PARK Magazine

PROFILE
?
What Are
Ivy League
Colleges
Looking
BY LAURA BENS
For
Whereas last generation’s
college applicants were
debate team captains
and student paper
editors, this generation’s
college hopefuls are
minting NFTs and trading Ethereum. Much has
changed about the college application process
over the past twenty years. Gone are the days
when good grades, high test scores, and a “wellrounded”
list of extracurricular activities were
good enough to get you into some of the top
schools in the country. In many ways, these
changes reflect the massive social and technological
changes our country, and the world, has undergone
since the 1990s. The complication of society
has similarly complicated the admissions game
to top schools, and Gen-Z applicants and their
strategy-savvy, modern parents are uniquely
suited to handle these changes.
Gen-Z has been described as the most racially
and ethnically diverse generation in America to
date, as well as the most educated and
technologically savvy. When college applicants
of this generation are evaluated by top schools,
they are viewed through the lens of these
circumstances; compared to previous generations,
they are the only generation to have grown up
in a fully digital age, with all the world’s knowledge
at their fingertips. Given this unprecedented
access, colleges in this day and age want to see
applicants who recognize the special circumstances
of our current world, and have the enthusiasm
and intellectual curiosity to chart their own path
and attempt to make sense of it all, all while
making an impact in their communities.
This is all to say that current college applicants
face the toughest college application process of
any generation so far. So how do students stand
out from the crowd in this exceptionally difficult
evaluation process? The answer does not necessarily
lie in their academics. “With most schools having
received a record-breaking number of applications
in 2020, they could fill their incoming freshman
class several times over with 4.0 GPAs and 1600
SAT scores,” says Christopher Rim, Founder
and CEO of Command Education, a boutique
college consulting firm. “This means that elite
colleges these days are looking for students with
unique backgrounds or
niche interests who are
making an impact in
their community.”
Founded in 2015,
Command Education
works with students to
help them craft
compelling applications
centered on their
authentic passions. Ultimately, top schools have
their pick of the litter. Fortunately for parents,
Command Education provides an emotionally
intelligent approach to college consulting, centered
on not simply improving an applicant’s chances
of success in the process, but also helping them
build crucial life skills as they explore and develop
their passions. Navigating the complexities of
the elite college admission process can be stressful
to do alone, which is why many parents pay
$1,500/hour to work with Command Education.
“We work like an incubator for teens, providing
support and expertise to help students develop
“WE WORK LIKE AN
INCUBATOR FOR TEENS,
PROVIDING SUPPORT AND
EXPERTISE TO HELP
STUDENTS DEVELOP THEIR
OWN PASSION PROJECTS’’
their own passion projects, build a meaningful
nonprofit, or run their own company. Students
learn leadership skills within their community
and this naturally helps them stand out to top
schools,” says Rim. “It’s important that this initiative
develops the student’s own personal ambition
and something they are truly passionate about
— that’s why it takes years for something like
this to be developed.”
Although they may have vastly different
backgrounds and come from all over the world,
the parents who work with Command Education
are all seeking the same solution for their children: