The Street

“[Not having enough extracurriculars] is rarely the problem,” says Bev Taylor, founder of college counseling service the Ivy Coach. “The mistake is not shining in a specific extracurricular. Too many applicants are all over the place and unfocused.”

According to Bev Taylor, an independent college consultant with The Ivy Coach, since Zbylut was offered a place at each of the schools, he took that offer away from other students with dreams to attend one of the many schools on his list. She says, “That’s why it is so unfair for kids to do something like this without doing their homework first.”