Masters SOP: Applications for study abroad are a complete package of documents (Resume, Statement of Purpose and Letters of Recommendation) which showcase the applicant’s qualities, marks, interest as well as future plans to the admission committee.

Masters SOP or statement of purpose is one of the most important application documents. While the resume and transcripts showcase the current knowledge status of the student, a statement of purpose shows the intent. It is an essay application for students vying for Masters or PhD program in foreign universities. It clearly outlines the academics, interest, future plans as well as the basic information about the university of the student. A well written SOP helps applicants highlight their strengths which would not be possible by the transcripts and resume alone.

MS SOP: What’s your story?

Personalising your Masters SOP is a way to connect with the Admission Committee member and begin your statement of purpose. Your story should be interesting and short. Why have you chosen to do a Masters in this course? What was the point in life when you thought, “this is what I want to learn.” What has inspired you to be in this field? Was it a book, a movie, a person or situation? What have you done to this effect?

MS SOP Sample story for Materials Engineering

MS SOP Sample story for Mass communication

MS SOP: Academics and you

Academic background in a statement of purpose should be quite exhaustive, highlighting your related academic achievements. It shows your preparedness for a program. While your transcripts merely mention the marks you have scored, a brief write-up on your background will showcase your main field of interest. This section helps you narrow down your course of interest as the subjects become more specialized as you go higher up the academic ladder. Add all academic information you have gained. Do mention the important internships and the workshops that you have attended during you course.

MS SOP Sample Academic Background 1

MS SOP Sample for Academic Background 2

MS SOP: Why Program

This section showcases the purpose of the SOP. Why do you want to do UG/Masters/PhD? There has to be clarity in this section. Admission Committee looks into this section to understand if the applicant knows what s/he is getting into. What are their plans? Why does the applicant think Masters/ PhD is the next logical step? Another important aspect to be covered in this section is, ‘What do you plan to achieve with this course?’

MS SOP Sample for Why Program

MS SOP: Goals

Goals are one of the most important sections of an SOP. If you do not have definite defined goals, do not bother applying. Goals show your future planning. They show your awareness regarding the programme and its scope.  Goals are divided into two parts, short term and long term goals. Short term goals as the name suggests are short term as in, the next plan after the programme or course usually within a time span of three to five years after the completion of the course. Long term goals would be something you plan to achieve within the next 15 years.

 For starters, if you plan to work after the course, look for the organizations, positions and job profile require the course you plan to do. For academically bent applicants, do mention what would be the next academic achievement you would like to prefer to add to your curriculum vitae.

MS SOP Sample for MS SOP: Goals

MS SOP: The University

University paragraph on the SOP shows how much you know about the place you plan to join. This paragraph should show that your interests can be completely fulfilled at this university. Search online for the researches being carried out in the area of your choice. Check out the faculty and their research. What kind of internships and workshops do they have? Also, update yourself regarding the alumni. Some questions that ought to be answered in this section of an SOP should be: Why would you like to join this university? How is this university different from another? What particular courses of this university are you interested in? Are you aware of the research being carried out at the department? Who are the faculty with whom you would like to work? Is the location of the university anyways important for you?

MS SOP Sample for University Details

MS SOP: Extracurricular

Universities need a rounded personality on their campus. While academic qualifications show that the applicant is suited for the particular program, extracurricular activities outline the uniqueness. Your extracurricular activities show your character, they show how you spend your time after the classes, they show that you have the capabilities to keep yourself occupied and meet people in an unknown place. Academic courses are stressful with classes, assignments and exams, students need activities to occupy themselves. Extracurricular activities show that the university fulfils the applicant’s academic as well as extracurricular goals.

MS SOP Sample for Extracurricular Activities

MS SOP: Conclusion

Like a good beginning, every article or document should have a crisp conclusion which sums up the application.

MS SOP Sample for Conclusion

It is always useful to read other people’s work to get a sense of what good essays are. To assist you, TopAdmit provides you some SOP samples written by counselors and editors hailing from prestigious schools including Harvard. This page contains personal statement samples, statement of purpose samples, and application essay samples for college. But please remember, these are for your reference only; it is not to your benefit to copy their style or concepts. It not only violates academic ethics and could lead to an automatic rejection by the admissions committee — the point of our service is to help you construct a unique essay — not one similar to other essays.

