- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
This past Sunday, we were thrilled to host the online webinar Trade Secrets for AAPI Top College Admissions Success with our partners at AtomicMind!
AtomicMind is a boutique, global education consulting and research firm that leverages deep admissions intelligence, research, and expert insights to provide personalized admissions counseling and academic advising for students across undergraduate, graduate, and K-12 admissions.
This tell-all, unfiltered conversation was led by AtomicMind Founder and CEO Leelila Strogov, who broke down how elite universities evaluate top applicants — and how you can tell your story to stand out in an increasingly complex and competitive college admissions landscape. Read below for key takeaways from the webinar or watch the full video on our Youtube here!
I am a former investigative journalist and I have found that in my 20 years of doing [education consulting] work, that has actually come in handy because many things on the admissions front … [don’t] make a whole lot of sense until you know the inner workings.
— Leelila Strogov, Founder & CEO of AtomicMind
1. Letters of Recommendation: The Importance of Learning from and Growing with Your Teachers
Leelila highlights how colleges evaluate applicants in “silos of screenings” — or multiple phases of admissions that eventually narrow the applicant pool to admitted students.
The first round focuses on 3 things: grades, test scores, and recommendation letters. Therefore, recommendation letters from teachers and counselors serve an integral role in defining an applicant’s personality and individuality to an admissions committee.
How do you secure a good recommendation letter? First, focus on building a relationship with your teachers: learning from them and growing with them.
Students often already carry the burden of getting good grades, good test scores, and dedicating time and effort to extracurricular activities. Building relationships with teachers, rather than adding more burden, should help support students through their myriad of academics and activities.
Leelila advises students to proactively seek guidance from their teachers and to keep their teachers informed on the students interests and activities, for example:
Asking teachers to advise or review submissions for competitions.
Chatting with teachers about topics from class that interest them — and how to learn more.
Contribute in the classroom, seek feedback on assignments, and communicate! Your teachers are there to support your growth, and telling that story in your recommendation letter helps you stand out in the college admissions process.
2. Create, Don’t Compete
For many Asian American families, cultural conventions and networks around education often put a large emphasis on measurable successes — for example, ensuring that a student takes at least a certain number of AP classes, or enters a number of prestigious competitions, or participates in activities that are collectively understood to be well-regarded.
Leelila encourages students and their families to embrace their individuality, and create layers of originality — no one can compete with that.
Rather than comparing yourself to others, or feeling compelled to fulfill a list of tasks, your college application is shaped by your individual, unique story. By authentically exploring and discovering your personal interests, then dedicating yourself to grow and develop your knowledge and accomplishments, you can create a narrative that highlights your layers of originality.
3. Your Experiences Author Your Story: Embrace Exploration
Leelila highlights how ninth grade (or freshman year) is seen as a year for exploration, growth, and trying new things.
Rather than feeling compelled to fulfill activities or requirements that are conventionally accepted, embrace exploration — see what subjects interest you, sign up for new activities, and research the opportunities that are available.
As you continue through high school, follow your passions to narrow your interests, then dive deeper into your niche. Then comes the time for hard work and dedication: transform your interests into accomplishments and products that you are proud of!
4. The End: Shaping Your Unique, Complex Narrative
As you approach the time for college applications, you have explored your interests and dedicated yourself to growing and creating accomplishments from your passions. Now, you build your application by blending and uniting your narrative.
What you’re best at develops your broader story; your other interests help enrich it and “spice” it up.
Leelila specifically encourages students to create interdisciplinary work, especially in the humanities. Though STEM programs are very popular now, projects that marry topics of STEM and humanities can help applicants stand out and unite disparate interests.
For example, Leelila mentions an incredible project done by a student with a strong interest in STEM: a research project that investigated how the lobotomy had been irresponsibly popularized by social media.
Key words from Leelila: creativity, investigation, and inquiry!
Vee, a Princeton college admissions expert, also shared her experience from the other side, having worked on an Ivy League admissions team.
Admissions staff often only have 5-7 minutes to review an applicant. Crafting your story and your unique narrative is key to differentiating yourself and being a memorable applicant.
Vee also emphasized the importance of forming authentic growth and knowledge. Your story is created by finding your interests, learning and building knowledge, and producing accomplishments that proudly highlight your growth.
At the end of the hour-long webinar, questions from the audience continued to pour in! AtomicMind has kindly offered to respond to some of these unanswered questions below and provide links to some blog posts that touch on many of the questions parents had regarding summer activities, contests and competitions, and extracurricular activities.
Does it help your application to participate in varsity athletics in all four years of high school?
It helps to show that you are physically active, but varsity athletics are not the only way to show that. Other activities such as dance, crew, squash, even when done outside of school, can all check this box. However, when students are captains of their varsity team, or become recruited athletes, varsity athletics can become of elevated value.
How important or beneficial is it to have athletic abilities (in regards to your college application)?
In the grand scheme of a student's candidacy, it is not important. It is beneficial to have some superior abilities or achievements in general, not necessarily just in athletics.
How do you create a narrative if you do not yet know what you want to do/are undecided?
Even when you are undecided, it is important to have a cohesive theme when shaping your narrative. For example, a student could be interested in both STEM and writing — they could utilize both talents and create a cohesive narrative by creating a project that helps debunk false narratives that are being propagated about health and wellness. If a student spreads themselves too thin across a wide array of interests, without a thread to tie those interests together, this will become detrimental to their own high school experience and their college application.
More college prep wisdom from AtomicMind's blog:
Teach your students to be creators, and not just consumers.
— Leelila Strogov
Thank you to Leelila for offering her incredible, clear-cut insights in a breakneck hour of college admissions expertise! We are also so grateful for Vee and the entire AtomicMind team for their support of this event and bringing their educational wisdom to the community.
Find out more about AtomicMind’s work on their website (Link HERE) and stay tuned to Serica's newsletter & social media for more exciting upcoming events for the AAPI community!
