Narrators are on their hero's journey, and it shows through their writing. Storytelling has captivated audiences for millennia, and admissions officers are no exception, a well told story is hard not to root for. Ethan knew his stats alone wouldn't set him apart. His GPA was in the top 10% of his class and his extracurriculars were solid but not extraordinary, so he leaned entirely on how he told his story. For his personal statement, he connected his academic interests directly to the hardest thing he'd been through, the loss of his father when he was young, and he built the whole essay around a single extended metaphor.

Underdogs face the odds stacked against them and buckle down anyway. Colleges love this archetype because it proves a student's work ethic will keep showing up long after admission, wherever life gets hard next. As a low income student, Ethan didn't have access to the private lessons or expensive sports his peers used to build their resumes, and for a while, he assumed that gap meant he was only an "above average" student headed for an "okay" school. It wasn't until he sat down and actually looked at everything he'd built that he realized how much he'd underestimated himself.

Jack-of-All-Trades students are well rounded, curious, and hungry to try everything a school offers. The trick is showing admissions you're not just doing everything, you're combining what you learn across those fields into something new. Ethan was in the World Language Club and the Gay-Straight Alliance alongside a handful of STEM clubs, and rather than list them as scattered activities, he deliberately grouped them into themes, social movement clubs on one side, STEM clubs on the other, so his application read as focused rather than random.

Getting into Princeton wasn't a straight line for Ethan, he was waitlisted there and at Columbia. Instead of waiting quietly, he treated his letter of continued interest like another piece of writing worth getting right, using it to keep telling his story past the point most applicants stop.

That follow up worked. Ethan was one of just 36 students accepted off Princeton's waitlist that cycle, something he credits entirely to how he used his senior year, not his original application.

• Wrote 80+ college application essays, grouped strategically by theme to show range without scattering • Grouped extracurriculars into two clusters: social movement clubs (World Language Club, Gay-Straight Alliance) and STEM clubs • Competed on math team, qualified for states, and won multiple awards during senior year • Secured a Common App fee waiver to make applying to top schools possible • Sent letters of continued interest to every school that waitlisted him

Story Over Stats A cohesive, honest narrative can do more for an application than a perfect resume. Admissions officers read thousands of essays; what stays with them is a story, not a number. Group Your Activities Around a Core Doing everything isn't the same as standing out. Clustering your activities around a few real themes shows focus, even if the activities themselves are varied. Financial Fit Matters as Much as Academic Fit Getting in isn't the finish line, being able to afford to go is. Research what a school will actually cost you before you fall in love with it. Waitlisted Isn't Rejected Staying active and communicative during the wait, and having real updates to share, can be the difference maker. Don't go quiet just because you're in limbo.

