Lakeside School

Spoiler alert: For those who wish to go unspoiled, please be aware that this article reveals the outcome of the most recent season of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Last week, I watched the grand finale of Season 17 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, a reality television competition in which drag queens compete for the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar” (consider it like the U.S. championship for drag queens). Despite the show having aired for 17 seasons and its widespread popularity, especially within mainstream gay male culture (I’m gay!), I was watching for only the second time — and alongside two dozen friends and loyal fans whose knowledge of the show and drag queen lingo so entirely dwarfed my own that I often felt they were speaking another language. 

In the final moments of the season finale, the remaining two contestants, Onya Nurve and Jewels Sparkles, competed for the crown by simultaneously lip syncing to a Lady Gaga song. Jewels Sparkles wowed the audience with dazzling splits, some “reveals” (when they rip off one flashy outfit to reveal another, equally impressive costume underneath), and other polished techniques. All my friends declared Jewels Sparkles the no-brainer winner, yet my inexperienced and unqualified eye thought differently. While Onya Nurve lacked the flashiness of Jewels Sparkles, she evinced a raw and genuine excitement, an authenticity and self-confidence that I didn’t see in Jewels Sparkles.

Ultimately, Onya Nurve was crowned America’s Next Drag Superstar.

I am indeed an amateur when it comes to drag queens. But after almost a quarter century of watching college admissions offices select (and not select) applicants, my instincts are as sharp as they come in terms of how people choose other people. I relied on those instincts when I placed my bet on Onya Nurve.

You might think that comparing college admissions to a drag queen competition is utterly ridiculous. They’re certainly different. But there are similarities, too. In selecting applicants, college admissions officers are drawn to students who are abundantly curious and who authentically pursue those curiosities in search of fulfillment and joy, as each student uniquely defines these things for themselves. Admissions officers can readily identify applicants who are chasing credentials that lack meaning to them. Jewels Sparkles’ performance included myriad tricks and techniques, but it lacked the unadulterated joy and unique energy that characterized Onya Nurve’s. The judges of RuPaul’s Drag Race didn’t want flashy — they wanted authenticity. So do college admissions officers.

Over this year, my colleagues and I have written about the role of extracurricular activities in the selection process, and how colleges are drawn more to expressions of meaning, happiness, and growth rather than resumes and credentials. We’ve written about how to successfully express meaning and emotions behind activities and the role parents/guardians can play in shifting students’ focus away from credentials.

Essentially, when our students apply to college, we want them to be Onya Nurve.

Many parents and guardians still understandably continue to search for a universal, easily-replicated recipe that will make their students the perfect college applicants, that ideal blend of activities and personal qualities that will pop in applicant pools. It’s as if they’re trying to crack the algorithm or code of admissions, much in the way one writes intricate code to develop a robot or AI. But there is no code. If I asked the world’s best programmer or engineer to write code to replicate my brain, they couldn’t do it (at least not yet!) The workings of the human brain — with all its emotions and millions of possible reactions to its environment — are too intricate to be reduced to a predictable formula. Any attempt to “crack the code” behind college admissions — to understand the system or algorithm of how humans select other humans — remains futile and fruitless.

In fact, I’d argue that across the countless ways that humans select other humans, this desire for authenticity is paramount. For example, while we expect job applicants to have certain skills and backgrounds, people seldom hire a candidate whose interview is nothing more than a recitation of credentials. Colleges, too, expect students to meet certain thresholds of academic achievement and community engagement, but after reaching those thresholds, it’s the thoughtfulness and genuineness that pop, not fancy tricks and credentials.

So, what can we do (educators and parents/guardians) to help our students stand out? Help them reflect, find meaning, and develop ways to express their thoughts. Help them understand themselves and articulate that understanding. Bolster their confidence that their authentic selves, shining brightly, are enough. Help them become the next Onya Nurve. They’ll be not only better college applicants, but happier human beings. And who knows — maybe they’ll even be America’s next Drag Superstar!

(If I’ve inspired you to watch the final showdown on RuPaul’s Drag Race between Onya Nurve and Jewels Sparkles, watch the last 10 minutes of Season 17, Episode 16!)

 Ari Worthman is Lakeside’s director of college counseling. Reach him and other members of the team at info@lakesideschool.site.