What Do Top Colleges Really Look For?
When we think about top colleges, it is impossible to not mention the Ivy Leagues. The Ivy League refers to an athletic conference that sees participation from eight private schools – Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, UPenn, Princeton, and Yale. It’s since earned the reputation of being a collection of institutions known for academic excellence and admissions selectivity. With an average acceptance rate of just below 10%, the Ivy Leagues remain popular because they offer unique advantages, including mentorship by world-class professors, access to cutting-edge research opportunities, and valuable networks of peers who will go on to become transformative leaders in a variety of industries.
With that in mind, it is clear that top colleges, including the Ivy Leagues, are looking for a very specific kind of student. They seek applicants who have the potential to make a ground-breaking impact in the world. When their alumni go out and do great things, their achievement reinforces the reputation and prestige of their alma mater. This creates a positive cycle to not only keep the schools ultra-competitive, but also serves to attract more exceptional students to apply and matriculate.
What qualities do top colleges seek in their next class of freshmen?
Put simply, schools are looking for students who demonstrate the potential to bring about a significant impact in the world. Although whether someone will go on to become exceptional is hard to tell in high school, there are still a few ways to predict which high-schoolers are more likely to accomplish great things. One of the factors that most schools rely heavily on is past achievement. Specifically, schools are looking for students who already achieved extraordinary accomplishments in a specific field. In other words, students do not need to ace everything. If this notion sounds unfamiliar to you, you are most likely operating under the common myth of the well-rounded student.
We’ve heard many parents and high school counselors preach the importance of being “well-rounded.” And students buy into this because they want to show colleges that “I can do anything and everything!” However, this not the best admissions strategy due to two reasons:
Well-rounded students allocate their efforts by being an above-average performer in several aspects, but they do not stand out because they do not excel at any particular activity.
Schools do not think well-rounded in terms of students, but in student bodies. A group of students who are exceptional in different areas is what makes the overall student body well-rounded and competitive.
That said, schools have a tremendous preference for students who display depth rather than breadth. Instead of showing colleges that you can do everything, you need to show them that you are passionate about a couple of things, and that you can do these things extraordinarily well. This is generally referred to as a spike.
To learn more about what and how to make a spike, check out “What is a Spike and How Can You Develop One?”