The Five Key Things Colleges Look For

Each year the W+H College Counseling Office is afforded the incredible opportunity to visit colleges and universities throughout the country through the various professional conferences we attend and counselor fly-in programs to which we are invited. This year alone our team has had the chance to receive personalized tours of places like UCLA, USC, Occidental College, Loyola Marymount, Cal Tech, the Claremont Colleges (Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, and Scripps), Case Western Reserve, Denison University, and many more. These visits not only help us to bring these colleges to life for our juniors and seniors through personal anecdotes, but also shed light on what these schools, and others like them, are looking for from their applicants.  

What I’ve noticed over the past admissions cycle is that no matter the size, type or selectivity of the school in question, five key factors continue to take center stage: rigorous academics, hands-on experience, character, leadership and commitment to a long-term goal. Here are some of my reflections on all of these factors and how students can take advantage of the resources at W+H to cultivate each of them. 

Rigorous Academics. With 22 Advanced Placement (AP) courses and 18 Honors courses, combined with our participation in the Global Online Academy, W+H students have a myriad of ways to push themselves academically and show colleges what they are capable of. However, it’s important to remember that each student will need to find the optimal level of rigor for them – one that challenges them, while also still allowing them to succeed. Loading up on APs only to see your GPA take a dive is not a good strategy. This is why we recommend a slow and steady approach. Do your very best each year. See where you excel and can challenge yourself more next year. Build your schedule in a steady, sustainable way that will allow you to show colleges a student who has taken on more work over time, while still maintaining a strong GPA. 

Hands-On Experience. Whether it’s a part-time job, a summer internship, shadowing someone in the field you wish to pursue, or a research project, colleges love to see students jumping in and getting their hands dirty (sometimes literally!). Not only do these types of experiences demonstrate a true curiosity and passion for the field a student wishes to pursue, but they also provide students with valuable feedback as to whether the field they’ve chosen is the right fit for them. This is critical feedback to have, especially when applying for highly specialized programs like architecture, engineering or business where changing majors once you arrive in college could result in extra coursework and/or delayed graduation. Courses like Engineering Your World and Research in Genetics here at W+H are just two examples of ways students can gain this kind of exposure in high school. 

Character. In a recent survey, admissions leaders ranked “character” as the fourth most important factor in the admissions process, just behind things like transcript, GPA and rigor of curriculum. Why is character so important to colleges? Because, in the words of Dean Miller (former Dean of Admissions at Brown University), students are only in the classroom about three hours a day; colleges want to know how you will spend the other 21 hours. Will you be someone who helps your roommate study for a test? Will you enrich the co-curricular life of the college? Will you engage in respectful dialogue with people whose views differ from your own? These are all essential questions for residential colleges which aim not only to build classrooms, but also campus communities. It is why W+H infuses social-emotional learning into so much that we do from our conversations in advisory, to our reflective assignments in College Counseling, to the speakers we bring to campus, to the mentoring provided by our faculty, staff and coaches. Our hope is to nurture students who will not only do well once they graduate, but do some good, too. 

Leadership. There are so many ways for students to get involved and find their passions at W+H. Whether that’s auditioning for the spring musical, playing for one of our many athletic teams, joining an affinity group or student club – many of these opportunities are either built into our students’ daily schedules or (frequently!) emailed to them. All they have to do is raise their hand and give it a try. When students are invested in a cause or a team, leadership naturally blossoms. Students begin to think about how they can deepen their impact, share what they're doing with others, and inspire others to action, all essential skills for burgeoning leaders. And as we always remind students, “leadership” doesn’t have to look like being the president of a club. Sometimes leadership looks like being the person your teammates depend on to give a rallying speech when you’re down at halftime, or being the person your younger sibling depends on to help them with their homework, or being the person who sits with a new student in the lunchroom. 

Commitment to a Long-Term Goal. This one always seems to surprise students and parents the most and yet, when we step back and think about it, what is graduating college (or high school for that matter) if not the completion of a long-term goal? It’s for this exact reason that colleges want to see whether students can set their sights on something and see it through to the end. Can they face the inevitable discomfort and obstacles that will come along the way? Will they buckle under the pressure or call upon their inner-resources and support systems to persevere? The beautiful thing is that our students often demonstrate this strength without even realizing it through things like participating in the Global Scholars Program, completing the Capstone Research Project, or becoming deeply committed to a particular club or sport throughout high school. What it does require from students is the bravery and motivation to lean in, to try things and dream big. These are things we hope they will continue to do throughout their time in college and long after.