By: Shivani Bhatt

Most universities ask failure essays as part of the MBA essay on failure

Along with diversity, goals and ethical dilemma, MBA essays on failure are asked with an intention to learn about the maturity levels of the applicants. The intention of asking the failure question by B-schools has been summed up well below.

“No human ever became interesting by not failing. The more you fail and recover and improve, the better you are as a person. Ever meet someone who’s always had everything work out for them with zero struggle? They usually have the depth of a puddle. Or they don’t exist.”

– Chris Hardwick

Business schools routinely ask on essay questions on failure in life:

• NUS MBA prompt: My biggest failure was …
• Judge Business School, University of Cambridge: What did you learn from your most spectacular failure? (200 words)
• INSEAD France: Describe the achievement of which you are most proud and explain why. In addition, describe a situation where you failed. How did these experiences impact your relationships with others? Comment on what you learned (approximately 400 words).

MBA essays on failure are usually the toughest to write for a number of reasons. The difficulty starts with primarily, the self-acknowledgement part, then, the second is telling it or penning it down for someone else to read. People do not acknowledge failure that easily. It takes a lot of strength to acknowledge the fact that we have failed. Writing the essay is also a way of acknowledging that we can fail. It is a learning process in itself. It is from a failure that we learn our true strengths and our capabilities of bouncing back. The MBA essay on failure question usually does not limit to the incidence itself. It usually asks about your reaction and what you have learnt from that failure. The ways people handle their failure tell a lot about them.

When Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, asks you to mention your learning from the most spectacular failure, it means we fail more than we would tend to agree. Listing down all our failures and the learning of the failure and then selecting the most spectacular one out of them is a huge introspection process for the applicant. Spectacular here means the failure which gave you the opportunity to learn the most from.

MBA Essay on Failure can be asked in a number of ways. Recount your failure, mention your reaction and what did you learn. The question can be any one or all three of the above.

1. NUS MBA prompt: My biggest failure was?

When you are asked to mention your biggest failure.

The admission committee wants you to mention the facts. They do not want to you to list your sob story. Mention the story in simple words with the least amount of emotions or in a matter of fact way with adequate detailing so that there is no confusion in the statements. Simply, what, where, when. Conclude it with why you think this is your biggest failure.

2. The second part of the MBA essay on failure or adversity questions deals with the ‘impact’. How did you respond?  Did you suffer any setback? Were you hurt? What did you feel? Did it change something? Were there any changes in your personal and professional relationships? Had you anticipated the failure or was it a shock? Mention your reaction to the incident, ashamed, shocked, hurt, etc.

INSEAD France asks: How did these experiences impact your relationships with others?

3. Learning

This is the final crux in which the readers are interested. What did you learn? Learn about yourself, learn about someone, or about the project, situation etc. Finally, mention an incident where you have applied the lesson learnt in the previous incident.

Failing to write the MBA essay on failure! Is it one of these?

1. Untruthfulness.

Honesty happens to be the key rule in writing the failure essay. First, be honest with yourself about the failure. The questions are direct and need a direct straight simple answer.

2. Scared of being judged.

Failure should be considered as learning experiences. The main misconception is that writing about an actual failure will result in being seen as a failure. On the contrary, writing about made up failures or fake failures or immaterial failures will cost heavily to the applicant.

3. Monetizing the failure.

Every failure is not about monetary loss. Monetary loss may be the result of the failure but not a lesson here. Failure in judging people and failure in pre-planning are more important to elaborate than mentioning the monetary loss. 4. Using too much floral language. While having good control over language is considered good, refrain from using words which would require opening the dictionary. State the incident as simply as possible. 5. Missing out on the lesson. The crux of an essay is the learning at the end. The learning should be substantial.

Examples of failure essays

Example 1: Losing the plot.

