What Colleges Want in an Applicant (Everything)

The admissions process is a maddening mishmash of competing objectives, and an attempt to measure the unmeasurable: you. No, it isn’t fair, and likely never will be.

The admissions process is out of whack. Just ask the heartbroken applicant, rejected by her dream school. Ask high school counselors, who complain that colleges don’t reward promising students for their creativity, determination or service to others. Even the gatekeepers at some famous institutions acknowledge, quietly, that the selection system is broken.