How do I get into my dream school without taking a dozen AP's and being the president of eight clubs? That's quite a common question asked by young people today. But what if there was a way you could get into a better college than all your friends but still live life to the fullest?
I've been loving this book by Cal Newport, called How To Be A High School Superstar. It explains "a revolutionary plan to get into college by standing out (without burning out)".
Check it out here:
http://calnewport.com/books/high-school-superstar/
The book tells the stories of multiple students with average grades but not-so-average personalities.
Paraphrased from How To Be A High School Superstar:
Let's use the example of Kara. In 2004, Kara visited a college counselor at an elite Bay Area private high school. The counselor flipped through a file containing Kara's details, and concern flashed across her face. "So, how are your grades going to be this semester?" the counselor asked.
"Not as good as I hoped, probably some B's," Kara answered.
Glancing down at the list of schools where Kara wanted to apply, the counselor asked, "Stanford has a ten percent acceptance rate. Do you know what that means?"
Hesitatingly, Kara ventured, "One in ten get in?"
"No. It means nine in ten get rejected. What makes you think you're better than nine other people?" Before Kara could respond, the counselor said pleadingly, "Kara, Stanford doesn't take students with B's."
Kara's best friend Elizabeth was quite the opposite. She took so many AP's she might have broken the state record, and she even dropped a class because she got a B on the first quiz, and that decreased her chances of an A as a final grade. She also stayed away from classes that required creativity or natural ability, only caring about classes where she could attain an A by just raw effort.
But Kara stayed true to herself, and when it came time to apply, she scraped together enough money to apply to twenty-one schools, as her dad refused to pay for that many schools.
"I was freaked out that I wasn't going to get in anywhere," she recalls.
But she did get in. In fact, she got into twenty out of twenty-one schools she applied to, including MIT, Caltech, Columbia, Cornell, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, and, of course, Stanford.
How did Kara shatter the unshakable confidence of the regular stressed-out students who thought stress is the only way to stand out? She was a "relaxed superstar".
Relaxed superstars are students who live relaxed and happy lives. The topic of college admissions doesn't dominate their lives, which gives them more time to do things that will actually matter in the application process. Cal Newport notes, "Perhaps the most striking trait of these students is their happiness. Spending time with them, I have been astonished by how much they seemed to enjoy their lives."
Moral of the story: Do what makes you happy. Be genuinely interesting. Don't shut down your inner voice. And when it comes time to apply, you'll breeze through the admissions process like a superstar.
