Early this afternoon, I had an appointment with a junior in high school that is preparing for college. He has extremely high test scores, great grades in competitive classes, and a bounty of serious extracurricular activities. Extremely well organized his resume is being fine tuned, he has made a list of college with majors of interest, and is up-to-date on Naviance. What could be missing? For one as we discussed no college visits- for another outside of having the major he did not know the ideology and differences between colleges. With so many students from around the globe applying- it is more important to establish relationships when possible rather then apply now buy later. Examples in New York--NYU, Columbia and Barnard--to develop good applications the applicant needs to know the significant differences between these schools. Recently, I spent many hours teaching a reluctant applicant about this. On April 1, she was accepted to the school of her dreams-with lower SAT scores, grades, and competitive classes then necessary- I am convinced this is because her essays and supplements were targeted to the colleges mission. When my student left today, he had scheduled his tours and I lectured him about how to--stand out in a crowd, which means knowing what your are standing out for.