I'm going through this now, a few years ago I heard that "research" with college professors was key - I ignored it because I thought it was performative and unl

I'm going through this now, a few years ago I heard that "research" with college professors was key - I ignored it because I thought it was performative and unlikely that any decent professor would want to waste their time. The kids that had their EDs accepted to Ivys at my daughter's school all did research with "professors" that were parents or friends of parents. It explains a lot of what I see of our graduates from "top" universities we hire from.