Share Your Story

I’m in the early stages of a new writing project about the college admissions process. Specifically, I am interested in hearing stories about students who followed unconventional paths into top colleges. That is, I want to hear about students who focused on one interesting, unusual thing in high school (instead of taking on a million activities to try to impress an admissions officer), and ended up getting accepted at a good college. The goal of the project is to question the necessity of some of the more painful and stress-inducing hoops many students jump through when thinking about college admissions.

Examples of the type of students I’m interested in:

  • A young man in California who took on a reduced course load his senior year (no AP courses!) to revive a local search and rescue program.
  • A young woman who traded a crowded extracurricular schedule for an obsession with a certain type of meteorite.
  • Another young woman who took advantage of a work-study program to skip out of school early to hang out in Manhattan dance studios.

If you have a similar story to tell, or know someone else who fits this mold, send me an e-mail and briefly describe your unconventional admission tale. Most likely, I’ll follow-up with some additional questions. You might even be featured in an upcoming article.

Thank you in advance for your help. I look forward to hearing your stories.