What Do Selective Colleges Look for in an Applicant? More Hooks

Socioeconomic and Geographic Diversity

Most selective colleges are eager to assemble a freshman class from a wide variety of backgrounds. Colleges are particularly interested in identifying students who are the first in their families to attend college and have succeeded against the odds. These are often called “first-generation” students. High school students from disadvantaged backgrounds who do well in school despite the challenges of low income or poor schools, or both, are likely to be highly motivated, successful college students.

Colleges are becoming increasingly aware of the need to actively seek out and support such students, since they have less access to information about college and may not even apply to selective colleges. In 2004, Harvard University made national headlines by announcing a change in its financial aid policy so that families with annual incomes of $40,000 or less would no longer be expected to contribute to the cost of attendance. “We want to send the strongest possible message that Harvard is open to talented students from all economic backgrounds,” said President Lawrence Summers at that time. Since then, Harvard has raised the income ceiling to $60,000, and several other well-endowed colleges, including Dartmouth College, Princeton University, and Stanford University, have made similar changes to their financial aid policies.

Geographical diversity is another variable that many colleges consider in selecting their freshman class, since geographical diversity often correlates with diversity of life experience. Students who come from underrepresented parts of the country can find themselves at an advantage when it comes to admission to a selective college. But the definition of underrepresented region is relative; it depends in part on the college in question. Although few students from Nevada may apply to Colby College in Maine, Pitzer College in California is likely to have an ample supply from which to choose. Talented students from sparsely populated Wyoming or rural Mississippi are in short supply everywhere. Major exceptions to the geographic diversity advantage are selective public institutions such as the University of Texas, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of California, Berkeley. In these cases, students from other states are held to higher standards for admission.

It is interesting that while many private colleges seek geographic diversity in their student body, they may also give a small preference to students from their own local area in an effort to build goodwill with the community. Tufts University, Duke University, and Northeastern University are among those that acknowledge this kind of preference.

Special Talents

Still other hooks include exceptional talent—in music, dance, or ice skating; as a visual artist or published writer; or as a scientist, among others—that a college would like to have represented in its student body. An Olympic ice skater, someone who has appeared in commercial films, the author of a published novel, and the winner of a major Intel science award—all of these applicants have hooks based on exceptional talent that will catch the attention of admissions committees. A diverse class with a wide range of exceptional talents is an interesting class. Some of these talents, for example, the science award winner or the published author, may add to the educational mission of the school. Others may just add some glamour. Although the majority of students admitted even to the most selective colleges do not have a special talent at this level, some do. If you are fortunate enough to fall into this category, it will be a definite plus in your evaluation.

Are hooks fair? This is a tough question. If you have one, you are likely to be glad of it; in the highly competitive world of admissions these days, few students are willing to give up an advantage, real or imagined. If you don’t have a hook, and most applicants don’t, you may feel that the system is structured against you in some way. Unfortunately, this contributes to the widely held idea that admissions is a game and you have to know the fine points of the rules to win. If you find yourself feeling this way, remember that a majority of students admitted to every college do not have one of these hooks, and that most students are admitted on the basis of the normal mixture of criteria: grades, test scores, activities, essays, and recommendations.

Fitting It All Together

Another important consideration—the timing of a student’s application which deals with early acceptance programs. There is no single answer to how college admissions offices weight these factors and what process they use to make their decisions. Each college is free to shape its own admissions policies and practices based on college priorities, tradition, and sometimes the previous experience of a newly hired admissions dean.