The 60-40 Problem

1:1 College Advisory Introductory Call

There’s something I want to clear up, because it causes a lot of unnecessary stress for families.

The college application isn’t mysterious.

And it isn’t random, actually.

It's roughly 60–40.

About 60% of an admissions decision is academic-based.

Grades. Course rigor. SAT or ACT scores.  

(Sidebar: all admissions officers would rather see test scores than not see them. Because they're more accurate predictors of a kid's ability to do college-level work.)

Those things matter. A lot.

But they're not the whole story. Here’s the part that surprises people.

The other 40% is where outcomes really separate.

Part of the 40% is stuff that's out of your control:  race (still), your high school, your zip code, whether your parents went to college.

Then there's the rest of the story, where admissions officers consider questions like:

Who is this student, really?

What VALUE will they add to campus?

What story does this application tell (when we read it quickly, the way we actually read files)?

That 40% is where extracurricular activities either blur together or suddenly make sense.

It's where essays live. 

It’s where two students with nearly identical transcripts can end up with very different results.

Most families and school counselors  over-focus on the 60% because it’s obvious and visible.

You can measure it. Track it. Compare it.

But you'll fall short of your college goals if you ignore the rest of the story.

The 40% is harder.

It requires judgment and perspective.  Even restraint, at times.

And that’s where most applications quietly fall apart.

Not because the student isn’t strong. 

It's because they haven't shaped the meaning of what they’ve already done.

This is why I do the work the way I do.

By the time we’re working together, we’re usually not trying to “fix” the student's academic and extracurricular profile.

We’re translating it -- helping admissions officers see the person you already know.

If this framing changes how you’re thinking about your child’s application, that’s intentional.

If you want to chat about all of this, the window of opportunity is about to shut within the next three-four days, best guess.

Here's where to book an introductory call about college advising for your kiddo.

<<1:1 College Advisory Introductory Call>>

-Andy

P.S. - Most families obsess over the 60% and give lip service to the 40%.  Or student does a LOT of stuff that "looks good for college," but it doesn't work because everyone else is doing the same thing.

Then they wonder why their high-achieving kid gets rejected.

The 40% is where we win. That's what P4 Private College Advising is designed to solve.