What Kind of Essay Gets You Into the Ivy League?

Why the startup kid got rejected and the hashtag kid got in

A story making the rounds online is about an 18-year-old with a 4.0 GPA, a 34 ACT score (99th percentile), and a successful startup—who was rejected from every Ivy League school he applied to. After he posted his personal statement online, it quickly drew backlash.

Commenters said that instead of highlighting his effort or struggles or what he would contribute to the campus, he wrote about his startup success and implied that he didn’t need college, a misstep that might’ve hurt his chances. Many people suggested that his essay was the reason for his rejections. I’m sanitizing here. Online, the reactions were less polite.

More people are dunking on this kid's essay for writing about building a successful company and getting rejected than the kid a few years ago who wrote #blacklivesmatter 100 times in a row and got into Stanford, Princeton, Yale, etc. More respect for the cheat code than hard work.

The kid’s essay highlighted his startup success but failed to translate that achievement into the class-coded language that signals worthiness to elite institutions. In elite circles, overt pride in your accomplishments is frowned upon unless softened by artful and strategic humility. You can brag, but only if you disguise it as modesty.

What happened to him didn’t surprise me. What still surprises me is how close I came to the same outcome. Until someone taught me the unspoken rules.