Have you ever heard of the distinction between “old” and “new” money? Over the generations, those with old money have learned the art of concealing their wealth so as not to draw attention to it. Those with new money have the opposite ethos — they seek to flaunt their wealth to anyone and everyone. Regarding students of high socioeconomic status applying to elite colleges, adopting an old-money approach is better. Be careful not to show your privilege.

Admissions officers at highly selective colleges are duty-bound to curate diverse classes of incoming students. When you think of diversity, what do you think of it? Race, gender, and sexuality are important metrics, but what about class? Colleges have a responsibility to admit students from all income levels. The only problem is that, due to many explicit and implicit forces — such as the legacy admissions boost, the development case exception, the recruited athlete pipeline, and the socioeconomic correlates of strong academic performance — admissions pools to places like Harvard and Stanford overwhelmingly skew towards the well-off. 

The most obvious way colleges try to correct this imbalance is by prioritizing the admission of low-income and first-generation college students. This won’t surprise anyone who has seen a college brochure or press release, which often touts the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the student body. However, first-generation and low-income status are not the only indicators of socioeconomic status that admissions officers use to distinguish between applicants.

Showing Your Privilege on College Applications

No matter your family’s income level, coming across as wealthy jeopardizes your chances of admission to a highly selective college. If you want admissions officers to admit you, you must take precautions against flaunting your wealth on your application. This means not highlighting your expensive international trip to a foreign country last summer in your essays (even if it was a service-based trip or mission trip!). It means not including that pre-college summer program on an elite college campus your parents shelled out thousands of dollars for. You might think this activity demonstrates your commitment to learning, but all it does is sound the alarm that your family has money to burn, which makes you seem less diverse, less likable, and, therefore, less admissible.

Many students and families struggle to accept that all the money and resources they poured into activities meant to help their odds of elite college admission have hurt their chances. This also goes for lucrative internships, opportunities secured through parents’ connections, and any other program or activity with a high buy-in fee. So what is an academically ambitious student to do instead?

Save Money While Securing Admission With a Singular Hook With Ivy Coach’s Help

Instead of investing in the opportunities that signal you think you can buy your way into an elite undergraduate education, focus on how you can impact your local community with a singular hook oriented around a specific cause, discipline, passion, or pursuit. Admissions officers would much rather see that you spent your summer conducting research at your local community college, volunteering at a local nonprofit that ties to your interests and future major, or working a good old-fashioned summer job than jet-setting halfway around the world on an exclusive experience that your money or privilege gave you access to, no matter how noble your intentions are!

Ivy Coach’s clients are no strangers to concealing privilege. Our team of former elite college admissions officers is well-versed in concealing an aspect of one’s identity that’s not necessarily the most competitive for elite college admissions. We will help you or your child select the activities that make you seem down-to-earth, genuinely compassionate, and yes, highly admissible. We’ve never believed that a high price tag means impressing application readers because we have firsthand experience in the elite admissions offices where these decisions are made.

If you’re interested in optimizing your child’s odds of admission to a highly selective college, fill out our complimentary consultation form and we’ll be in touch.