WTF DO I EVEN DO???
There is no formula for gaining admission to Harvard.
There's no formula or perfect common app activities list or GPA or test score or even amount of donated money that can guarantee admission to Stanford.
There is nothing, literally nothing, that in and of itself will get you in to MIT.
Just be a normal, well rounded, academically competent individual.
For us normies, the college admission process seems random. And, to some degree it is. However, as I'm going through the heat of the process, I've realized one thing: it's a game. And like any game, you can win - all it takes is one, and at that level, I've discovered a trend that you'll like to hear.
Going back to the corny-ahh MIT "Applying Sideways" quote, let's analyze it.
There is nothing, literally nothing, that in and of itself will get you in to MIT.
Well, yeah, we kinda knew that. This means that no matter what you do, you probably won't get in, but that's kinda sad, so I'm going to propose that we change this quote a bit.
There is nothing, literally nothing that you can copy, that in and of itself will get you in to MIT.
Hypercompetition
Economics 101: to be successful and not be wiped out through market fluctuations, a firm needs to become a monopoly, or partake in monpolistic competition. However, today, many companies that were once monopolies are starting to fall off, as barriers to entry decrease globally. You see, the thing about coding is that anyone can make anything—all you need is a caramel iced latte, Stack Overflow, and determination to do the impossible. Every new invention disrupts the market and leads to a bunch of AI B2B SaaS startups started by some 13-year old kid overthrowing a traditional company.
So, how does a company even stay afloat in this hypercompetitive market-one where literally anything can happen, where your decade-long leads can diminish within months because of some IMO-winning crackhead that went to SF instead of NYC?
Simple: it keeps innovating. You see, in a hypercompetitive environment, the WORST thing you could do is nothing. If you simply stay put and wait for the 13-year-old-IMO-winners to slowly take your market one step at a time, you're guaranteed to die in the long term. At worst-case you NEED to acquire or outcompete these companies, which would make you lose hella money (since competition sucks). Richard A. D'Aveni (the "Sun Tzu of the B2B SaaS") stated that you should just try to get rid of 13-year-old from this pipeline - innovate, try new products, find your own problems, etc. Don't let the 13-year-old even compete.
So what?
Don't you see it? College apps, and life as a whole, is an isomorphism of this same game of Hypercompetition. We're competing with others in age where the worst thing you can do is be mid and stagnate. Advantages only bubble if you're putting in the work - else they die out and your market is lost to another 13-year-old.
If you want to get into one of these schools and you spend your time doing things like "Science Club", "Volunteering", and "Spanish Class", I know you're not serious. I'm not trying to be mean (and these activities, if done for fun, can really help you meet very cool and motivated people); however, if you want to truly win this game of college applications, you need to differentiate yourself from the crowd somehow. You can only do this if you're a trendsetter, not a follower - e.g. a couple of decades ago, being "valedictorian" was meta, but nowadays that's not enough. A couple of years ago, starting a "nonprofit" was really cool, but nowadays they're all overused and fake. A year or so ago, starting a new AI B2B SaaS got a couple of my friends into Penn M&T and MIT, but now that won't even get you into community college.
In a digital age where access to all of these strategies and methods is widespread, these strategies that work for a couple of years and people glaze WILL fall off. You need to innovate. You need to get ahead of the meta. This is what most people don't get: YOU NEED TO TAKE A RISK. You simply won't get into a school this selective, or a career that selective, or a life that selective if you play it safe. There is no "formula" in the traditional sense - F(X) doesn't exist. But, we're given F'(x), which is taking risks and going all in, and now it's our job to integrate it with our own "initial condition" :)
Or, you could just pop open that trust fund :D
This was a bit of a rant, don't take too much of this seriously. I'm only half serious. Colleges want real people, and you should really do what you want, not resume optimizing robots. Be genuine and a good person, and you'll do well in life. Also, nobody gives a fuck, so do whatever you want.