Parents never stop dreaming about their children, not ready to give up, always believing that their child is special and meant for greatness. Maybe my parents too were the victim of this folly, because despite my early brushes with failure they never lost hope. But when I fared poorly in my graduate exams, it was the last straw as it broke their heart. I can still feel the pain my result caused them, the agony they went through. I am still hoping one day I will prove them right, but till that day the pain will keep burning in their hearts and mine too.

Example 2: Realising and acknowledging

My biggest failure in life has to be my losing the plot completely during my higher secondary years and messing my exams. The failure haunts because it caused real damage to my future. The poor result meant I ended up in a second-rung college, with a gang of guys who despite their best intentions weren’t fully academically inclined. The failure also haunts because the tell-tale signs of an impending disaster were always there but I refused to acknowledge it and pushed things under the carpet like I was in pretty bad shape in Physics but I didn’t do enough about it. Looking back, a little more effort and a little more discipline could have solved matters. It is a life lesson that will always remain with me.

By: Shivani Bhatt

Top qualities of MBA aspirants – MBA is currently the most sought-after graduate programme. However, with the increase in the number of applicants, getting through an MBA programme is a rigorous and difficult exercise. To secure an admit in a prestigious Master in Business Administration programme, a candidate ought to have sound characteristics.

Essay questions asked by business schools are framed so as to judge the MBA aspirant qualities. The prime intention of the questions is whether the aspirant is the right choice for the programme. A candidate with the right aptitude and skill will succeed while someone not suited for the field will not be able to cope with the pressure.

Top 10 qualities of MBA Students:

Top 10 qualities of MBA Students with Examples

The important qualities to be showcased in the application documents are explained in detail with examples below.

1. Analytical and Presentation Skills

Getting data will not suffice if one cannot present the desired analysis of the data in a very clear, crisp way with the attention-grabbing approach. Therefore, an MBA aspirant has to develop analytical and presentation skills, one of the top qualities of MBA aspirants. These skills are showcased through Letters of Recommendation and goals essay. Referees mention the analytical skills with adequate examples.

2. Communication Skills

Any effective top executive needs to be able to communicate well. Though these skills get perfected in a B-school, it actually helps to get through the programme if the skills are honed before starting B-school. With video essays and interviews increasingly becoming common as part of the application process, good communication skills provide a positive aspect in the admission process.

3. Ambition and motivation

An MBA programme is useless if an aspirant does not have clear ambition as well as motivation to achieve ambition. The MBA career path is not for the fainthearted. It is for people who can get hands-on and seize opportunities and challenges. The committee seeks individuals with career dreams and deep resources of motivation and autonomy to realize them. Work experience featured in the resume often becomes a method of judging the ambition and motivation of a candidate to do an MBA. The kind of projects undertaken, the kind of roles played in the projects done, show ambition and motivation for an MBA programme. Emphasize your work done to your benefit.

4. Discipline

Discipline is one characteristic which is mandatory in any field one chooses to continue his/her life in, an MBA aspirant included. An MBA aspirant ought to be terribly self-disciplined. Not only will the MBA programme involve intensive work, but the number of assignments and classes along with projects also make it more difficult to keep track. To have a decent grasp of the material and to see that the work is being completed timely, you will need to own nice time management skills. Discipline will come handy after the programme as well. One of the top qualities of MBA aspirants, discipline is primarily highlighted in a Letter of Recommendation.

5. Creativity and Innovation

As technology moves forward and societies and markets modify, the abilities of savvy adaptation become an integral part of management. Creativity and innovation will not only help you in furthering your aims and ambitions, it will also help you grow in an and with the organization you plan to work with. Part of the leadership essays, creativity and innovation are usually asked along with team ownership and integrity and ethics.

6. Leadership

Leadership is one of the top qualities of MBA aspirants. An MBA degree is designed for those who have or want to have leadership roles in their organizations. The leadership skills are exhibited in four basic skills: Problem-solving and decision-making skills, integrity and ethics, team ownership and passion for development. For example: Where in your background would we find evidence of your leadership and or potential?

