I had an interesting conversation with a Stanford grad last night who told me he thinks too many kids believe there’s a magic formula to getting into schools like Stanford, that you just have to find the desired combination of GPA, test scores and activities to get admitted. He mentioned that the students he met in college were all smart and hard working, but they all had very different interests. He met students who’d spent their time in high school doing everything from fixing cars to doing physics research. Each had an interesting story to tell, not a formula they’d followed.
His high school story?
He was the first person in the history of his high school to be elected student body president twice.
Work hard. Find activities that interest you. Make an impact. Then tell your story. That’s the only formula that works.