How to get into the Ivy League (part II)
To get into the Ivy League, build the FUNNEL
So in Part I of this series, we talked about how the entirety of the Ivy League model is based on a simple feedback loop.
Only give the badge to people who are likely going to be successful. When these people become successful later in life, they give further prestige and money to the badge. More people want the badge. Give it out again only to the top. Feedback loop continues on and on.
You know who else gets the badge? Athletes, legacy admits (children of graduates or big donors) and celebrities. There's an X-factor that goes into the decision making that is sometimes out of your control. Don't take it personally.
While having a badge may ultimately be out of your control, the substance underneath this badge, the skills and mindsets it celebrates, can be anyone's. The choice to develop and nurture those skills is alway yours. In the end, your goal in life should not be to win a merit badge anyway. While a badge can be useful and is shiny, it is just a stepping stone. It does not equate to success. It is simply one tool out of many that exist and must be used properly.
Set your goals higher.
First step to getting into the Ivy League is to not focus on the Ivy League.
If your goal is to change the world and alter the fabric of human society, whether or not you get into Ivy League quickly becomes an insignificantly petty and uninspired goal to devote your attention to.
Einstein confesses to this therapist his major life regrets. He wishes he had the chance to be a student at Yale and go to a frat party. "I never got the chance to chug a Natty Light. They'd like me. I use their Greek letters in my proofs all the time."
So instead of focusing on what the Ivy League is looking for, let's broaden the discussion to what enables success in general. What kind of characteristics sets apart those who achieve their goals from those who do not?
Drive, creativity, intelligence, charisma, discipline, compassion, humbleness, resilience.
I could keep on going and going. We could pull out the thesaurus and come out with twenty more positive attributes an imagined perfect person should have. The point is, you need to isolate and pinpoint what your substance is made out of. What makes you special? Dive deep inside of you and evaluate yourself from a third-party perspective. What attributes do you believe you truly embody?
If you think you don't have any at all, that's okay too. Let's rephrase then. What attributes in yourself do you want to develop?
When you have that list completed, you are ready for the FUNNEL.
While the Funnel can be used explicitly as the structure to guide yourself on your quest to the Ivy League, it is broadly applicable to most societal endeavors, eg business ventures, start-ups, and even dating. For the purposes of this discussion, we limit it to the specific goal of getting into the Ivy League.
Focus all your time and energy into the first two levels of this funnel. As we talked about in the first article, it is this substance that is most fundamental.
What is your substance made out of?
You tell me you are a hard worker. That is what makes you special. Okay, let me ask you then: what are you doing day-to-day that provides evidence for this?
If you were an impartial observer looking in, omnipotent and omnipresent, would they recognize you in the top 20% of all hard workers? If so, that's pretty good, but ask yourself what would it take for you to get into the top 0.4% of hard workers?
My name is Gary the asshole and I got some shiny badges to show you.
Remember, the Ivy League is a badge that only belongs to 0.4% of those with a college degree. If you want to live an astounding and incredible life, you need to start doing astounding and incredible things each and every day — the stuff nobody else has the patience or cajones to do.
Are you someone that studies everyday, hands in their homework on time and aces most exams? Great, you are in the top 50% of hard workers.
Are you someone that seeks out more difficult material, challenges himself with a difficult course load and seeks out knowledge that even the teacher doesn't have? Awesome, you are now in the top 75%.
Are you someone that arrives early and stays late after each practice to run drills when everyone else has gone home? If so, you are now in the top 80%.
If you've never sweated gatorade before, you haven't been working hard enough.
The more difficult or creative you can get, the less likely someone else is doing it too and the more likely you are to stand out.
Maybe instead of hard working, you want the Ivy League to know that you are a team player, incredibly innovative, have a deep desire to help others or maybe even (insert X characteristic)!
Repeat the above exercise with each attribute you wish to embody. What can you point to in the day-to-day that showcases each attribute? Is it anywhere close to the top 0.4%? If not, what do you need to change in your day-to-day life to get there?
Not going to lie. The above exercise is difficult to get through. It is probably difficult to admit to yourself you are likely not doing top 0.4% work. However, keep running the marathon and you will undoubtedly transform yourself and your own beliefs. The kind of person that is able to push themselves to these levels is the kind of person the Ivy League is looking for. These are the kind of people that will move mountains.
The second step of getting into the Ivy League is to be recognized for your work.
So far, all we've been talking about is the kind of invisible, behind-the-scenes work that nobody glamorizes or likes to talk about. This is the stuff that is fast-forwarded in training sequences in the form of montages and inspirational music. They fast-forward this part because it is Boring with a capital B.
Everyone wants to get to the part where you stand in front of the cameras with your victory speech.
If there was a feasible way to show the Ivy League your training sequence — all the blood, sweat and tears you shed, your problem would be solved. If the Ivy League could review your day-to-day tapes, they'd be able to see what you could do.
