This year there was another viral story of a “perfect” applicant getting rejected from their dream schools.

In David Jiang’s case, he applied to 12 elite schools…

But he only really cared about getting into Harvard. 

From the story, it's clear this applicant made a critical mistake that hurt his chances of getting in.

Let’s look at his profile.

• 97.3 / 100 (somewhere close to a 4.0).

• 1560 SAT.

• Co-captain of the school math team.

• Team captain for the New York City Math Team.

• Starting Volleyball player.

• All-city Latin jazz ensemble.

What stands out?

Which of these accomplishments:

• Are unique and hard to replicate?

• Have a tangible impact?

• Do they show what David wants for his future?

The only thing that stands out is the grades. 

And as I’ve mentioned before…

Even great grades and test scores don’t guarantee you a spot in top schools.

They're just the basic requirements.

Every other Harvard applicant has similar grades and activities as David.

And in the way he presented his case in the article, he felt it was enough to deserve an acceptance letter and didn’t need to work on differentiation. 

But that’s not how admissions works - especially not in 2024.

If I had been able to coach David before he submitted his application…

I would’ve:

1. Had him focus on the most impactful and important activities.

2. Put together a strong Student Brand.

3. Had him find a unique narrative to bring the application to life.

Fortunately for David, this story doesn’t end in rejection, unlike many of the cases I’ve covered over the years.

In fact, he got admitted to Duke, a Top 10 National University.

But he made it clear he didn’t get into any of his dream schools, which were many of the top programs in the nation. 

And he even said he felt like a failure since he didn’t get into Harvard. 

Obviously, that’s not the case and I wish him a wonderful experience at Duke since it is an exceptional school and many kids would be overjoyed to go there.

I hope this serves as a reminder that strong grades are not enough.

It requires a holistic, carefully planned, and unique approach to stand a chance in the competitive admissions game.

If you want to read the full article I’ll leave the link below with one caveat:

While the article talks a lot about race I don’t believe it was the deciding factor for his rejection.

Here’s the link to the article:

https://admissions.group/abcnews-david-jiang

Dr. Agnia Grigas
Founder - College Admissions Secrets
Author - ‘‘How to Win the Million Dollar College Admissions Game’’

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