1 minute read
DIMINISHING RETURNS
ACADEMICS
Academics are not enough to get you into an Ivy League college. But poor academics are enough to get you rejected. Fortunately, if you approach academics right, it will have great spillover benefits.
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For example, let’s say that you seem to be the smartest student in your math class. You seem to get concepts in seconds that others struggle with for hours. Your teacher then starts to think that you aren’t just a hard worker, but a math genius.
What if you do that in 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade? Now the whole school thinks you are a genius. What does your school tell colleges? What does your teacher tell colleges in her recommendation letter? What does your college counselor tell colleges in the questionnaire?
Will they tell colleges that you are just another hard worker? Or will they gush to colleges that you are the smartest genius that has ever attended your school?
