Potential Over Performance: A New Vision for Higher Education with Polygence

Is our current education system truly preparing students for success in life?

That’s the issue that gnaws at many of us in the world of education, and the one that’s at the heart of David Brooks’ article, “How the Ivy League Broke America,” published in The Atlantic.

In the insightful piece, Brooks critiques the GPA arms race that Ivy-hopeful students have been forced to participate in over the last decade. He argues that this focus on perfect scores ultimately falls short in cultivating the skills and qualities students need to actually succeed in college, and in life.

At Polygence, we couldn’t agree more. Meritocracy, particularly when rooted solely in grades and test scores, has profound limitations. It emphasizes a narrow definition of potential and overlooks key traits like curiosity, creativity, and adaptability—qualities that make leaders, innovators, and problem solvers.

We believe the current system of hypercompetitive grade-chasing has spiraled into a rigid, outdated measure of potential. There’s a better way to determine college and career readiness, one that focuses on cultivating a deeper purpose, a sense of drive, and skills that schools often overlook (but the real world demands).

That world is project-based learning.

Before we explain why projects (like those we facilitate here at Polygence) should be valued more highly than SAT scores and AP exams, let’s talk first about how meritocracy came to the forefront (and what sorts of issues its rise has created).

How Meritocracy Shaped Education

Like most policies and practices that shape our nation, meritocracy in higher education had undeniably noble origins.

Before the mid-20th century, admissions at elite schools like Harvard and Yale were primarily determined by privilege. In his article, Brooks highlights that legacy admissions dominated, with every single American president from 1901 to 1921 attending Princeton, Harvard, or Yale.

The concept of meritocracy was introduced by James Conant, who served as Harvard’s president from 1933 to 1953. Conant didn’t believe that the United States could meet the rising challenges of the 20th century if a new sort of student wasn’t introduced.

The rise of “meritocracy a la Conant” promised fairness. It prioritized ability over bloodline by emphasizing objective academic achievements like IQ and standardized testing.

The Unintended Consequences of Meritocracy

Unfortunately, contrary to Conant’s original vision, the same tests that sought to democratize education instead began doing the very opposite.

Though rooted in good intentions, this shift soon became an arms race. SAT scores, AP classes, and academic rankings turned into the ultimate currency for educational success.

Students were pressured to perform not just for high grades, but for their futures. Arts and other explorative subjects were cast aside so classes could focus on standardized tests and “academic rigor.”

In some ways, this shift could be seen as a positive one. Upper middle-class jobs began to require elite degrees, which some might have viewed as increasing the competitiveness and skill level of the workforce. But this relentless emphasis on academic merit introduced consequences that extended far beyond the classroom.

Merit-based systems, designed to widen access to education, instead contributed even more to socioeconomic inequity. Because more of the highest-paying jobs now required more elite degrees, social stratification dangerously deepened.

Why? It’s a well-established fact that access to test preparation, private tutors, and advanced coursework often depends on resources that wealthier families are more likely to have. On average, Brooks reminds us, students from families earning more than $118,000 score 265 points higher on the SAT than those earning less than $56,000.

In this, the shift to meritocracy among America’s most elite colleges has resulted in a larger separation between the rich and the poor. Elite universities predominantly admit students from the top 1% of income earners, admitting fewer students from low-income families or underrepresented groups.

A Growing Divide Between What Matters on Paper and in Real Life

Unfortunately, this over-reliance on grades has also profoundly warped the educational experience into one of competition, rather than one of learning. 

Standardized testing encourages students to memorize rather than think critically. It prioritizes regurgitation over problem-solving and collaboration, a narrow measure of intelligence compared to a broader one that recognizes more valuable life skills.

Worse still, it narrows the measure of what it means to succeed.  

Academic Performance vs. Real-World Skills

The irony? Academic success doesn’t guarantee career success. 

Though valuable, academics are only one piece of a much larger puzzle, and that’s something that colleges struggle to measure, particularly in an objective way.

Soft Skills Matter, But Are Overlooked By Universities

A 2017 Deloitte study reported that “soft skill-intensive occupations will account for two-thirds of all jobs by 2030.” As many complex tasks that require significant academic skill are taken over by AI, those soft skills will likely become even more critical in the workplace than we ever imagined. Brooks notes that AI can already write papers that would fetch A’s at competitive Ivy League institutions.

But AI can’t think like a person. It can’t forge bonds within a team. It can’t ask thought-provoking questions, only answer them. We need students with the ability to do all of these things (and more) if we aim to stay ahead as a society.

Skills and traits like leadership, creativity, and interpersonal intelligence play a much larger role in real-world success. These often go unnoticed in an academic setting, yet are profoundly important in the workplace. The ability to think creatively or work well with your team can, quite literally, make or break your career success.
Emotional or interpersonal shortcomings, for example, account for 46% of workplace failures within an employee’s first 18 months. These findings expose the limits of a system that’s hyper-focused on academic performance, yet neglecting “softer,” yet essential, skills.

The Rise of the Risk-Averse

Furthermore, students who are successful in being admitted to these “merit-driven” institutions tend to carry the same sorts of traits with them throughout their careers. The same risk-averse behaviors that helped them get into college likely stick with them later in life. 

Case in point? 88% of students who scored in the top percentile on the SAT at age 13 fail to achieve significant career distinction by age 50. 

