How Parents Can Help Their Child Get Into the Ivy League

Harvard. Princeton. Yale. Getting accepted by an Ivy League college is every high school student’s dream. But college admissions can be very intense for both students and parents who are anxiously awaiting the results of every application, ready to celebrate or provide consoling. It’s not only the parents of seniors who are feeling the pressure. I’ve noticed that every year, the stress of ensuring students are on the right track, enrolled in the proper courses, adding the right extracurriculars, and developing an outstanding summer plan can be a huge task. All of this begs the question: how can you best support your student, who is dying to get into an Ivy League college? At the same time, you want them to be independent and work closely with the family. Following are key suggestions that can lead to success in the admissions process.

What Ivy League Schools Value

When students move from middle school to high school, everything becomes much more important. Grades, test scores, extracurricular achievements, and leadership roles all take on great importance, especially for students aiming for Ivy League colleges. As a parent, it can be stressful to think that a single bad grade or low test score could be the thing that keeps your child from gaining admission to their dream school. It’s impossible to prevent failure, and doing so risks raising kids who have not had a chance to develop resilience. Instead, we encourage parents to give their students grace when, inevitably, they do experience a failure. We also recommend providing the resources to support them as they work to recover. Tutoring can help address poor grades and test scores, while carving out extra time for training can help with athletics and streamlining unenjoyable extracurriculars can yield more room to focus on important activities. By combining empathy and encouragement with practical support, you’ll give your child opportunities to recover from disappointment on their own terms.

The Key Role of Parenting

It can be tempting to direct your child's behavior, especially when they need to succeed. While establishing rules are a key component of successful parenting, it’s also a good idea to take a step back and see if you can let your student take the lead. Particularly when it comes to helping students identify their interests and find ways to actively engage with them, suggestions are generally more effective than demands. Do you have the sense your student might be a future engineer? If so, offer them an opportunity to accompany you to a work event. Are you impressed by their talent for creative writing? Ask them if they’d like to try a short creative writing class to see if the experience brings them happiness. By offering this exploration as an opportunity for self-discovery, rather than a directive from mom or dad, you can help your student identify and find excitement in their authentic interests.

Planning for the Ivy League

It’s easy for parents to take the lead on college planning. Maybe you loved your alma mater and can easily envision your child there. Perhaps you can’t imagine them thriving at a large school when they’ve always done best in small, academically-focused environments. In our experience, students value the knowledge of their parents, but feel most empowered when they are able to make their own decisions about where to apply. Thus, we encourage parents to take their students to visit all of the Ivy League schools; you may be surprised by the ones your child likes the most. These visits can provide the basis for productive family conversations about everything from a school’s atmosphere to its cost to its mental health resources. The end result is a college selection process that feels like a successful team effort, one where parents add insights and students have agency.

How the College Admissions Experts Can Help

At the end of every admissions season, we get wonderful thank you notes from students and parents that note our guidance, encouragement, and expertise. It’s no secret that students are more often willing to take advice from an expert than they are from a parent, especially during the high school years, when energy is high and patience is low. It can be essential for families to have an expert help out with conversations about test scores, extracurricular activities, and college essays. This isn’t just the case with college counseling; it’s also true when it comes to academic tutoring and research mentorship. While there’s no need to outsource all activities, enlisting a third party to process stressful topics and situations can go a long way toward aiding families.

Closing Thoughts 

To help your child excel during high school and increase the odds of being accepted to an Ivy League school, reach out to The College Admissions Experts for a free consultation. They are one of the top educational consulting firms in the country. Their website is collegeadmissionsexperts.com