Command Education: Helping Students Make the College Admissions Cut
Photos by: Udo Spreitzenbarth
When we think of elite American colleges like Harvard, Yale or Stanford, academic excellence immediately comes to mind. It’s no secret that admission to top schools requires grades and test scores that are well above average. But in the current era of competitive college admissions, those are only enough to get an applicant’s foot in the door. While a 4.0 and perfect SAT scores could have landed you a spot at Harvard in the 1990s, the admission landscape has evolved significantly since then, and with it, myths and misconceptions about the process have skyrocketed.
So how exactly can a student stand out from the crowd? The answer, according to Christopher Rim, Founder and CEO of boutique college consulting firm Command Education, may not be as straightforward as one hopes. “It’s not just about grades or test scores anymore. Students need to show that they have explored their passions and made a lasting, positive impact on their communities.”
Melody of New York was one such student. She performed well at Trinity School, receiving mostly straight A’s and scoring a 1560 on her SATs. Her main interest, however, was literature. She was passionate about writing and spent time after school tutoring elementary school students in English. Eventually, Melody became aware of the plight of newly-arrived refugees to the U.S., as well as the lack of educational resources available to them. She decided to combine her lifelong love of literature with her desire to aid these refugees but wasn’t sure where to start.
Melody got to work researching how to get connected with refugees in need, and after dozens of cold emails, partnered with a global aid organization that provided her with the contacts necessary to get her project off the ground. She developed her own curriculum and started a book club for refugees aged 13-18, in which she not only helped them strengthen their English language skills, but also introduced them to her favorite childhood novels and stories, from Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Treeto Homer’s The Odyssey. Eventually, her project’s original NY chapter spread to several chapters across the globe, and Melody became a promising name in refugee advocacy.
What Melody demonstrated to colleges was the critical X factor that so many schools are looking for: impact. She not only excelled at an elite private high school that offered her a plethora of state-of-the-art academic resources, but she also went the extra mile to make real change in her community and create a butterfly effect of activism with her peers. By dedicating so much time and energy to her passion, Melody not only made an impact but also ended up with a college application that made her stand out from the crowd and ultimately gain admission to her dream school, Brown University.
Founded in 2015, Command Education, a boutique college consulting firm, works with students like Melody to help them craft compelling applications centered on their authentic passions. Ultimately, top schools have their pick of the litter. With most schools having received a record-breaking number of applications last year, 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. 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.
But how exactly can a student authentically build the memorable, compelling profile that schools are looking for? 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 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 develop 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.”
The core focus of any high school student who has ambitious goals for college should be to explore and develop their passions and end high school having made an impact in one of those passions. Command Education’s mentors help students through this process and work with the student to identify and develop those interests. For example, one student’s main passion was poetry. After a few sessions with his mentor, this student discovered his passion for foreign languages, along with the creative aspect of writing poetry. From there, Command Education helped him create a multilingual poetry magazine and guided him on marketing it to secure submissions from teens around the world. This student from New York City recently received admission to Stanford University.
The critical component in any successful application is authenticity, which is why Command Education mentors take their time to get to know their students and identify their genuine interests. Oftentimes, parents may see this process as manufacturable and think that a flurry of strategic moves can win their child admission to a top-tier school. However, this is far from true. If a student does not have an inherent, authentic passion for the work they are doing, they will not be able to commit the necessary time and effort into making an authentic impact. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to this process.
When a student successfully identifies and develops their authentic passions, they reap the benefits of their hard work, and parents are more often than not thrilled. One such parent wrote to Rim, “Your team, ethos, and work ethic are truly world class. I am grateful you were a part of Darren’s life. Thank you again for all your help and guidance, and the dedication you showed my son!”
What colleges are truly looking for is the young generation’s movers and shakers, the changemakers and leaders. When a student demonstrates that they have left a lasting impact on their community, a college knows that they will go on to make a similar impact on their own campus and beyond. By dedicating their time in high school to meaningful and authentic activities that reflect their genuine passions, students can vastly improve their chances of standing out in the competitive college admissions process.