Q: Talk to me a little bit about your application journey. A: I actually think I started looking at colleges a lot later than most people. It was the summer before my senior year I started really looking into colleges, thinking what would be the best match for me. And then around September, I started talking to more people from my grade and I was like, I really think that a lot of the top colleges I could fit in and it is reachable for me. I researched a lot of the top colleges and I kind of just stuck my neck out and put myself out there and applied to them, because I ended up getting a Common App fee waiver which was really useful, because that was something I could not have done otherwise. So then I kind of just grinded on the college apps every night, since I got home from school at like 5 and then I grinded to like 9:00, did my homework from like 9:00 to 11:00, every single night. And I think the main thing that really got me in was my essays, because I stood out a little bit with my GPA, it was above average, I was in the top 10% of my class. My extracurriculars were fine, I did a lot in school, but I didn't do anything extraordinary outside of school. But I think what I really did well was I told a story through my essays, and that's what really worked well for me. Q: What did you write your essays about? A: There's so many essays I had to write, I think I had a list of like 80 that I had to write in total. So my big strategy was to kind of group them within certain topics, and I wanted to, for each essay per college, write about something different to broaden my range, to show that I was different in a lot of aspects, that I was good in a lot of different things. And I think the essay I was most proud of was my personal statement, which should be the one you're most proud of, it's the one you submit to everything and that's what they're really focusing on. I wrote that kind of about my life. I know you're not really meant to trauma dump, but I kind of did, but I did it in a really interesting way where I connected my academic interests, I used math metaphors throughout my entire essay, it was kind of one big math metaphor as well. And it was really, I thought it was really cool and I was really proud of it. And I really enjoyed writing my college apps, which I don't think is a very universal thing, and I think that really helped the readers read my college essays, as well as just to actually be motivated to do them. Q: How would you say your fit is, what do you most align with in the Princeton community? What's your general take on your first year? A: I think one thing that I found really unexpected was, when I got in, a lot of people from my high school were like, "Oh, this really prestigious school, there's going to be a lot of snotty and rich people, you're not going to fit in much." They didn't say that directly, of course, but it was clear what they meant. And then I got there and it was like, wow, everyone is so down to earth, everyone is so interesting, and they're not rude in any way. I think that's something Princeton, at least in my experience, has done really well, it's a very diverse group of people. I kind of expected it to be a lot more like people that I wouldn't belong with, but I have not had a single experience at Princeton that's not been positive. I think another thing that I found quite unexpected, I knew the classes were going to be really hard, but I did not expect the level of difficulty. I took a bunch of APs in high school and I was told APs are like the hardest level you're gonna get, and then I went to Princeton and it was like, wow, that was not hard at all. Q: What do you think made you stand out the most in your application to Princeton? A: I think it was probably the story that I built. I'm going to get a little personal here, but my dad died when I was really young. I think there's definitely certain aspects where, if you have a compelling emotional story, that'll really work out for you in your essays, and I think that worked out for me. And then I also think that I had a range of extracurriculars in a way that I could also group them together. I had a lot of cultural clubs, I was in the World Language Club, but I was also in the Gay-Straight Alliance, those can kind of be grouped together as social movement clubs, and then I was also in a lot of STEM clubs. So I think creating a story through your extracurriculars is a good way to stand out, because a lot of the top people at my high school, they just did everything, and that can work out, but they don't focus on certain topics. And that is important, especially for a school like Princeton, because they want to see that you're diverse, but you're also good at specific things. Q: What would you say the greatest thing you learned was through the process? A: I think I just learned a lot about how, I guess before the college process I was like a little bit above average of a student, and I'm going to get into an okay school, I'll be okay, but I'm not going to get into something incredible. And then as I sat down and looked at everything that I've accomplished, I was like, I'm a pretty good student. I think I just learned about myself in that way, I'm better than I thought I was. And I think a lot of low-income students could relate to that, because one thing about being low-income is that you don't have access to the resources that other people at your school may have access to. So if you see other people doing incredible things, it's something you might just not be able to afford to do. There's just a bunch of things that I couldn't afford, piano lessons, I couldn't afford all the things to do a sport that they're the varsity captain of, stuff like that. I think that was just a big reflecting point for me, that I did what I could, not what other people could do. Q: So many students are told by tools like their school's scattergram that they won't get into a school, or that their grades aren't good enough. What's your take on trusting your own story instead? A: My school just didn't have that much data on Naviance. There was no one from Princeton that had gotten in by the time we had started using it, so I didn't really have the data. But the data that was there did not show that I was going to get in by any means. And especially because Naviance only shows your GPA and your SAT, and SAT is a flawed system, colleges know that too. So it's not like your GPA and your SAT is the only thing that matters. Q: Any closing advice, or if you could go back and do anything differently? A: I think my biggest piece of advice, for at least low-income students, is to apply to schools that you think will fit you, because at the end of the day, they're going to pick people that they think fit them. So it's important, because if you're not going to fit there, why do all the application stuff. But also on top of that, don't apply to schools that you're not going to be able to afford, because I really badly wanted to go to the University of Michigan, and I ended up getting in, and I was waitlisted at Princeton and Columbia, which I ended up getting off the waitlist at both of them. So I had only gotten into the dream school that I wanted to get into, but then they wanted me to pay way too much, and it was heartbreaking for me because I just couldn't afford it, there was no way. So if I could go back, Common App only has 20 slots, I think I would switch it out for schools that were more affordable. Q: I know there's a distinction between need blind and need-based aid. Do you have any advice towards navigating the financial side? A: I think all the Ivies only give out need-based aid, which is great for low-income students, especially Princeton, Princeton is incredible. Also a lot of the top schools give it out for Michigan residents. But my general advice for low-income students is to go to a top school that's going to give you a good scholarship, or just probably stay in state at also a good school. Going out of state is probably just not going to be worth it, unless it's a really, really good school that you're going to be able to pay off the debt quickly, or they're going to give you money to be able to afford it. Q: Any advice for the waitlist? A: I'm not really sure how it worked out for me, but it worked out quite well. I sent a letter of continued interest to all the schools that I was waitlisted at, and what I focused on there was, I will go to your school if you accept me. I also updated them on things that I had done that year, I think my senior year was one of my biggest years in school, and a lot of that wasn't reflected on my actual application. I went to states for the math team, I won a bunch of awards. I think staying involved if you're on the waitlist is incredibly important, because then you can go back and write about that in your letter of continued interest, and they'll read about it, and that's another aspect of your application that they'll be like, "Wow, this is cool." I was one of the 36 people that got accepted off of the Princeton waitlist, and that's a crazy statistic. I think that's because of my senior year, not because of my original application.