Raising Harvard

Unless you had hysterical parents, were neurotic, or both, you probably didn’t think much about college until the 10th grade, when the PSAT filtered into your consciousness or your parents started nagging you about life after the prom. But if you wait that long today, the door to Harvard will have almost certainly slammed shut. Last year, a record 22,754 students applied to the college. Harvard accepted just 2,124 of them, just over nine percent—one of the lowest acceptance rates in its history. And every one of those applicants, it seemed, had compiled achievements that would have shamed teens of prior generations. Such grueling competition isn’t going away. In fact, as Harvard sees more applications from abroad, chances are it will only increase. What to do? Well, you could accept that there are many fine colleges. Or you could follow this child-rearing guide for the 02138 parent—and see if you have what it takes to raise a Harvard child.

Prenatal Prep

(In utero)

Gulping down vitamins, taking yoga classes, and undergoing a battery of tests is no longer an adequate prebirth plan for a pre-Harvard baby. Mothers should also monitor every substance that enters their digestive tract.

Consuming docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an Omega-3 fatty acid critical to brain development, is key. While women used to get DHA from fish, the risk of exposure to toxic PCBs and mercury eliminates that option. “Pregnant women should take vegetarian-based, algae-derived DHA supplements, says Naples, Fla.–based neurologist David Perlmutter, author of Raise a Smarter Child By Kindergarten. “It’s incredibly important in terms of IQ and brain development.”

Expectant parents may also be able to give their fetus an early advantage with the $149 BabyPlus Prenatal Education System, which teaches “sound lessons” in utero via a device resembling a terrycloth fanny pack. Its makers claim that children exposed to the BabyPlus system in the womb later demonstrate improved school readiness, greater intellectual abilities, and longer attention spans. Women are instructed to strap the BabyPlus unit onto their bellies twice daily after their 18th week of pregnancy. The “curriculum” consists of 16 lessons, each a thumping sound at differing speeds and intervals. By contrasting the daily lessons and the mother’s internal soundtrack (heartbeat, digestive groans, and other bodily functions), the fetus allegedly improves its auditory skills. “Postnatally, that’s called learning,” says Lisa Jarrett, founder of the Indianapolis company.

A Better Baby

(Ages 0-18 months)

To ensure that their children are preschool ready, affluent parents in major cities and tony suburbs are spending more than $3,000 a year on baby classes. In New York City, the most popular classes, such as Free to Be Under Three, Little Maestros, and Take Me to the Water, often have months-long waiting lists. The emphasis in baby education is on teaching children to speak—and not just in English—as early as possible. Mandarin lessons, in which babies are language-immersed in playdates led by native speakers, are essential. Baby sign language classes—for infants who can hear perfectly well—are also a must. “When babies are using signs, they’re stimulating the language portion of the brain,” says Susan Goodwyn, co-founder of the Vacaville, Calif.–based Baby Signs Institute. Goodwyn claims that
babies taught to sign
before the age of
one are, by age three,
11 months ahead of
nonsigning babies
in vocabulary
and linguistic ability.

Toddler Training

(Preschool, Ages 2-5)

Forget entering preschool at age four; now high-achieving toddlers are sent to three years of preschool, starting at age two. And not just any preschool program. Admittance to the right nursery school is vital to ensuring entrance to the right K–8 or K–12 program, be it a private school or one of the more prestigious “gifted and talented” programs at a magnet public school. Amanda Uhry, founder of Manhattan Private School Advisors, charges $10,000 to help parents nationwide apply to preschool. “The minute somebody sends their kid to preschool at 17 months old, other parents want to do it because they think that kid will get ahead,” says Uhry. In their spare time, toddlers should supplement in-school learning with flashcards, educational DVDs, and, increasingly, academic software. The makers of JumpStart Advanced Preschool, for children ages one through four, boast that users learn “over 50 skills,” including phonics and Japanese. “Everything we do is academic,” says Barry Levenson, chief marketing officer at Knowledge Adventure, creator of JumpStart. “There’s nothing in there that’s just for fun.”

Tutor Time

(3rd Grade, ages 8-9)

Private tutoring has become as urgent for prodigies as for kids who’ve fallen behind. At $50 an hour and up, tutors promise not just to help kids catch up to their peers but to surpass them. It’s a four-billion-dollar business with four to eight percent annual growth rates in the past four years, according to Eduventures, a Boston-based education consulting firm. Sylvan Learning has some 1,100 locations in North America; Kumon boasts 1,400 math and reading centers. KnowledgePoints, founded in 1999, generates $92 million a year in sales. Harvard-focused parents should schedule their children’s tutorials between weekly cello lessons and equestrian classes, as children begin to select the hobbies through which they will later achieve distinction.

A Sporting Chance

(6th grade, ages 11-12)

Vacations can no longer be wasted on visits with grandparents or lazy days at the beach. Parents should book high-concept adventure and educational trips to exotic locales such as Kenya or Vietnam. For $15,600, Lindblad Expeditions offers families a cruise around the Galapagos Islands, where children can participate in an Equator-crossing party. For $12,200, they can ride bikes in Thailand, thanks to a program offered by Backroads. Traditional sports may be fun, but they’re only helpful if awards and leadership positions result. Children who can’t compete at the highest level in these sports should turn to offbeat activities such as rock climbing, fencing, or cricket to help them stand out from the crowd. As for summer, forget about Camp North Star, with its sing-alongs and marshmallow roasts. The point of camp is to hone unusual skills such as magic, search-and-rescue wilderness training, and the circus arts.

Giving Back

(10th grade, ages 15-16)

With just two years before applications are due, Harvard hopefuls should have founded a company, written a commercially viable software program, or launched a charitable enterprise. If a kid isn’t class president, he or she should be establishing committees, publishing a newspaper, or mobilizing his or her community for or against something. (It doesn’t really matter what.) Having a job will help establish real-world credibility. Your child’s private guidance counselor will confirm that it used to be sufficient merely to participate in school or church-based activities. Not anymore. To gain a boost on Harvard applications, today’s volunteers need to shake up entrenched organizations or provide some key innovation. Maximizing the summer is mandatory. Going to an Ivy League summer school is a start, but a kid has to demonstrate rare intellectual ambition and dedication by taking a difficult and distinctive class, such as etymology or chemical engineering. “I get so many calls from parents asking me what program will look best on a college application,” says Jill Levin, West Coast advisor for Tips on Trips and Camps, a nationwide referral service for parents. Community service (with language immersion) is de riguer right now. For about $5,000, kids can plant trees in Costa Rica or fight AIDS in Botswana. Working in South African orphanages is also popular. None of these activities will guarantee a spot in the Harvard class of your choice. But let’s face it: Without them, do your sons and daughters stand a chance?