Susan Tree, Carter Delloro, and Mark Stucker discuss what a Standard Strong student is. They discuss what a Standard Strong student can do to stand out in competitive applicant pools. Hilary Dickman joins the conversation for a 20-minute segment to share her insights on this topic. The roundtable has very straight forward practical guidance, but it does not overpromise. The co-hosts of the YCBK podcast make it very clear that most spots in competitive applicant pools go to students who are “hooked,” and they define what a hooked applicant is. Some people have expressed surprise at the standards for getting into some of the most competitive colleges, but the co-hosts wanted to be very honest so families can adjust their expectations appropriately. The straight talk can also help families who are building their own college lists to ensure they have a balanced list and not to many colleges with very slim admission chances. Mark closes with a 17-minute solo section where he shares data from School Match 4U, the company he founded. He looks at what we can learn from 59 students who were admitted to the 11 most competitive colleges in the country, with the sample balanced to ensure every region is represented. The 11 colleges he selected for inclusion were: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale in the Northeast, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Rice in the Southeast, Northwestern and the University of Chicago in the Midwest, and Stanford and Cal Tech in the West.

You can also listen on Episode 626, Episode 627, Episode 628, Episode 629, Episode 630, Episode 631