That said, most of the students that I have seen get in to ivies do either "have it all" or have a compelling personal story.
I agree. I know 2 kids who got into Stanford last year and one was a start athlete with professional potential and the other was a minority student. My conclusion was that we can't make DD into one of these even if we tried so why worry about it?
Maybe I'm being too negative but I think being a young applicant can be a double-edge sword. It may be a hook in a way that you stand out and it shows academic talent but then the question becomes, what has he done with his talent and what is his passion? Or is he "just" a very good student? It boggles my mind that being a good student or even an exceptional student isn't good enough but I've seen them be turned down from ivies and other elite colleges year after year.
