Chances are you possess many of the character traits colleges look for—but you might need some help identifying them in yourself. The important thing is to be honest about yourself, so your application is an authentic representation of who you are. We try to make content available to you on CollegeData.
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The content on CollegeData. We recommend that you refrain from acting or not acting on the basis of any content contained on CollegeData. We will not be liable for the content on CollegeData. Share: Colleges want to see more than just good grades and test scores on your college application.
Curiosity Colleges want to see that you are passionate about learning — not just about a single academic area—but about the world around you. Persistence Some colleges want students who not only challenge themselves, but also who persevere through those challenges, set goals, and achieve them. Compassion Some colleges also look for students with compassion.
Social Consciousness Many colleges say they are looking for students who hope to apply their academic and career interests to improve the world around them.
Collaboration Colleges want to know that you can collaborate well with students and faculty, and that you are able to put the needs of your team over your own. Cultural Intelligence Colleges want students who appreciate cultural diversity and are eager to engage with and learn from people from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. But she learned valuable lessons about her leadership from the setback and became a stronger person as a result.
She was also accepted to Stanford! They consider reading books, viewing informational videos, listening to podcasts, querying on Reddit, or tinkering with an Arduino in the garage vital for personal development. Does your child take things at face value, or does he or she dig deeper and investigate independently? These students experience difficulty with interviews and often do not get into their dream schools. Take the Berkeley grad who, while still in high school, ran an art studio for kids on weekends in her garage, or the Arizona State Honors admit who interned at a physical therapy office, or the STEM student who organized a team for a local tech challenge: each student was able to prove their dedication through sustained, concrete activity.
What kinds of experiences does your child have with people who differ in terms of socioeconomic status, cultural experience, regional background, or religious influence? Is your child someone who creates or works within groups of people from diverse backgrounds?
Is he or she a bridge builder? In our globally interconnected society, colleges want to see applicants who are comfortable with personal or cultural difference and can move among varying social groups in a harmonious way. First, congratulations on getting this far! It is a lot to take in. Planning for a spot at a top college is a multidimensional endeavor, and it can feel hard, even agonizing at times.
Hopefully, this new framework provides a fresh approach for setting personal foundations. Second, this new framework can also help your child choose future activities. Will a certain activity bring out one or some of these qualities? If yes, then it might be a good choice. Soccer or bio research? Extra class or volunteer? Once you match these traits with activities, the decision might be more obvious than you think!
This form of teen personal development is like icing on the cake and often leads to sweet admissions outcomes such as merit aid or entry into an honors program.
Since admissions officers truly want to get to know teens in their college applications, one of the best things we can all do for them is help them get to know themselves. Hopefully, the 7Cs can help lead the way. We find that providing frameworks for teen self-awareness can make a big difference in strategic planning for college.
We hope you give it a try! Phone: 1. Students often wonder if they should specialize in a particular subject area or extracurricular activity. They may question if having a single, well-defined area of focus will make them a more attractive college applicant. For example, if you want to study engineering at MIT, it would be smart to take some high-level STEM courses during high school and to reinforce this interest with some relevant extracurricular activities.
Similarly, if you want to study business at UPenn, you should have classes and activities that are reflective of this goal. For example, if you perform poorly in English class or drop out of all your activities after junior year in order to focus on your STEM curriculum, you will not come off as a student capable of succeeding in multiple fields and might even look like someone who does not follow through on commitments.
As you can see, the line between specialized and well-rounded is a tough one to walk. To learn more about what colleges want from specialized or well-rounded candidates, check out these posts:. Sometimes students wonder if they should focus more on test prep or more on getting their grades up.
They want to know which data point is viewed as more reflective of their academic aptitude or given more weight in the college application process. Unfortunately, again, there is no simple answer. In fact, most selective colleges think of both of these metrics as reflections of your abilities, and a big discrepancy between them can sometimes be cause for concern. For example, if you perform poorly on your standardized tests but do well in classes, colleges might wonder if your academic performance in school is only due to particular resources or support that you have access to, and they may wonder how capable you actually are on your own.
Excelling in other areas, like extracurriculars, is also important. To learn more about how colleges view grades and test scores, check out these posts:. Personal qualities and who you are as a person is an increasingly important metric in college applications. Although it might be more difficult to show on a piece of paper, being kind, caring, generous, and committed are all important factors in your college admissions.
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