Want to get a better understanding of what college admissions counselors are looking for in high school graduates? Take a look at key points from a post published on The Choice blog for the New York Times!
William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions at Harvard:
“I’m not sure Harvard has figured out what the ideal student is,” he said. “But public service is a baseline. We’re trying to find people who make others around them better.”
Mr. Fitzsimmons called successful applicants to Harvard “good all-arounders – academically, extracirricularly and personally,” and he stressed the importance of demonstrating humanity and three-dimensionality in one’s college application. “I want to know, what is it this person does beside chew gum and produce good grades or scores?”
He warned against the superficiality of charismatic dispositions. “Charisma isn’t everything,” he said. “It actually makes a difference to have substance. And those quiet people can be incredibly easy to miss in college admissions, but they can be brilliant and wear incredibly well over the long haul.”
Marcia Landesman, associate director of undergraduate admissions at Yale:
Modesty and resourcefulness are qualities she most closely associated with an ideal candidate, and she emphasized that recommendations were most helpful in communicating such traits.
Jonathan Burdick, dean of admissions at the University of Rochester:
He said that inquisitive students characterized his ideal, those who might “step up beyond the received wisdom of Lady Gaga and actually think about what she says.”
Mark Spencer, dean of admissions at Brandeis University:
“I don’t believe in an ideal high school graduate.” Nonetheless, he went on to praise “authentic” applicants above all others and shared an anecdote from an interview he conducted last week.
“I don’t believe in an ideal high school graduate.” Nonetheless, he went on to praise “authentic” applicants above all others and shared an anecdote from an interview he conducted last week.
“A young woman told me her dad called her weird. She stated it. She accepted it. And she kind of liked it,” he laughed. In turn, Mr. Spencer really liked it. “She was real.”