7. Problem-solving and decision-making skills

Managers need to have all the information to take crucial decisions to help the company. They are also required to be unbiased regarding the decisions to be taken. The problem-solving skills develop from interaction with time and regular interaction with different area experts. It is also not restricted to any particular area or division but keeping in view the entire process or organization. Questions on problem-solving abilities can be direct, e.g. the Boston University School of Management prepares innovative and ethical leaders who understand the impact of business on society and who seek to create value for the world. Please describe a situation in which you created value for an organization or group. What was the outcome? We encourage you to consider your contributions in both professional and community settings. (up to 250 words).

8. Integrity and Ethics

Another key skill of a leader. Integrity and ethics go a long way in developing the personality of a manager. Integrity helps in building trust with both employees and colleagues (both senior and junior). It also establishes a manager as the authority in organizations. Also, ethics play a big role in the development and establishment of an organization. Leadership and ethics are inevitably intertwined in the business world. Describe a situation in which you have dealt with these issues and how they have influenced you.

9. Team ownership

One of the most important aspects of leaders. Leaders work with teams. While leaders credit the team for its success, failures are always a responsibility of the leaders. This is one skill which cannot be learned, people are born with this skill. Ownership also includes praising in public and admonishing/criticizing in private. Questions on team spirit usually ask about the experience and the learning. For example: Describe a situation where you had to work jointly with others to achieve a common goal. What did you learn from the experience?

10. Passion for development

Leadership does not end at problem solving, integrity and ethics and problem-solving skills. A big part of leadership skills involves innovating and learning and looking for opportunities for personal as well as personal skill development. This aspect of your personality can be showcased in optional essay questions which ask for what more do you have to tell us? Some part of the candidate’s personality which was not able to be showcased anywhere else. For e.g., the question asked by Harvard, ‘You’re applying to Harvard Business School. We can see your resume, academic transcripts, extracurricular activities, awards, post-MBA career goals, test scores, and what your referees have to say about you. What else would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?’

Business schools develop leaders who can contribute to society and organization. Candidates ought to show that they can lead others even before setting foot on the field. This does not mean developing with grand and sweeping examples that forever modify the course of history. The examples may be small and meaningful as well as noteworthy.

It is always useful to read other people’s work to get a sense of what good essays are. To assist you, TopAdmit provides you some MBA essay samples written by counselors and editors hailing from prestigious schools including Harvard. This page contains personal statement samples, statement of purpose samples, and application essay samples for college. But please remember, these are for your reference only; it is not to your benefit to copying their style or concepts. It not only violates academic ethics and could lead to an automatic rejection by the admissions committee — the point of our service is to help you construct a unique essay — not one similar to other essays.

By: Shivani Bhatt

MBA essay questions include questions on ethics and challenges as well as diversity, goals, failure, team spirit and leadership. The MBA essay questions intend to understand the non-academic aspect of the applicant. Ethical dilemma questions aim to gauge the candidate’s maturity in handling issues.

Examples of ethical dilemma questions

• Describe the most difficult decision you have made and its effect on you.
• Describe a situation in which your ability to perform ethically was challenged. What was the issue, how did you handle it, and what did you learn from it?
• Describe an ethical dilemma that you faced and how it was resolved.
• When have your values, ethics or morals were challenged? How has this shaped who you are today?

For an incident to be an ethical dilemma, it should follow three conditions. First, there should be a decision-making authority, second, there should be at least two equally difficult choices which do not provide a complete solution and third, irrespective of the solution or course of action taken, some ethics were compromised.

Ethical Dilemma MBA Essay: The decision maker

MBA Essays are an attempt to know the social side of an applicant. The essay is about experiences of the applicant. The decision maker is the first and foremost condition for the MBA essay on ethical dilemma. If you were not the decision maker, this is not your essay. Please do not write it. You do not have to be embroiled in a big ethics issue to be able to write down an essay. The focus is on your decision-making skills and not the complexity of the case.

Ethical Dilemma MBA Essay: The ethical dilemma

Answers to questions on ethical dilemma are difficult to write because while it should not show you as an ethical person, being portrayed as an extremely honest person is also not recommended. Ethical dilemma questions are aimed to test the applicant’s maturity and judgement skills and not integrity. While answering questions on ethical dilemma, avoid quoting incidences which are illegal and question your integrity.

