Feb 25 (edited) • 🎓 Strategy Posts
2️⃣ Application Strategy 102: 🧩 How to Make Your Entire Application a Standout Story!
Identified your Application Narrative yet? 🔍 The big-picture theme tying together your academics, extracurriculars, and goals. Now, every part of your application should reinforce it so admissions officers walk away with a clear, consistent impression of who you are.
📌 1. Academics: Your transcript should reflect your focus. Your courses and grades are the foundation of your story.
✅ Strong Fit: A future neuroscience major excelling in AP Bio, AP Psych, and research electives.
❌ Weak Fit: A future neuroscience major with random electives but no advanced science courses.
👉 Limited course options? Take summer programs, online courses, or independent projects to fill the gaps.
📌 2. Extracurriculars: Show depth, not just breadth.
Your activities should actively demonstrate your interests—not just be a scattered list.
✅ Strong Fit: A future environmental scientist leading a conservation club, conducting research, and writing for a sustainability blog.
❌ Weak Fit: A future environmental scientist with random activities like Model UN, robotics, and pet shelter volunteering.
💡 Pro Tip: Reframe unrelated activities by emphasizing transferable skills (e.g., leadership & initiative).
📌 3. Essays: The Heart of Your Narrative
Your personal statement reveals who you are, while supplementals show how you fit into each school.
✅ Strong Fit: Writing about how your passion for urban planning started with designing LEGO cities as a kid, then evolved through internships.
❌ Weak Fit: Writing about a random personal experience that doesn’t connect to your goals.
📌 4. Recommendations: External proof of your narrative.
Your letters of recommendation should reinforce the strengths you’ve already showcased.
✅ Strong Fit: A robotics teacher praising your leadership in STEM outreach.
❌ Weak Fit: A generic letter from your French teacher saying you’re a “hardworking student.”
💡 Tip: Share your Application Narrative with your recommenders before they write your letter!
🔎 Does Your Application Tell a Clear Story?
Ask yourself:
❓ Does every part of my application reinforce my narrative?
❓ If an admissions officer read my application in 10 minutes, would they walk away with a clear sense of who I am?
💬 Drop a comment if you need help identifying gaps or aligning your application better!
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2️⃣ Application Strategy 102: 🧩 How to Make Your Entire Application a Standout Story!
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