Hilary is a bright, young Caucasian senior at the local public high school ranked in the top 100 high schools in the state of NJ and from an affluent family. She is ranked among the top 3 in her graduating class. Her SAT scores are in the upper 600s for all three areas and she has a proclivity toward the theatre having acted in school plays and attained a SAG card at a young age after a prolific modeling and commercial acting career. Kind and generous, she had given of her time and talents in many ways, notably dressing up as an elf annually for Holiday Express, a local charity that brings holiday cheer through music to many elderly and disenfranchised populations in the area. The list of her activities, leadership and philanthropy goes on.
Hilary applied to Columbia Early Decision, Georgetown, BC, Tufts, and NYU. The rejections began and kept coming. NYU was all too happy to accept this talented full-fee honors student in one of the biggest blood-bath years in college admissions history. Crestfallen, Hilary shook hands with her new NYU roommate as they were seated on their beds in their Greenwich Village matchbox dorm room.
One year later, Hilary begins her sophomore year at Northwestern University and is thrilled. Engaged in undergraduate research projects, and smaller class sizes, attending football games in the fall, while monopolizing on all of the culture Chicago has to offer, Hilary is content and gleefully working toward completing her Pre-Med requirements. What changed? “What mattered to me at the outset was the school name. I felt I had worked hard and deserved to have access to the type of school only the top kids get into. But now I realize my priorities were skewed. All I knew was name. I wasn’t focused on what would hasten me toward my goals and suit me socially and intellectually. If I could whisper in my 17 year-old ear, I would say, “Do your own thing. Explore all options. Concentrate on what matters.” I would spend more time on the search process and less time on the application process. The search is the courting period, the applications are just the seating chart.”
Hilary, like the majority of college-bound students, didn’t get it right the first time around. A variety of factors impacted her outcomes such as attending a public high school, a peak in the population bubble, and a healthy case of prestige-itus. Hilary’s can be a cautionary tale for much of entitled America who feels that name trumps match. Focusing on “Fit Decisions” minimizes split decisions.
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