Uncomfortable situations lacking a choice do not qualify for ethical dilemmas. Worked under a tough boss who has made you work hard does not qualify to be an ethical dilemma.

Briefly, describe the incident. Also, mention what led to the situation along with your position on the issue.

Ethical Dilemma MBA Essay: The options

When penning down MBA essays on ethical dilemma, always use an incident which has two or more solutions. Along with ‘ethics’ which is about right or wrong, the anecdote should focus on ‘dilemma’ this is about choosing one of two or more solutions. The situation should have two or more solutions which are equally difficult and unsatisfactory as well as unable to provide a complete solution. Therefore, the choice should not be between a right and wrong solution, but between two or more equally unsatisfactory solutions.

Ethical Dilemma MBA Essay: The conflict and resolution

There should be a clear conflict in the options towards resolutions. Discuss the circumstances which have caused the situation to arise as well as your personal values that have conflicted in the decision-making process. Along with the incidence, mention the pros and cons of each option and the affected parties. Analyse the consequences of the actions in all the options.

Elaborate on how you tackled the situation. Defend your decision. You should also be able to defend or explain why you chose one over the other. Was the decision favoured by all the decision making as well as affected parties? Discuss your decision and how you have reached the decision. Also, the merits it had over the other option? This will demonstrate your ethical decision-making skills.

Ethical Dilemma MBA Essay: The impact

Measuring the impact of the decision is as important as the decision taken. Was the impact as expected? If no, what went wrong? What was the result of your decision? How did the decision impact you?

Ethical Dilemma MBA Essay: The experience

Analyse your learning. What were the lessons from this experience? What did you learn from the experience? Would you do it again if similar circumstances arise? Will you handle it any differently? Will you take some precautions?

Apart from the ethical dilemma, B-schools ask questions on diversity, goals, team spirit, leadership, passion etc.

By: Shivani Bhatt

MBA Application Essays: Diversity essays are an important aspect of application essays for business schools. They are intended to know the candidate’s surroundings, values, beliefs which are not possible through other essays. The common questions in this group are:

1. How will you contribute to the diversity of the University/School?

2. Why you?

3. If you could choose one song that expresses who you are, what is it and why?

4. What is unique about your background and experience that you would bring to your classmates at MBS?

5. How will you contribute to your classes and to the AGSM community?

Popularly known as diversity essays, these questions are an attempt to look into the applicant’s non-academic or social background. Diversity here does not only mean cultural, national, or racial diversity. Through the question, the Admission Committee (ADCOM) wants to understand how unique you are. What is the trait about you that is different from others in the course? How will you as a person contribute to the course? Is there something worth learning from you? MBA Application essay on Diversity is not just about race; here it is about geographic, socio-economic, cultural, religious, people with various disabilities. Read on to know how to write MBA application essays on diversity.

Stuck with your essays? Download MBA Application Essays Samples.

Apt Title

Every MBA Application essay should have an apt title, to make the ADCOM or anyone for that matter to read on. While titles are glimpses of what’s to come, they should never be a gimmick. The reader should get more information when they read the whole essay and not feel tricked.

Being Unique

As the information about other applicants is not known, deciding why one is unique is a difficult task. Physical achievements know no bounds, it can be a big feat for someone to go down the Grand Canyon but then there might be someone else there who has visited the Challenger deep.

The uniqueness has to be about the person and their thoughts and the actions they have taken or the lessons they have learnt. It can be something as basic as philately, pottery, and origami or as big as participating in a Desert car rally. What is notable here is take-away of these activities. Teaching origami or chess to kids, or may be organising pottery workshops for old age home residents as a part of therapy and entertainment, counts towards diversity.

For that matter, a sports person, or someone who has learned a different language and experience the culture, or someone who plays in a band, anyone who has shown initiative in his life in however small a way matters.

