Having worked in the education industry for so many years, I have been asked so many times by parents and students, “What’s THE trick to getting into the top schools?”

As an economist myself, I tried so hard to give them a solid and rational answer, something like a step-by-step recipe. But I just cannot. Though my team and I have mentored so many students over so many years and we did help a lot of kids get into top schools. However, no one child’s success can be replicated because YOU ALL are unique in my eyes. That’s why our team is very proud to offer the customised mentoring plan that will guarantee our work will make a difference! 

With that said, it boils down one silver lining – What’s the purpose of the so-called elite education? The idea is deeply rooted in my mind that, for me, education, especially elite education, is never just to deliver but rather to enable. A good education is to enable students to imagine the wild, to impact the world, and to impose changes, as in the end, one plus one is equal to two everywhere.

I always tell my students to look at the big picture in reverse. What kind of life would you like to have? What kind of job would help you achieve that goal? What kind of major can land you that job? What schools would offer that education? Then you found a perfect match, hopefully. 

That process takes time and extraordinary work. In the end, to answer that question, I guess a soul-searching answer would be, “Why do you want to get into a good school?”