Years ago, college admissions officers were in search of well-rounded students who seemed to have it all: academic success, athletic prowess, and a resume full of extracurricular activities. That’s no longer the case. Colleges are no longer seeking “Renaissance people,” but rather students with a specialty. By admitting thousands of talented students, each with their own niche, colleges are able to create a diverse, and accomplished student body.
On their applications, students should emphasize the talent they would bring to the school – and the more unique the better. While colleges typically have thousands of applicants eager to play football, baseball, soccer, and basketball, they have many fewer seeking a spot for fencing, golf, crew, squash, sailing, and polo.
Students with a talent for music might benefit from the words of a conductor who referred to as “scholarship row” the section that included students playing oboes, bassoons, bass clarinets, baritone saxophones, and tubas.
Students seeking admission to the most elite universities greatly benefit from writing their essay about a “passion project.” When a local student, with whom I had worked on SAT prep, got accepted to seven Ivy League schools as well as MIT and Stanford, I asked her what she felt was her defining quality. She told me about a medical device she had invented to help her grandfather, and other stroke victims, track feedback on their rehabilitation exercise performance. Upon presenting her research at the Intel Developer Forum and at the White House Science Fair, she had gained national and international recognition.
Other recent students who gained acceptance to top colleges had passion projects such as:
Launching a newsletter, Teens Take On Medicine, to provide high school students seeking a pre-med major with information about internship and research opportunities.
Starting a business, Your LockStop, creating and selling locks with fingerprint sensors so students don’t have to deal with combination locks on their lockers.
Initiating a Speakers Bureau at their high school where local professionals in a specific field can offer guidance to students seeking to follow in their footsteps. This could be particularly beneficial for students seeking clarity about specific specialties in medicine, business, and engineering.
It’s also vital for students to show demonstrated interest to each college to which they are applying. Colleges are ranked, in part, by their “yield:” the percent of accepted students who enroll. So students should visit each college in person, if possible, and share on their application the specific qualities that make it the ideal academic and social environment for their college years.
Susan Alaimo is the founder and director of Collegebound Review which offers PSAT/SAT® preparation and private college advising by Ivy League educated instructors. Visit CollegeboundReview.com or call 908-369-5362
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