Context, Character, & Communication

Dear Students,

There are many factors that go into decision-making when it comes to college admissions. I've chosen to highlight three that I find colleges mentioning often when I attend information sessions or speak directly with admissions representatives. I believe they're important and worth considering.

CONTEXT

How colleges review your application will depend on many factors, but will most certainly include context. What is context? Context includes information about your school, your neighborhood, your background, your special circumstances, your curriculum, your activities, your family, and so forth. Basically, it gives them a *context* by which to evaluate what you’ve done in and out of school. 

College admissions officers are not mind readers. If they have no context by which to evaluate you (let’s say for some specific reasons, you have some lower grades, few activities, less rigor than you had hoped, a bumpy semester), they will make judgments based on the information at hand and without enough context, they will not fully understand you and your circumstances, resulting in what could be less-than-favorable college admissions outcomes. It’s up to the students (and to a lesser extent, the school counselor or homeschool parent) to present a complete picture of themselves within their environment so colleges can really understand their unique situations.

CHARACTER

Colleges make no bones about the fact that they are looking to admit students who display character. But what does that mean? Character qualities such as compassion, kindness, social-advocacy, outreach-oriented, supportiveness, and tenacity are some examples of the kinds of character qualities many colleges are looking for. What did you do beyond academics? How did you go about making a positive change, however small, on someone else or in society? Colleges want to know this. 

And it doesn’t have to be in some grand context, by the way. It could be in your family. Do you babysit your siblings while your parent works? Raise farm animals? Tend a neighborhood garden? Play music for fundraisers? Help bear the responsibility of a disabled sibling? Let colleges know. Are you involved in a religious organization and do you serve in some way, either in that community or in the broader community? Let colleges know. Are you a bridge-builder among your friends or do you volunteer to tutor children at the library? Let colleges know. These are all examples that demonstrate character qualities that matter to colleges because college is more than academics. Colleges are building a class and looking for a diverse array of students who will make meaningful contributions when they get to campus.

COMMUNICATION

What you say and how you say it matters. Whether it’s the college essay, the activities descriptions, the additional information essay, the interview, the email you send with questions, or the homeschool transcripts, the more in-depth and clear your communication is, the better able colleges will be to understand the CONTEXT of your education and situation, and your CHARACTER qualities within that context. (See how these three C's go together?)

Did you experience a sports injury that changed the trajectory of your high school career? Tell the colleges. Do you have a disability that’s impacted your academics? Share that. Are you from a large family with few resources, such that it's necessary that you work? Write about it. Have you spent significant time volunteering for a cause you believe in? Colleges want to know. Get vulnerable. Open up. Be honest.

Communication matters a lot, and it’s important that you learn how to do it well. Some people take communication for granted, but I can assure you that it is a learned skill- and it *can* be learned! In my job as an IEC, teaching students to be better communicators, to share their stories, and to know themselves better are some of the most important things I do.