benchmarking the level of technical ability required for elite STEM programs. We reorganize the student’s activities into thematic clusters and walk through several strategic paths—engineering depth, as well as promising adjacent themes such as women-in-STEM positioning and science communication—to significantly strengthen her candidacy. —— “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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

In this case study episode, we analyze the candidacy of another high-achieving 10th grade student near the top of their class, with 7 AP courses by sophomore year and near-perfect test scores.  However, despite their strong metrics, we highlight the biggest constraint in the student’s candidacy: their “hook” and resume-building. We dive deep into the student’s primary passions and academic strengths, including both music and math, and present several strategic paths forward with tactical steps to significantly improve the student’s resume and candidacy at 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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

In this case study episode, we break down the profile of an academically high-achieving 10th grader, with excellent “stats”: straight As in highly accelerated and multiple grade-ahead course rigor and a 1550 SAT before beginning sophomore year. Despite this student’s extremely strong metrics, however, their resume significantly lags behind and has the typical characteristics of most rejected profiles at top colleges: a broad number of highly common/cliche activities lacking any clear “hook” or compelling through-line supporting a focused and differentiated passion. We analyze these current deficiencies that will significantly hurt the student’s chances of admission to top colleges and discuss potential solutions. —— “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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

The most selective colleges do not admit normal applicants; they admit exceptional applicants. And in order to be exceptional, students must first be an exception—or not like their other high-achieving peers, the vast majority of whom will be rejected by top colleges. In this episode, we cover six of the most common and cliché activities—sports, music, and more—that continue to fill the resumes of top college applicants, causing their applications to come across as bland, unremarkable, and easy for admissions officers at highly selective colleges to reject. —— “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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

Want to have us analyze your current profile for top colleges in an upcoming episode? Email us at [email protected] Unfortunately, despite possessing excellent grades, course rigor, and test scores, the vast majority of applicants to top colleges lack the type of compelling resume outside the classroom that actually differentiates accepted from rejected students. In this episode, we unveil the costly and potentially candidacy-ending resume mistakes that tend to beset many otherwise high-achieving students aiming for highly selective colleges.  In particular, we discuss the case of junior year students who very often find themselves in a dilemma whereby their resume is severely lacking and yet they have very little time for the significant improvements required. We call attention to the limited number of “remaining moves” on the board these students have before the clock runs out and how they need to think strategically about factors such as value, risk/probability of success, and allocation of time and resources to potential resume-builders if they wish to preserve any chance of gaining admission to a top college. —— “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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising

Want to have us analyze your current profile for top colleges in an upcoming episode? Email us at [email protected] Early decision, or placing a binding commitment, is the strongest possible signal of demonstrated interest at any top college and is often rewarded with a significant increase in a student’s chance of admission.  In this episode, however, we consider how colleges at which a student is not applying early decision view their applications and what other signals a student who is not applying ED should or should not send. In addition, we zoom out and discuss how various top colleges view common themes and activities in students’ applications relating to service, leadership, and summer programs–-particularly focusing on how students should best tackle their resume-building in a way that actually stands out, versus blends in, at 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). Web: greatmindsadvising.com Contact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contact Newsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletter Email: [email protected] FB: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/ IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising