What should colleges know about me

They do. Colleges like students who see things in a new way. This does not mean that your child needs to be an artsy student.

Another student started a school club devoted to diversity and radical acceptance. It all counts as creativity and initiative! Top colleges will pick up on this vibe and appreciate it. More than anything, colleges want to know how your child has changed or grown during their high school years. She was crushed and humiliated.

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? The trick here is to provide not a list of all the random activities you've done but rather a detailed overview of one to two of your most passionate interests and any big achievements you've made in them.

In other words, you need to figure out what your "spike" is, a concept which PrepScholar co-founder and Harvard alum Allen Cheng describes in his expert guide on how to get into the Ivy League. To put it simply, a spike is deep accomplishment in and knowledge of a particular field.

As an example, say you plan to major in biology. You'll stand out as an applicant if you have tons of biology- or science-related experiences under your belt. Maybe you're part of your school's biology club, or maybe you volunteered at a local research lab, which taught you the basics of handling lab equipment. In addition to having a variety of experiences and sufficient background knowledge in the field, you want to highlight any relevant major accomplishments you have.

For instance, maybe you won a science fair your sophomore year of high school; most recently, you submitted an award-winning invention idea to a national contest. As you can see, this concept of the spike is the opposite of being well rounded, which most students assume they need to be read the next section to learn more about this myth. If you're not sure what your spike is just yet, take some time to try out new activities and explore any interests you have, both in and outside of school.

Over time you should start to get a feel for what you're passionate about and what you can see yourself committing to in the future. Most colleges require at least one letter of recommendation from either your high school counselor or a high school teacher or both. Therefore, we can say it's pretty important to secure great recommendation letters for your application. If you're asking for a letter from a teacher , make sure to choose someone whose class you got a high grade in ideally an A and who is familiar with your abilities, ambitions, and interests.

It's a good idea to also get a letter from a teacher who works in the field you plan to major in. So if you got an A in AP English and plan to major in English, asking that teacher for a recommendation letter would give a great boost to your application.

While you don't have to be best buddies with the teacher you ask, they should definitely know you well , beyond the classroom, so they can effectively explain to admissions committees what makes you special, that is, what makes you worth admitting. For example, if you did research with a particular teacher, are part of a club this teacher coaches or leads, or helped out this teacher with a project, this would be a good person to ask to write a letter for you.

Once you've secured a recommendation letter writer, be sure to provide them with any materials or information they might need to help them craft a compelling letter. Colleges love it when an applicant has not simply volunteered but has also made a measurable impact with their volunteering efforts.

What does this mean exactly? If you have volunteered somewhere or for an organization, your assistance should have resulted in a noticeable, positive change to the group, community, or area you were aiming to help.

For instance, say you volunteered at a local library. Maybe the library was struggling to get funds to continue operating, and you came up with the idea to hold a hour reading marathon in order to raise money. With your college application, then, you could specifically mention how your initiative allowed the library to remain open. Note that you don't need to have assumed a leadership role in order to have made a positive impact through your service. That said, college admissions committees are often very big fans of students who show evidence of their budding leadership skills.

Although you're certainly not required to work a part-time job in high school, having some work experience on your college applications, especially any jobs that are related to what you want to study or do professionally, will help you stand out in a positive way. Even if your job isn't connected to a long-term academic or career goal you have, any part-time work experience you have will be great to put down on your application because it emphasizes your sense of responsibility, maturity, and willingness to work for your goals, key qualities that are usually considered important for success in college.

Also, if you have any room on the application to elaborate on your job, I suggest explaining why you initially took the job and what values or skills it's taught you, such as the importance of responsibility or how to work with certain equipment that you'll likely use again in the future. What looks really good on a college application? Many students think they know, but the truth is that there are a lot of myths out there about what you should include on your application. One of the most pervasive myths out there about what looks good on a college application is the idea of being well rounded.

Many students assume they'll need to have tons of extracurricular activities on their applications; this, they believe, will emphasize their array of interests as well as their knowledge of a variety of fields. But all this really tells admissions committees is that you're stretching yourself too thin and most likely lack focus on a specific endeavor in your life. What colleges actually want to see is a spike, that is, a single passion. This allows colleges to get a clearer feel for who you are, what you're interested in, and what your goals are.

Having a spike lets you stand out in a truly meaningful way, whereas being well rounded will make you forgettable and seem too similar to other applicants. Spikes are especially important at highly selective colleges and universities , such as Harvard, Yale, and other Ivy League-level schools. You can read more about how to develop a spike in our guide to getting into the Ivy League. Alternatively, if you're interested in pursuing education at a liberal arts school , check out our article on how to figure out what to go to college for.

If you aim for well rounded, you'll start to look like everyone else. After Time published a article on why college application essays don't actually matter all that much , students began to fear that all their hard work on their statements wouldn't mean much in the end, if at all.

But while some colleges don't require personal essays , most colleges do require at least one or two essays—and will place a decent amount of emphasis on it, especially if it is being used as a deciding factor between two otherwise equally qualified applicants. Even though you should approach the essay seriously, it's still generally rare for an exceptionally well-written essay to make up for tons of low grades and poor test scores.

On the flip side, if you have a great application but a badly written essay, that essay alone could get you rejected! Therefore, make sure that you are following all the steps listed above so you can craft the perfect statement for your application. Many students believe it's better to stick to the classes you know you'll get As in, but this piece of advice is misguided when it comes to college applications.

In general, colleges prefer students who challenge themselves by taking an array of difficult classes, such as AP and honors classes. And you don't have to get perfect grades in them. If you get a B in a tough AP class, for example, this will emphasize to the admissions committee that you are willing to take on new challenges and test your limits, traits that are necessary for succeeding in and after college. On the other hand, getting As in all easy classes, though not totally unimpressive, is not nearly as interesting to colleges, as it suggests you're unwilling to push yourself and further hone your higher-level critical thinking skills.

C and D grades obviously won't look great to an admissions committee, even if you got these grades while challenging yourself in AP classes.

Many students assume that if they have one little flaw in their application, such as a below-average test score or slightly low grade in a class, their chances of getting admitted to college will be slim to none. Yes, a very low test score or a very poor transcript may cause you to get rejected from a college, but many colleges use a holistic admission process, meaning they look at and consider each individual applicant as a whole.

So even if your application has a not-so-stellar component on it, this doesn't necessarily mean you'll be a reject. In fact, at particularly selective colleges, such as the Ivy League , you'll often hear of cases in which ostensibly "perfect" applicants got rejected.

This is most likely because they didn't have a spike in their applications i. Overall, just try your best to produce the best application you can, and then hope for a good result!

Applying to college is tough, and knowing what to put on your applications to make yourself stand out is even tougher. Generally speaking, colleges want to see your passion, intellectual curiosity, willingness to challenge yourself, and academic accomplishments.

Colleges want to see more than just good grades and test scores on your college application. They want evidence that you possess personal qualities associated with success in college. Here are 9 personal qualities colleges look for in applicants. They also look for various personality and character traits. These qualities may also come into play for students applying to less-selective schools. Increasingly, colleges look for personal qualities that foster cooperation, community, and compassion, explained Morgenstern.

Colleges may look for a different set of character qualities or define these traits in different ways. But when colleges describe their ideal candidates, they often mention some qualities more than others. Here are 9 character traits that colleges often cite when they describe what they are looking for in students. Colleges want to see that you are passionate about learning — not just about a single academic area—but about the world around you.

Show the colleges you have applied to how much you love to and want to learn, and what excites you intellectually. Some colleges want students who not only challenge themselves, but also who persevere through those challenges, set goals, and achieve them. The key is to show that despite any obstacles, you maintained your energy, enthusiasm and passion for what you set out to achieve. Taking a risk can be joining the debate club even though you have a fear of public speaking, trying a new activity, or taking a challenging class.

Colleges want students who are not afraid to make mistakes — and who understand that mistakes are part of learning. Some colleges also look for students with compassion.