Rounding out an overly narrow focus
Home
New York
Academic Strength
Computer Science and Math
Biggest Weakness
Narrow Focus
Extracurricular Strength
Impressive CS Skills
GPA
3.9
SAT Score
1460
Levi was amazing coder with incredible work ethic. But his profile was one note: at best, he seemed too focused on CS; at worst, he came off as boring and incurious.
The Challenge
Levi’s interests in math and computer science dominated his decisions when choosing classes, activities outside of school, and summer plans. This resulted in a narrow focus at an early age and lack of development in other critical areas, namely in the humanities.
Possible Approaches
At first glance, it might seem like there are two options.
Spin this narrow focus as a strength. It’s an example of a young student who knows his academic and professional interests; that early interest could give him the necessary edge to stand out among his peers. If he were to focus on a specific area, he would be able to make significant strides toward his professional goals and stand out. This sounds compelling, except that in the Stanford application pool there are plenty of people who are amazing students of computer science and ALSO extraordinarily well rounded. You have to be EVERY special to succeed at a place like Stanford with a pitch like this, and 99% of the applicants who think they are impressive enough to be a one trick pony, simply aren’t.
TwoBuild mountains out of molehills. Levi had been involved in some non-CS fields, they just weren’t very significant. We could try and puff up some of those limited experiences (a brief stint at a literary magazine, for example) to make him seem more well-rounded. But this kind of strategy rarely works: adcoms are expert at reading between the lines, and applicants aren’t at their best as writers when discussing something that doesn’t really matter to them.
The Admissionado Approach
Fully considering the admissions officer’s perspective, we identified exactly why this narrow focus might be taken as a limitation in the student’s ability to succeed on a college campus. Could we prove that Levi would engage with non-technical questions on campus, even if his focus was mostly on math and CS? Absolutely! Our approach was to show how his interest in CS actually included within it a variety of disciplines. Through some brainstorming and digging, he was able to articulate how his work was in service of larger goals, goals that had driven his choice of coding projects. Technical work is usually a means to a non-technical end, Levi had those larger ends in mind, he had simply never explicitly articulated them. Through long discussion diving deeply into each of his projects, we focused our attention on the intersection of technology and business. With this focus, we explored opportunities that concern both fields, came up with some potential future career goals, and began making a logical connection between all of his experiences and how they’ve contributed to his overall objectives. We then established his focus by gaining professional and academic contacts in the technology and business sectors. He was able to learn quite a bit about the intersection of these fields and confidently narrow down his interests.
The Result
As a result, Levi appeared on the page as the much more curious, free-thinking, and well-rounded person we had met in our calls. He was ready to pursue his interests with more conviction and certainty. He is currently an undergraduate in Data Science at Stanford University.
Personal Shoutout
Levi’s quirkiness and intensity will be a tremendous strength on Stanford’s campus. We are so honored to have had the opportunity to help him achieve his goals.
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