Leadership, Focus, and Team spirit

Before writing an MBA application essay, it is important to remember that business schools aim to create future leaders and are, therefore, looking for people with team skills and leadership traits. You do not need to have performed exceptional feats to be able to write about your possible contribution to the school/university. So, in case, you have climbed Mount Everest, which would be very good but if you have led your school group on a treasure hunt successfully or unsuccessfully also works. The aspect to focus on here is to be able to showcase how and to what degree the situations or challenges you have been in have affected or changed you, the changes can be positive or negative, or both.

Politically Correct

While being honest is good, we should be politically correct at the same time. In the present scenario, racial diversity is not as important as diversity of experience. In case, you decide to write about racial diversity, instead write about cultures, people, family, travel, social discomfort, maturation and introspection without the racial characteristics. The MBA application essay write-up should be more about the diversity observed and changes incorporated within the self. More than prejudices, the diversity essay should be showcasing your response to the situation you were in, what have you learnt from your experiences and more importantly how has it moulded your world view.

Similarly, views on LGBTQIA issues should be best avoided.

YOU

The diversity essay is about YOU, so instead of trying to impress the ADCOM with some great unachievable feat you have been planning, explain who you are, what are your life experiences, perspectives and background. Mention a story or episode from your life which has affected you.

Humour

There is a fine line between humour and offence. Keep the humour to a line or two. If you have doubts on the humour, remove it. Culturally, what is humour for one person might be offensive to someone else.

ADCOM members read through numerous MBA application essays and can smell a fake or doctored essay from a mile. They have already read about all the great feats done and planned. Rather than explaining why you are unique, concentrate on who you are, your upbringing, your culture, your environment etc. to naturally set you apart from the other applicants.

By: Shivani Bhatt

Vishruth Iyer, right, 15, and his twin brother Pratyush, work on their history homework in the study room of their home in Cupertino, Calif., on Wednesday, March 28, 2018. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

 Vishruth Iyer, left, 15, and his twin brother Pratyush, pose for a photograph in their study room in their home in Cupertino, Calif., on Wednesday, March 28, 2018. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

CUPERTINO — Vishruth Iyer’s parents gathered close as their 15-year-old son opened an email with the thrilling news: The Monta Vista High sophomore earned the rare distinction of scoring a perfect 36 on his ACT college entrance exam.

“I almost fell out of my chair,” his father, Anand, said. “It was a big congratulations. I didn’t even know what to say to him.”

But as much as he and his wife, Sucharita, hope that Vishruth’s success could catapult him into the college of his choice by the time he’s a senior, they can’t help but be skeptical. As they are learning — along with many high school seniors now receiving their final acceptance and rejection letters from some of the top-ranked schools in the country — perfection doesn’t guarantee a spot at Stanford, Princeton or even Berkeley.

“Not now, no,” said Margaret Routhe, an independent college counselor in famously-competitive Palo Alto. “If you have a 36 on your ACT and think you’re going to walk into Harvard, it’s not the case.”

As recently as five years ago, Stanford was rejecting about 69 percent of applicants with perfect SAT scores. And those scores don’t come easily. Only a fraction of 1 percent of students who take the SAT scored a perfect 1600 or, on the ACT, a composite 36 on the four subject areas. The College Board that runs the SAT didn’t provide specific numbers on perfect scores but reported that only 5 percent of test takers score above 1400.

For the ACT, only one-tenth of one percent of test takers across the country scored a 36 this year, and California is home to 421 of them. The fact that Vishruth is only a sophomore makes his achievement all the more rare. Four Bay Area high schools can claim at least a dozen top-scoring students on the ACT this year: Gunn in Palo Alto with 18, Lynbrook in San Jose with 13 and, with 12 each, Mission San Jose in Fremont and Harker School in San Jose.

Although top scores on either test are certainly special, admissions officers at elite universities are looking for something, ahem, more special. Stanford calls its admissions screening “holistic” and is searching  for “intellectual vitality” and extraordinary achievements among the piles of applicants. On Friday, the university announced it accepted 4.3 percent of its undergraduate applicants this year.

