Hi!

The responses to my last email genuinely made my week. Hearing from past students who are out there doing the thing, building the life, thriving in ways they worked really hard for, that's exactly why I do this. Thank you for writing back. Keep sending updates. I mean it.

I sailed this past weekend and the results weren't exactly what we hoped for. But something happened in the parking lot afterward that I haven't been able to stop thinking about.

The sailing community has this thing where it doesn't matter if you're racing for the first time or you've stood on an Olympic podium, everyone ends up in the same space, swapping stories, asking questions, genuinely rooting for each other. I found myself in so many conversations I never would have had if I hadn't shown up and competed. Not performed perfectly. Just shown up and competed.

That distinction matters a lot to me right now because it's course selection season, and I keep having the same conversation with families all over the country.

A student wants to drop a level or forego the AP option, and when I ask why, the honest answer is usually some version of: I don't want to risk my GPA. Now, to be totally transparent, sometimes you really do want to protect your GPA, like if you are a family with significant financial need and you're applying to medium or low selectivity schools where that higher GPA can mean more merit aid. Most of the families I work with, though, are shooting higher, so we need to be more strategic.

Here's what I want those families to think about. The sailors who were mingling in that parking lot this weekend weren't all champions. But they were all there, on the water and in the mix with people who pushed them to be better just by proximity. That's what a challenging course load does too. It puts your kid on the starting line. It signals to colleges that they're someone who chooses hard things even when easier options exist.

Getting a B in an AP course tells a story. Dropping to protect your average tells a very different one.

So before your kid finalizes anything, ask them one question: is this a strategy, or is this fear? Managing a genuinely overwhelming schedule is smart. We don't want teenagers burning out! But avoiding a hard class because you might not ace it is something else entirely. Fear-based decisions don't sell applications, and admissions officers are very good at spotting them.

In the end, the kid who gets in isn't always the one with the highest GPA. It's the one who knows who they are, what they're made of, and isn't afraid to find out how far they can go. Colleges are just trying to find the kid who understands this - The Whole Student.

Which is actually a perfect segue. Next week I'm sending out registration details for a webinar I've been building around exactly this: sailing and college admissions, together. If your kid is a competitive sailor thinking about college, you're going to want to be there. Stay tuned.

More soon.

Nikki

PS - Know a family with a junior or sophomore at home? Forward this their way. The more the merrier, and I promise I'll keep it worth their inbox. Subscribe here.​