What is the College Admissions Process Really Measuring?
In today's conversation, we share some insights into what colleges are really looking for when assessing applications. While there are both quantitative and qualitative aspects to their measurements, we find that families who are applying can tend to overlook certain important areas that can make all the difference to the success of an application. We go into some detail about the vital ideas of maturity, self-awareness, and self-actualization, and how these can be demonstrated to an admissions board. A helpful idea to keep in mind is that colleges are effectively looking to admit young adults who have taken initiative in their lives and show a level of emotional maturity. Other aspects that we cover in the discussion include the consequences of the choices we make as parents, why letting our children fail is an important piece of the puzzle, the different kinds of support we can offer, and how to exercise our own forms of self-care while helping our children. So join us to catch it all, today!
Key Points From This Episode:
[0:01:13] The prioritization of maturity in college admissions.
[0:05:29] Looking beyond the numbers and the transcript.
[0:09:40] The importance of children taking on more responsibility at home and care of themselves.
[0:12:58] The effects of parents who do too much for their kids.
[0:15:02] Issues of motivation and dependence, and creating and maintaining incentives.
[0:17:01] Providing proof of the initiative that a young adult has taken in their life.
[0:19:58] Accepting the inevitable mistakes that are made when facing challenges.
[0:24:17] Developing skills and resilience through facing and dealing with setbacks.
[0:26:22] Trusting that things will work themselves out!
[0:27:31] Balancing the kinds of thinking that are so common in teenagers.
[0:30:00] Final thoughts on what is really meaningful when applications are assessed.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: