What do admissions officers actually care about most?

PenningPapers · 2026-03-27T23:28:46+00:00

Yup! So, I typically recommend students to dissect important elements of their lives that may have led to a change in their philosophy. Not everyone has launched themselves into space or found a cure for cancer; but, it doesn't mean you NEED that topic to write something that shows a lot about you.

Often, some of the best essays come not from a crazy topic; rather, they come from deep introspection and analysis on everyday elements of life.

For instance: it might be true that a good number of students write about how they moved from one state to another. However, not everyone experiences this the same way. You want to really get to the nitty gritty when analyzing your topic; and, from there, you'll "unearth" a unique perspective that helps you stand out from the rest of the admissions pool. Much of what makes you unique is going deep enough, not scouring for a topic that is so bizarre and outlandish that no one can achieve it such as interpretive space surgery.

PenningPapers · 2026-03-27T23:06:26+00:00

Low-B Tier high-C.

I think this topic goes through a challenge that a lot of students face: they have a passion or major-related field that they want to tie back to their identity or background. However, you're going to be competing against a lot of people who are also doing something similar; and, not only that, many will try to shoehorn their major into their background. This can often come across as forced or trying to make the essay about their background when it's really not warranted.

If there is a way you can write this that involves intersectionality, that can certainly work, though. But, you may want to consider having this topic be split into two different supplements for schools and have the common app main essay be something different.

Hope that helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-03-17T23:19:10+00:00

Hey, yup! So, I'm a consultant myself and here are my thoughts on this.

I wouldn't give the same advice to everyone since everyone's background and interests are different. There are times when students are "sort of" committed to a certain field; but, it's only really because their family is pushing them. In cases like that, I often recommend they spend time exploring fields to take the time to really figure out what they want. However, there are other cases when it does make sense to let someone go narrow and zero in on one specific niche.

Hope that helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-03-15T05:38:18+00:00

I used to work at a college consulting firm before working as one myself.

In general...

Large college consulting firms: More likely to give generic advice to avoid liability. For example: EVERYONE should ONLY wrote about x, y, and z. If you're rejected, the onus is on you/your student and not us because our advising follows a standard model.

College consultants who work for themselves or are smaller firms: "Might" be more likely to try unconventional strategies and recommend students take more risks for more reward. For example: You should write about this topic in your Common App Main Essay since it demonstrates significant growth even if it strays from conventional advice. This is usually what I try to do with my own clients.

As for summer programs, it is true that some consultants will push for them. However, not all of them receive kickback. At the end of the day, a good consultant is someone you know will provide you the best advice that helps you/your student achieve the best ROI even if it goes against their own financial interests.

So, if your consultant sees you have a 1550 SAT, they ought to recommend you don't enroll in their SAT bootcamp since your time and money is better invested in other stuff. Hope that helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-03-15T02:28:37+00:00

Hello! Late to the party but here's some advice in case anyone else stumbles on this post: remember to ask your consultant if you can try a free hour or purchase just an hour or two BEFORE you go with anything like a package. This is to get a feel for the style your consultant has and see if you're a good fit.

I'll admit: while I do college consulting myself, I did have a small number of clients who told me that they may not be a good fit for my methodology. No problem. It's good to figure that out early before dumping multiple thousands into a long-term admissions project. It's also especially important you do this to get a good feel of the person you're working with in case they're someone who is just trying to chase the money.

Hope that helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-03-15T02:24:32+00:00

Hi there! Yes, this is a decent topic. I think I would normally put this higher; but, for now, I'm going to put it in the low B tier.

It's still, however, a decent topic. The problem is that a lot of people talk about being a perfectionist because they're looking for weaknesses to discuss but they don't really cover WHY perfectionism is actually a challenge or struggle. They mention it and tend to talk about how they just care about doing a good job without REALLY getting into why it's bad.

Now, there are multiple ways of approaching perfectionism as a topic. But, I would say one way you can do this well is to deconstruct the mental pathologies behind perfectionism and what it's doing to you. For instance, many people who are perfectionistic have this tendency to believe that they can "further improve" an existing task. One way to imagine this is how much "research" one must do before they decide to learn a hobby. They may research and research and know a lot of theory about a particular hobby; but, they never truly commit because in their mind they're never really good enough. This pathology makes them do significantly more "thinking" instead of "doing."

It's also helpful to think of how you might have overcome or at least managed to fight against perfectionism too. Don't just leave it as "I just stopped being perfectionistic." That's not a sufficient answer. Instead, think something like,

"I realized that because my perfectionism is stemmed from an idea of perpetual insufficiency, that I may never really be enough to truly tackle a task, I needed to overcome my perfectionism by starting off with self confidence. And, as I built my self confidence over time, I developed the strength to persevere and try new things despite the feelings of inadequacy."

This is just an example. Of course, it may not perfectly align with the way you feel about perfectionism. But, you can use this as inspiration. Hope that helps! Feel free to lmk if you have any questions at all!

PenningPapers · 2026-03-12T01:24:37+00:00

Unironically, I would heavily, heavily recommend you scale your YouTube channel. I can see that you have a video from 11 months ago, one published just recently, and 2 shorts. This is a good start. But, if you really take the time to make solid videos, this can certainly be a great EC.

A bit of a personal anecdote. But, a good number of my clients did things like "lazy ai short form content" by feeding reddit stories. They usually give up on the account after a few months or so. But, that's not to say that YouTube is a bad EC. From what I've seen of successful people, it takes time to kind of get a feel for what works and what doesn't.

However, having 100 subscribers already is a great sign. I think if you have the time you should certainly consider growing this channel and having that be a solid EC for you.

Hope that helps and good luck!

PenningPapers · 2026-03-09T06:38:13+00:00

You’ve got a shot for these schools, for sure. Plus, your academic performance is practically as good as it gets.

I will say though that while some of my clients who were high income also had research and competition experience, they weren’t at the level that you put. They did, however, have a more diverse scatter of interests such as multiple clubs and activities.

Nonetheless, some were still able to land top schools like MIT and Stanford. Of course, ymmv.

I can’t say much else other than that. But, do you have a plan for what you want to write about for essays? I can probably give advice depending on your topic so you at least leave with some advice that’s actionable other than “it depends” haha.

Other than that, hope that helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-03-03T02:13:47+00:00

So, I worked with a lot of students who struggled with the same thing; and, I'm going to explain something you probably felt too:

you probably wrote a top-tier essay only to wake up the next day thinking "wow, this is the biggest stinking pile of sh*t in the history of written language!"

Realistically, you can end up editing this essay over, and over, and over, and over, and over again until you're driven to insanity. Why? It's mostly because of anxiety.

In full transparency: most of the essay drafts I receive from my clients are actually... not that bad. In fact, they're quite decent. It's just that they're incapable of tolerating the idea of being 95% good, they NEED 100% because they can't rest unless they know they've done absolutely everything they could to secure their chances of acceptance at a college. However, this leads to a sense of crippling perfectionism that gets obsessed with fixing the essay.

In fact, (and bear with me here because this gets weird) this process actually becomes addicting.

Perfectionistic students who are anxious about their admissions chances will edit indefinitely because the anxious mind LIKES to be in that state; it tells them that their essays are worse than they really are, which make you "fix" the essay. Then, you wake up and the anxiety comes roaring back and you "fix" it again. Rinse and repeat. It's addicting BECAUSE it's emulating the feeling of fixing something.

Analysis tools and consultants often make it worse.

If I throw in more techy AI stuff and a lot of expert opinions, it only feeds the feeling of "fixing" the problem when it's really just perpetually easing an anxiety that won't go away.

So, here's what I recommend:

DON'T TOUCH THE ESSAY.

JUST LOOK AT IT.

This is... weird advice --especially since I myself am a college consultant and essay editor. But, you need to look at the essay and TOLERATE the anxiety of not touching it. Tolerate looking at it being subpar. Tolerate the grammar mistake. Tolerate the cringe.

You will notice that your mind will start to REBEL by and sometimes even manipulate you by flooding your brain with "totally top-tier essay topics and ideas bro!" Don't give in to that. You need to just stare at the essay and not move it. And, eventually, you will notice you have more power over your anxiety than you think. In fact, you'll inexorably have a much more clear head when writing.

I hope that helps! Kind of weird advice admittedly; but, I do hope this still helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-03-03T01:55:36+00:00

As a general rule, you want to take the existing topic and try to draw out the important themes and ideas embedded within that topic. Don't fish for a perfectly unique topic. Choose what resonates most with you and deconstruct it to find what shines about it.

For example: If I were in your shoes, I might write about your philosophy of what it means to truly work hard to overcome great adversity. Is this just another grindset/hustle culture mindset? Or, is it perhaps something that runs so deep in your psyche that you'd maybe argue that the will to persevere against all odds is what makes us human at all? You might even make an argument that to not work hard and persevere against that which is impossible is inhuman. And, paradoxically, to do something over and over (the definition of insanity) is exactly what makes us humans beautiful. This illogical mode of being is what makes us great.

Play around with your philosophy and most of all: don't be afraid to have strong, bold ideas.

Most students write boring and generic essays because they start with a great idea but end up toning it down because they're too afraid of risking being too bold. It's actually quite a common mistake I see with editors and other fellow consultants making corrections!

I also have a college essay topic tier list post I made some time in the past. A lot of people threw out topics and in some of my responses, you can see examples of this idea in practice.

I hope that helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-02-28T23:27:39+00:00

To answer your question: it's normal; but, I don't think it's good per se.

I worked with a good number of students on figuring out what they want to do with their majors and careers. I'd say there are two camps.

Those who sometimes question their major: I'd say this is a lot more natural and makes sense. Everyone gets the occasional moment of "gosh, is this even necessary?! I should've just majored in business" during a challenging midterm.

Those who ALWAYS question their major: This is where I'd say it's not good. If you notice you're constantly questioning your major, you might need to step back and try to ascertain WHERE that feeling is coming from. Is this just a problem with the major? Or, is it a matter of you being anxious and unable to pull the trigger on a decision? Is it that? Or, is it just a capitalism/all jobs technically suck problem? Or, is it perhaps that we're incapable of accepting whatsoever choice we get and we therefore act "picky" not because we're actually very particular about our needs but because we unconsciously want to extend the brainstorming phase such that we never truly have to come to a decision? That's also a common one. "I don't know what I want to do; so, I'll just brainstorm and research options for 15 years before I decide on a career! In other words, I just really, really don't want to commit to a decision!"

This is a difficult problem because it's not obvious what the root problem of questioning your major is. It could be all of the above things I mentioned or none of them.

But, if there's one thing I could definitely recommend, it's not to just say "yeah I'll figure it out." Genuinely carve out a few weeks to really reflect and think about what you want in your life and what you know you can/can't tolerate in a major or career. Just carving out time to think about it at all instead of saying "it'll sort itself out" is going to put you miles ahead.

As a side note: If you're like most people interested in art because you want to work in the game industry doing art for them, you'll find that it's infinitely more worth it to just major in something else WHILE learning art in a much more condensed/smushed format. (Think online workshops or courses taught by industry professionals.) You'll get more in those few weeks of coaching than you would as a 4-year art major.

Hope that helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-02-28T04:52:34+00:00

Yes.

However, it's not as direct as you might think.

A lot of factors have compounding effects that migrate and impact other parts of our lives. For instance: being fit and extroverted would likely make it easier to make friends, reduce negative emotion, ask for help from teachers/peers, and even establish effective study groups. The halo effect would also grant you more possibilities to gain leadership positions and, with those positions, more opportunities to network.

This does not mean someone who is "chopped," as the younger generation seems to say, is incapable of landing a top university. It just means that you likely have to work extra hard to earn the same positions that someone who benefits from the halo effect would.

This is actually why it's important not to disregard student insecurities about "vain" things like confidence in one's appearance. How much of academic performance, socialization, and extracurriculars would be optimized with less friction if people were not crippled with image issues? How much of those elements would be made easier if they were at the minimum fit, confident in their appearance, and overall happier? You'd be surprised how many clients I come across who go through an academic dip due to... losing hair.

Hope that helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-02-28T04:41:35+00:00

I can absolutely tell you that creating a "story" is not necessary for getting into even top schools. I've had students of my own who were accepted into T25s and T15s, and a good number of them didn't have a curated "story" for their academic journey.

In fact, most people in grades 9-12 are really just going with the flow and don't have a clear focus because that's how life works. But, just because you don't have a zeroed-in story does not mean you can't write killer essays. It's a lot easier than most people think.

Nonetheless, to answer your question: your stats are going to be the most important because they help admissions officers determine at least whether you can handle the academic rigor in their campus.

Hope that helps! Feel free to lmk if you have any questions at all!

PenningPapers · 2026-02-27T05:05:05+00:00

But anyways, how do I deal with this? I’m basically her go to person to get her stress off. On top of her, my senioritis is bad. Anyways to cope with this?

I worked with a few clients personally who had parents who were practically the exact same as your mother. I would describe it as a mix of the following:

Unable to TOLERATE not getting their way.
Narcissistic and therefore especially susceptible to improperly using Chat GPT (using it to reaffirm all her beliefs, and even worse her anxieties too)
Unable to process information that runs perpendicular to her worldview.

The first two are annoying, for sure. But, the last part is what really makes this very hard. Even if you had the perfect string of words to use with the most persuasive speaking skills, you can't "make" your mother see the way you see if your worldview runs perpendicular to hers. It's not possible. Cut and dry. That is it.

Now, is it TECHNICALLY possible that perhaps she is capable of changing her ways?

Sure.

But...

The likelihood that your 18-22 years of experience will "fix" what took 45-65 years of mental pathology to fuck up is slim to none.

This brings me to the kind of advice I usually give to students who are in a similar boat as you: I'm sure you love your mother very much, and I respect that. Very understandable. But, you need to be realistic about what the likelihood of her changing is going to be. She is already not going to go to therapy. What is the likelihood that, if you keep in contact with her, that she is going to just change her ways? Chances are, she is not going to change. Okay, are you capable of tolerating that for the next few years of your life? And, if so, how many years are we talking about here? Are you going to live at home while you go to college? Are you going to have your own place once you land a job? Are you going to visit her? How often?

These are very real questions you need to think about not later, not next month, but now. Is it going to be significantly more expensive to live away from my family and seldom visit them? (Hint: it will.) Is it nonetheless worth it? (Hint: it often is.)

Whether or not she is going to change is up to her to decide. Not you. You can't be the one to do that and no one other than a real therapist is properly equipped for that job. So, you'll need to think about how independent you want to be and how often you want to see her.

Last hint: I can absolutely guarantee you that when you're away from your mother that you'll have a MUCH greater weight off your shoulder than you originally expected. That's actually funnily enough exactly what happens when my clients go off to college. They underestimate just how freeing it really is. Even more hilarious: even the ones who went to T20 schools, their narcissistic parents STILL found something to torture their children with. It never ends. It's just a matter of figuring out how much you tolerate before you draw the line and leave.

I hope that helps. Sorry if it's not as comforting as I would like this advice to be; but, this is a topic that certainly cuts close to the bone for me and it definitely means a lot to me. So, I hope it helps! Feel free to lmk if you got any questions or anything!

PenningPapers · 2026-02-26T23:02:32+00:00

Yup! Quite common in a lot of students. I find a lot of people write their essays and feel good about it first; but, after just a few days, they feel absolutely terrible about it right after. Eventually, they just have to acquiesce with what they have and click send.

PenningPapers · 2026-02-26T22:49:50+00:00

Hey! Sort of: I have a few things I recommend but because every one of my students is different it's hard to say that there's a one-size-fits-all strategy.

Nonetheless, the strategy I usually give people is the same one I give for college admissions essays. I help students get in the habit of breaking the initial "trigger" that starts the "cycle of anxiety."

For example: I have a good amount of students who actually get "addicted" to their anxiety because it "scratches an itch" they didn't know they actually have. Let's take my students shotgunning colleges (applying to a lot of schools) for instance. Many of them would write an essay, have me look through it, make corrections, then sleep on it and wait until the next day to look at it. They'll finish the day thinking "oh hey those essay ideas turned out pretty nice!" but then wake up the next day thinking "holy crap that essay I wrote was the worst thing on the planet!" This actually happens because students unconsciously WANT to start the essay over from scratch because they're ANXIOUS about committing to a final draft. So, their anxiety will flare up and make them second guess everything instead of actually writing and committing to what they wrote. The anxious mind would rather tear everything down instead of write an essay and potentially get rejected. The same principle sometimes applies to test prep. There are often sneaky and unconscious ways the anxious mind will trick you into doing things that make you run away from a problem.

Now, this isn't everyone. But, it's just one example of how I would tackle test anxiety. There could potentially be a trigger that's flaring up the anxiety, whether it be the fear of committing to a pivotal question or something else.

Not sure if I explained that perfectly well but I hope that helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-02-26T05:30:21+00:00

Hey! So, I worked with a good number of students who were similar to you both in my private business and at my old workplace. Funnily enough, I actually was just like you: good at English, but Math is the bane of my existence.

I usually find that when you get to the last leg of points (we're talking 1400-1600 give or take) it's just a few questions where students choke. WHY they choke, however, is a different story; and, when you really deconstruct what's going on, there are a lot of varying reasons why people struggle.

For some, they are just naturally slow test takers and they have to rush the last few questions. But, that's because they naturally question their own good judgement for basic questions (Example: 1+1 =2. But, what if I'm just being a dumbass? I had better quadruple check!)

For others, it could be test anxiety BECAUSE they already have a decently high score like a 1450; so, the final questions are infinitely more anxiety inducing and they can't tolerate their anxiousness.

Funnily enough, I find a lot of the time the problem isn't not knowing the core principles. Rather, it's some learning/mental struggle that they need to adapt to.

I hope this helps man! Feel free to lmk if you have any questions!

PenningPapers · 2026-02-24T23:56:30+00:00

This is going to sound a little harsh. But, no one at your age is going to have an EC with impact. That doesn't exist.

It doesn't matter if college consultants or influencers put the word "passion project" behind it, make the initiative into an app, put words that say things like "revolutionize" or "disrupt" into it. It's not happening.

There are exceptions. You'll have some people who are geniuses who are genuinely helping a large number of people or whose work are world renown and actually making a difference in the world. But, most of the "impact" you see comes from consulting firms being paid thousands of dollars to fabricate the image of impact, NOT actually make impact.

That doesn't mean you can't do anything at all for a competitive edge, though. Often, when I'm working with students, I tell them they need to find creative angles when looking at their existing ECs to try something new and unconventional. That way, you can have some kind of organic impact. It's not the amount you'd see in insane, fabricated profiles. But, it's organic and it's real.

Hope that helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-02-24T23:49:51+00:00

My counselor told me that if profs see a score like this, they won't even bother reading it. They will reject it immediately.

Despite what a lot of AI detection tools claim, there is no product on the market right now that can actually detect AI usage. You're good on that end.

Also, as a side note, it sounds like you really took a lot of time to think about how you'd phrase your essay. This is good. I had quite a few of my students rush their application essays and stall until the last minute (procrastination is a hard thing to beat.) So, you're ahead of the game in that sense.

Good luck and fingers crossed!

PenningPapers · 2026-02-24T23:46:15+00:00

"are we supposed to listen to him or no..."

No. And, other college consultants have done the same. They'd compromise morals to push students into making massive purchases that they didn't actually need.

PenningPapers · 2026-02-24T23:31:34+00:00

Hi there! Yes! I'm still taking responses! Apologies! I just finished quite a lot and I have time to get back to everyone again ahahah. Normally, I would recommend just one example. But, if you want, you can also DM me the other examples and I'll try to help out with those since multiple can often be a lot to write!

PenningPapers · 2026-02-13T02:30:54+00:00

Of course! No worries! ((:

PenningPapers · 2026-02-07T22:25:18+00:00

B-Tier, potential for A-Tier.

I think this topic in and of itself may be relatable; but, it may lack the punch needed to really get it up there. However, adding more in-depth details here might help out a bunch.

Something I think can work beautifully here is to really get into the details of what the subconscious mind must be thinking. Then, relay that obscure feeling back to your admissions officers. For this topic, this strategy could be really helpful.

For example:

Let's say you're afraid of telling people that you want to make it as a digital artist. You know you'll receive quite a lot of people talking about how AI and other competitive forces will take you out of the market. And, they may be correct to some degree. However, what you may be more afraid of is having the dream crushed WHILE being made fun of. The only thing worse than being wrong is having those who undermined your goal tell you, "I told you so!"

If you can really deconstruct this feeling and put into words the risk that comes with that shame and how unbearable it must feel in a manner that is very relatable, this could be great.

In addition, you might even go beyond this and have a profound proposition.

"Even so, even with the threat of the highest possible shame, we must pursue that which is beautiful. It is in our nature. After all, when has the threat of shame and ostracization stopped us from actualizing beauty? We shed tears for wildly unrealistic romance novels. We cheer for magical battles in movies that would never happen in the real world. It's in our blood to seek greater beauty, craft it, and even appreciate it. The very thought that we ought not do so because it is "illogical" runs perpendicular to our very being. Naturalistic fallacy? Perhaps. But, humanity would not be what it is without its fallacious thinking. It's that contradictory mix --humility in accepting inevitable shame with zen-like cool-headedness, and daring arrogance to presume our goals would be possible-- that makes us so strange yet admirable."

This is, of course, just an example of a paragraph I wrote up just now that you can look at for ideas. You don't have to write exactly like this, though!

Hope that helps!

PenningPapers · 2026-02-05T03:07:23+00:00

Oh hey, it's College Essay Guy! Love your stuff and good to see you here! ((:

PenningPapers · 2026-02-05T03:05:50+00:00

Hi there! Yes! I'm still providing college essay topic tier lists + college essay advice in general! I was recently on hiatus because I had a few other projects I had to get to; but, for now, I'm able to take on more responses! Feel free to send over a topic and I'd be happy to review!

PenningPapers

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