There are at least a couple thousand kids with perfect ACTs or SATs all competing for slots in the same top 10 schools listed on U.S. News and World Report, said Irena Smith, who also runs an independent college counseling business in Palo Alto. “They’re getting eclipsed with someone who is an Olympic hopeful, someone with multiple patents, published authors,” she said, “and even a lot of those kids aren’t getting in.”

Just ask David Hogg, who survived the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High to become one of the most recognizable leaders of the student-led gun control movement.

Despite a 4.2 GPA, the Florida student was rejected by UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego and UC Irvine. Perhaps TMZ put it best with this headline: “Parkland leader David Hogg — I’m Changing the World … BUT UC SCHOOLS STILL REJECTED ME.”

College Confidential, the website dedicated to students making college plans, has become a forum for the forlorn in the past week. Ben Shumaker, an 18-year-old senior from Holland, Mich., who was denied from every Ivy League school he applied to as well as USC and Case Western, started a discussion group this week titled, “I’m Baffled At Rejection From Some Great Schools.”

He earned a 4.43 weighted GPA, he said, a 1550 out of 1600 on his SAT and 34 on his ACT. He took 22 semesters of Advanced Placement coursework and was ranked No. 1 in his class of 536 students. He even had what he thought was an unusual, extraordinary achievement: being the youngest player, by far, on a pro tour of the strategic trading card game “Magic the Gathering.” He was admitted to the University of Michigan, but it’s not his top choice. As he’s coming to terms with his rejections, he’s come up with his own explanation, one shared by many college admissions experts for the top schools.

“I sort of felt like in academics, the courses you take and the grades you earn, there is a level where it stops mattering,” Shumaker said. “If you get perfect grades and near-perfect scores, it just puts you in the pool.”

Divining the “secret sauce” of top-tier schools is what sends many parents to hire outside college counselors, who repeatedly stress to deaf ears that there are hundreds of great universities to choose from, not just the Top 10 — a list created in the 1980s by U.S. News and World Report that is considered by many as largely responsible for the crush of applications to Ivy Leagues and the towering hopes of students and parents.

As an antidote to those expectations, required reading at some high schools has become Frank Bruni’s “Where You Go is not Who You‘ll Be,” filled with success stories of people who didn’t go to name-brand universities.

For Vishruth Iyer’s immigrant parents, who are now U.S. citizens and earned advanced degrees at California universities, it’s difficult to lower their expectations for Vishruth and his twin brother, Pratyush, who is a straight-A student and competitive swimmer. They moved from San Jose to Cupertino for the quality schools. They sent the boys to prep classes at $90 a session, and they’re both focusing next on the SAT.

But the first thing the counselor told them was that their sons have three strikes against them, especially at private universities: They are Indian, they are male and they want to pursue computer science or engineering.

“It’s a common profile,” Anand Iyer said. “How do you differentiate yourself when my kids are naturally inclined to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)? I am totally frustrated with the whole system, basically.”

A trial is expected this summer in a federal civil rights case against Harvard, alleging it discriminated against Asian Americans by unfairly capping the number it admits, despite their qualifications. The nonprofit filing the lawsuit cites a 2009 Princeton study showing that Asian Americans need to score 140 points higher than whites on the SAT to have the same chances to land a spot at elite colleges.

The Iyer boys will likely have better luck at a UC school — which banned affirmative action in admissions in the 1990s — than a private Ivy League school, said Barbara Austin, who counsels Bay Area high school students. She also encourages students to widen their choices.

“There aren’t just 25 schools, there are 400 schools that are marvelous,” said Austin, who is based in Oakland.

Even with two years to go before applications are due, Vishruth’s parents are anxious — and exploring options for the sophomore to build his college portfolio by possibly doing research with a university professor this summer. At the same time, Vishruth is taking a mellower approach — something teachers and counselors have tried to impose.

“I don’t think it will change my future that much whether I go to a top-tier school or just under that,” he said. “I’m confident I’ll be fine for the future. But my parents are always saying, ‘Don’t play video games, study for the subject SAT test for math.’ I kind of tell my parents to relax and mind their own business. I’ve got it covered, you know?”