High Flyers

I'd like to talk for a moment about very ambitious students aiming for elite colleges because in my experience, every student is very ambitious and every student is aiming for elite colleges and universities.

But.

I know. I’m an English major. I realize that by adding that “but” after what I’ve just said negates everything after. I teach my students this. I call it the “I love you but” lecture.

But.

These highly selective colleges and universities are looking at the larger pool of applicants.

In the industry, we call these students “high flyers.”

What's a high flyer?

Parents often come to me and argue that their student is a high flyer (even if that student is not.)

Look, I get it. I'm a parent. This is your baby. I feel the same way about the students that I work with.

But.

A true high flyer has straight As.

Lots of times, parents will come to me and say, “Well, my student has straight As except for that, you know, first semester of AP Chem.”

That's not straight As.

That's not a high flyer.

Many, many, many students graduate high school with all As, never got a B, completed rigorous AP, IB, DE, or CLEP courses.

It's very common for students to graduate high school with a 4.5 GPA. It may be less common at a particular high school, but it’s quite common in the larger pool of applicants nationwide.

A high school profile is a document that summarizes a high school's key information for college admissions officers. It’s usually included in a student's college application. It includes

• Information about the school community

• Graduation requirements

• Grading and reporting procedures

• A description of student learning experiences and opportunities

• The curriculum

• Grade distribution

• Average test scores

• College acceptances

In addition to grades, standardized test scores, and a high school profile, “High Flyers” have something else: they have beyond interesting extracurriculars.

It's not that they were student body president or they founded a club at their school.

Beyond interesting means they did an eight-week internship at a college lab where their final project was they co-authored a published paper. They won their state or national championship in their sport. They developed a patent. They founded a nonprofit.

This high flyer designed in high school the drone that Virginia Tech students used to win the 2024 Collegiate Drone Racing Championship:

These are not your typical high school students.

They've gone above and beyond what their peers do in addition to top grades and rigor. Colleges have deep respect for this.

It's not just top grades and rigor that make students a High Flyer, it's the beyond interesting extracurriculars and how these students compare to the larger pool of applicants at highly selective schools.

When a student comes to me with a list of a lot of highly selective schools, I'm in the back of my mind thinking about the larger pool of applicants and GPA, standardized test scores, what does your high school profile look like, and how much of that did you take advantage of?

Let's see your beyond interesting extracurriculars.

When students get to the step of building a list of colleges, it's important to think about that larger pool of applicants, because there's that whole “sorting hat” process that happens in the middle.

There are 27,000 public and private high schools in the U. S. Highly selective colleges and universities routinely deny 75 percent of all valedictorians.

The high school profile tells a lot about a student. Again, if it was offered and the student didn't take advantage of it, if a student’s grades and test scores are not exceptional, if an applicant’s extracurriculars are not beyond interesting to discuss, this student is not a high flyer.