July 27, 2010
Having spoken to dozens of college admissions officers over the years, I have come to the conclusion that after looking at thousands of applications, even outstanding applicants begin to look alike to them. Particularly at highly selective colleges, admissions officers routinely look to stellar test scores and impressive GPA’s. It goes without saying that students must have certain levels of achievement to be considered for admission even at less selective colleges. In most instances, there are many more qualified applicants than there are admissions spaces at colleges, so admissions officers go beyond grades and test scores.
WHAT DO COLLEGE ADMISSIONS OFFICERS LOOK FOR?
What do they look for after that? Personal characteristics; that is, who you are, what you have done and what makes you special. Some colleges are known for looking to applicants who are a little bit “quirky;” for example, an applicant who has spent his last two summers in an Indian city tutoring poverty stricken students and living in an ashram, or someone who plays an unusual musical instrument and has gained notoriety or a student who began collecting and breeding snakes when he was ten years old. No matter what you have done, admission officers want to know who you are as a person, what makes you tick and how you are different in a positive way from other students.
THE MOST USEFUL ADMISSIONS TOOL
Before you let colleges know about you, you have know something about yourself. Probably the best way of doing that is to prepare an activities resume, a 1-4 page written picture of who you are academically and otherwise. A good resume identifies extra curricular activities such as sports, community service, what special interests and talents you possess and act on regularly, leadership and/or student government positions, work experiences and the like. It should also list any honors and awards in those areas.
Putting together an activities resume allows you to get to know yourself and also gives you ideas for what you will write about as you answer application essays. Essays should help application readers “get who you are.”
A RESUME IS NOT BRAGGING
Some students worry that including a resume with their applications they may be seen as “bragging.” That’s not at all the case. The facts of who you are and what you do speak for themselves. If, for example, you have spent four summers taking immersion classes in Mexico and are now fluent in Spanish–that’s a fact, not bragging. If you have been drawing since you were two years old and as your skills have progressed, you have entered and won assorted art contests–those are facts, not bragging. By not letting admissions people know what you have done, they have no way of knowing how unique and/or accomplished you are.
IT’S THE QUALITY, NOT THE NUMBER, OF ACTIVITIES THAT COUNTS
Just in case you don’t know, colleges are not as impressed by the number of activities in which you have been involved in and outside of school as they are by the focus, accomplishment, and consistency you display. Lettering in two sports for four years is much more impressive then having played 4 sports, but only one per year. A community service project where you were initially one of dozens of volunteers, but three years later direct the program means more than lots of unrelated activities.
If you want to catch a college admissions officers’ eyes, let them know who you are and what you’ve done. Let them taste your energy, involvement and excitement. An activities resume is one of the best ways of doing that.
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