Parents who want their kids to get into an Ivy League school should listen to this advice from Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust: "Make your children interesting!" This might be even more important than having a 4.0 GPA and being valedictorian.
It's simple advice, but as The Atlantic points out, developing an interesting personality isn't exactly easy and there's no tangible measure of "interestingness." However:
Faust recommended encouraging children to follow their passions as a way to develop an interesting personality. It's much easier to complete a checklist, however daunting, than to actually be interesting.
But the good news is that when colleges use this set of criteria, kids can focus on shaping their teenage years in a way that isn't just about trying to build up resume line after resume line, and instead focus on a more holistic sense of self. That seems like a far more sensible way to move through high school than spreading oneself too thin trying to get a slew of positions one can't really ever concentrate on.
Ivy League dreams or not, encouraging your kids to develop a more holistic sense of self seems like good parenting advice overall.
How to Get Into Harvard | The Atlantic
Photo by Will Hart.