But they can't and they won't.
Despite how awesome you are, how awesome you will be in the future, and how awesomely you will change the world, there's no way for the Ivy League to know any of that. They cannot plug into your brain and see your power.
Thus, it is your responsibility to package that awesomeness and deliver it to them. They want you to commoditize it and give them the highlights.
The easiest and quickest way to do that is to show them a shiny gold medal, a trophy, an award, a position or a title. Heck, an amazing photoshoot where you crack open a champagne bottle may even do the trick.
As a kid, I was shocked when I found out anyone could just buy a trophy and put their name on it. It felt wrong and shattered something inside of me. "I earned my trophy…" I complained tearfully. (Translation: I was supposed to be special). Needless to say, I threw away all my trophies the next day and started doing drugs to cope.
We are suckers for these sort of things. But you kind of knew that. That's why you want to get into the Ivy League right?
When I give my resume to a hiring manager today, four years of Harvard boils down to just one line on a piece of paper under "Education." I could ramble on and on about all the amazing things that happened in those four years, but that one line usually speaks for itself. That's the shiny trophy that they are looking for and they aren't shy to admit it.
The power of the Ivy League is that its badge does the selling for you. Until you get there, you need to do all the selling yourself.
The unfortunate reality is that while it is the boring behind-the-scenes work that determine 90% of success, it is your ability to sell and market yourself that determines the last 10%. And that ability to market can make or break the entire sale.
Part of that marketing involves building your reputation. Note, this is the next level on the Funnel. Being aware of how others perceive you in the public purview shapes the kind of story that is told about you. This reputation is your brand.
If there's a problem, are you the kind of person that someone would look to for help? If there's an opportunity, are you the first person someone would recommend or tell? What would your caricature look like? If someone were to roast you, what would they hone in on?
"Have you heard? The guy seems nice enough but I don't know… he likes pineapple on his pizza. I mean c'mon."
This soft power will come across in your recommendation letters, in your future references and in your general network at large. When people talk about you behind closed doors, what would they say about you? You say your superpower is X, Y or Z. Would others perceive them in the same way?
Let's say your superpower is "compassion for others." You have an innate desire to help and serve others and build community. So you put it through the Funnel.
Day-to-day, you tutor others. You run study groups; you organize charity events and host fundraisers. You are the head of your community service group. You volunteer at the homeless shelter. Amazing, right?
Word on the street is that you do it because it makes you look good. While you do look good on paper, your actions and words don't come across as very genuine. Others think you are self-serving; they call you an opportunist.
Hmm. Not a great look. Even if you do truly want to help others, you aren't able to get the real message across. Without some serious public relations management, you may not be able to successfully move ahead.
Luckily, the last layer of the Funnel allows you to put the final cherry on top of this marketing campaign. You take everything in the Funnel and you build a beautiful and moving story that puts it all together. And then you tie a bow on top.
"Kill me meow…”
But note that in the Funnel, it is purposefully the last step and purposefully the smallest one of them all. It cannot make up for the lack of substance up above.
Unfortunately, this last element of storytelling and showmanship in the admissions game is something that many without substance are happy to exploit and make up for. This is where truths are stretched and achievements are exaggerated.
There is where you get crap like:
"Ever since I was a boy, I knew I was different. I wanted to change the world and make something of myself while the other little boys just wanted to eat dirt and shit on each other."
Yea okay… It's easy to say this, but without anything behind this statement, you too are full of shit.
If you find yourself focusing on storytelling more than actual substance, the Ivy League will see straight through you.
"You my friend, have come to the right place. This has your name on it baby."
If you find yourself embodying the persona of a used car salesman trying to sell that old jalopy nobody wants, you're doing it wrong.
The good news is, the more substance you have under the hood, the less "story" you have to sell.
Let the product speak for itself.
The third step of getting into the Ivy League is to work on multiple Funnels at the same time.
You want to show the Ivy League that you are driven and disciplined and that you excel in anything you touch? Do it over and over again. Show examples of this success in several arenas of your life.
Unless you literally saved the world or won a Nobel Prize as a high schooler, don't just bank on one Funnel to get you through to the top. Having multiple ovens baking in the kitchen at the same time will result in a greater likelihood that one of them will come out with the perfect muffin. No doubt you want quality over quantity but what is even better is quality and quantity.
There is no magic formula or complete list of attributes that guarantees you anything in life. Stay true to what speaks to you. If you are naturally athletically inclined, use that to your advantage. If you naturally gravitate towards tech and programming, hone that skill to the 99th level.
If you aren't someone that really fancies being the center of the room or leading a group of people, that's okay too. Don't force the "Leadership" attribute just because you think that's what the Ivy League wants. Only build the "Leadership" attribute because that is what you want.
Plan for the kind of future that you want beyond the Ivy League.
Stay tuned for the fourth and final step… in the next post coming to a screen near you.