These academically high-performing students are often afraid to take risks and afraid to work with a team. They’re also hesitant to demonstrate any kind of creativity, fearing failure or demise in social or professional status. Brooks also notes that the “cognitive elite” has increasingly withdrawn from grassroots communities, something that only deepens the cultural and political rift in our nation.

Playing it safe is what made these students successful in school. But sadly, that doesn’t translate well to real-world success, nor the success for our country as Conant had originally hoped.

The Psychological Impact of Our Test-Driven Culture

There’s another impact of our test-driven culture that needs to be noted: the impact on the individual student.

This pressure cooker of an academic system has nurtured a generation of students who are laser-focused on grades and scores, often at the expense of broader skill development or, well, life.

College-bound teens juggle AP classes, extracurriculars, and volunteer hours like a precariously stacked tower, hoping nothing topples before their applications are in. The stress and anxiety of performing for academic perfection have created an educational system that’s completely blind to its collateral damage.  

Roughly half of all students say that “stress and anxiety overshadow their college search and planning.” 

A time that should leave students feeling excited and optimistic instead leaves them in a state of despair, feeling emotionally drained. Perhaps worse, it stifles their creativity and natural curiosity, traits they’ll need to tackle life’s unpredictable challenges.

Students play it safe, avoiding opportunities for growth that involve taking risks or thinking creatively, for fear it might jeopardize their all-important GPA.

And sadly, the very system claiming to prepare students for the future is failing to equip them with what they’ll truly need most. 

Rethinking What Merit Should Mean

If grades and test scores are limiting measures of merit, what should we be valuing instead? We need to shift our focus to traits and skills that reflect real-world readiness.

Brooks highlights that attributes like curiosity, a sense of drive and mission, social intelligence, and agility in real-world decision-making are far better, and far richer, indicators of long-term potential. 

Employers and researchers agree, and here at Polygence, we agree, too. The stats back it up: emotional intelligence (EQ) and soft skills, for instance, are 2.4 times more important than grades in predicting future income. 

These traits fuel collaboration and innovation, creating the leaders and problem-solvers of tomorrow. Imagine an education system that prioritizes adaptability, creative thinking, and the drive to pursue meaningful goals over rote memorization. 

The problem, of course, is that these innate attributes and “soft skills” are far trickier for admissions officers and recruiters to measure as a means of college readiness. It’s much easier to look at an SAT score or GPA to determine whether it meets the preset cut-off that’s already been determined by the university.

The good news is that there are steps students can take to highlight their abilities, and Polygence presents the perfect way to do so.

Enter: Polygence and Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning offers a way forward—a measurable model that prioritizes real-world skills and human potential over performance metrics. It’s about teaching students to ask “why,” “how,” and “what if” and then equipping them with the tools to seek out answers. 

At Polygence, this philosophy is central to everything we do. Our tailored mentoring approach helps students engage in passion-driven, interdisciplinary projects. By working on these projects, students cultivate the very traits that traditional education tends to overlook. 

Instead of regurgitating facts for a test, Polygence students design tangible, creative outputs that reflect authentic mastery and growth. 

And while we place the emphasis on learning rather than just achieving, the results our students get from their research pays off when it comes to admission to universities (even those maintaining the meritocratic standards Brooks describes in his piece). 

From research papers to digital portfolios, their work impresses college admissions officers in a very real, very tangible way. It showcases their academic aptitudes while highlighting their other skills, showing they’re ready for challenges inside of and outside the classroom.

At Polygence, we boast a 24% acceptance rate to Ivy League institutions. Overall, we have a 5x higher college acceptance rate (compared to the national average) at elite universities. 

Because when it comes right down to it, it’s not that admissions officers don’t care about real-world readiness or soft skills like collaboration and communication. It’s just that they’re tougher to measure on an application than are SAT scores and GPAs. That’s why Polygence projects are so valuable.

3 out of 4 admissions officers say research experience “weighs favorably” in college applications, and Polygence projects give students the perfect platform to highlight all the hard work they’ve done. 

What It Looks Like in Practice

If you’re curious what that might look like, don’t worry. We have plenty of examples and success stories to back up what we do here. Take Sanvi, who explored “The Neuroscience of Music and Brain Health.” 

With expert guidance from her mentor, she was able to produce meaningful scholarship and even publish her findings. Or Katherine, whose project on “Generative AI in Cancer Research” stood out as a model for merging creativity and science. 

These students didn’t just check boxes on a college application to-do list. Instead, they created something meaningful, learned to collaborate, and came away with a sense of accomplishment that can’t be measured by a grade.  

Project-based learning gives students room to grow beyond the confines of traditional education. At Polygence, we believe this paradigm strongly equips young people with the tools they need to lead successful, resilient, and adaptive lives. 

Most importantly, it provides students with a vision, a purpose to pursue that will outlast any college degree or ACT test score. 

One student, Chloe, summed it up perfectly: "The idea that you can do anything, or you can have an effect on a really big problem…that’s something I developed through Polygence and with my mentor." 

Redefining Success

Redefining merit isn’t about lowering the bar—far from it. Instead, it’s about shifting the bar, changing the focus to the traits that truly make a difference. Curiosity, collaboration, and creativity don’t fit neatly on a standardized test, but they lay the foundation for solving the complex challenges of our world. 

It’s time to value what matters most. If you’re a parent, educator, or decision-maker looking for educational models that go beyond grades, Polygence invites you to learn more about our programs. 

Schedule a consultation with us today to discover how project-based learning via our Pods or Core Program can help your student thrive where traditional systems fall short. Together, we’re building a better future—one project at a time.