Other than SAT - College application -12/22/2006
From: Dr. John E. Bierwirth
Date: December 22, 2006
Re: Newspaper Article
As with many other issues in life, it is easy to focus on the qualities which can be quantified as part of a student’s application to college – SAT scores, AP scores, GPA, grades, etc. While all of these are important and while colleges do pay attention to these, perhaps more than they would admit, they also look for other attributes which are difficult to quantify but hugely important to a student’s success in college and in life thereafter:
- Persistence – Does the student demonstrate the ability to work through challenges? Can the student deal with setbacks and continue working in order to achieve a goal?
- Creativity – Has the student demonstrated the ability to think on his/her own? Can he/she come up with unusual ideas or insights?
- A willingness to work hard – Has the student demonstrated a willingness to work hard day in and day out, from one month to the next and from one school year to the next? Is the student willing to work hard on all subjects or only on particular ones?
- Sensitivity to others -- Has the student demonstrated, in and out of class, an understanding and sensitivity to the thoughts and feelings of other students? Has he/she developed a maturity in his/her ability to relate to others, particularly those whose backgrounds may be different than his/her own?
- Leadership – When given the opportunity, did the student demonstrate the capacity for leadership in a variety of different forums? This goes beyond being recognized for a particular title, such as the president of a club. There are many different ways of demonstrating leadership. Did the student take advantage of the opportunities available to him/her? Did he/she step in to do what needed to be done when an issue arose?
