Applying Taylor Swift’s Branding Strategies to Succeed in Your College Application

Top Future Education

Taylor Swift at New York University

Building a strong college application is like branding yourself so that schools will invest in you. Colleges, especially prestigious ones, admit students with a vision that if they invest an acceptance in you, you will return with potential donations and reputation. 

Taylor Swift is the legendary case of branding so let’s apply her strategy to succeed in college application with Top Future Education.

Number one, Personal Storytelling. Taylor’s song lyrics, social media posts, and interviews often mirror her real-life experiences, from heartbreak to triumph. When filling every part of your application, not only your essays, you need to tell your own personal story which only you can tell and try to make it as personal as possible.

Number two, Reinvention with Every Era. Each album is treated as a distinct era, with its own aesthetic, color scheme, typography, wardrobe, and thematic focus. However, you don’t have to show multiple themes in your college application but treat it as one album only. Imagine yourself in the process of making 1989, for example, choose a concept for it and make your whole application cohesive to that theme. Admissions officers want to see your identity united in every part so don’t show two or more different application themes or identities in your extracurricular activity list and essays.

Number three, Fan Engagement and Easter Eggs. Taylor’s strategy to build the most loyal fandom is deep engagement with her fanbase, often using cryptic clues and layered messages to generate buzz and speculation through teasers, coded messages, hidden meanings in lyrics/videos, and direct interaction with fans on platforms like Tumblr or Instagram. The “Taylor Swift Easter Egg” phenomenon is so consistent that it’s now an expected part of her marketing cycle. From her strategy, students can build their most outstanding application with two key qualities: uniqueness and consistency. Your application has to show your “unique” self that is shown through your extracurricular activities and essays. Both of your extracurricular activities and your application theme has to be “consistent” through your commitment and within your application.

Number four, Ownership & Empowerment. Taylor Swift’s brand is rooted in independence, artistic control, and female empowerment. We can clearly see from her publicly fighting for her master recordings, leading to the Taylor’s Version re-recordings and speaking out on issues like streaming royalties and music industry contracts. Her impacts from these brave actions are positioned as a trailblazer advocating for artists’ rights and women empowerment. What we can take away from her brand is that creating impacts makes you stand out. Extracurricular activities often play a “make or break” role when admissions officers decide to admit you over other students. The bigger impacts your activities create, the higher chance you receive your admissions because impacts build your standings and tell how important your actions are.

Number five, Controlled Narrative and Media Savvy. Taylor has increasingly taken control of her public image and press interactions which can guarantee her image in the media is what she wants the public to see about her. Students can apply her controlled image strategy in their application process. For instance, when you fill in your Common App application, make sure that your unique qualities, personal story, and application theme written are what you want admissions officers to see about you. Learning from Taylor Swift’s carefully timed interviews on Rolling Stone, Time, and Vogue, be sure to be consistent with your “controlled public image” and show your outstanding qualities in your answer so that what your interviewers who have never read your application see and what your admissions officers who have never talked to you see are the same. Sometimes, you will have a chance to submit your portfolio and please learn from how Taylor made her documentary Miss Americana to show her side of the story - show your side stories as well. 

Number six, Longevity through Diversification. Taylor expands beyond music to ensure cultural permanence, in particular, successful foray into filmmaking, poetry, politics, and even academic discussions and even the Eras Tour as both a concert event and a cinematic experience. When having your application theme or not, try to diversify the forms of activity you are involved in as long as you have three activities with your theme.