One of our Collegewise counselors who worked at a highly-selective college said that their admissions office referred to some applicants as “standard strong.” Standard strong meant that a student was highly accomplished—AP classes, a top GPA, high test scores, impressive activities, etc.—no admissions weaknesses or shortcomings to speak of. But more often than not, those students didn’t get in. The term might sound dismissive and they don’t mean it to be. Those students are “standard strong” because there are just too many of them in this particular pool applying for too few available spaces. And with Olympians, published authors, patent-holders, and other next-level teen achievers in the pool, “standard strong” doesn’t stand out.
This is not the only school with a term for these accomplished but comparatively standard applicants. A former Duke admissions officer wrote a book about her experience and shared the term “bwrk”—“bright, well-rounded kids.” In the Duke pool, most of them don’t get in.
But it’s important to remember that if you’re labeled “standard strong” at a highly-selective college, you’ll be labeled some version of a “ridiculously accomplished, obviously admissible kid” at approximately 2,500 other schools.
Why not apply to more colleges that will give you the second label, colleges that will be bowled-over by what you’ve done and welcome you with open admissions arms?
Don’t tell me that those schools aren’t good enough. If you’re accomplished enough to be “standard strong,” I expect more from you than to believe you’ll somehow be held back if you go to a college that doesn’t sit among the US News Top 20.
Many kids who are denied from the most selective colleges justifiably feel like they couldn’t have worked any harder than they did. If you’re maxed out and worried that you still won’t measure up at your dream colleges, find some other schools where you’ll be more than just standard strong. There are plenty of those schools out there, and plenty of happy and successful adults who’ve attended them.