After evaluating the student’s metrics, and the college admissions officer is comfortable the student may be able to handle the rigor of the college’s academic curriculum, they now want to know-Who is this student as a person? What have they accomplished beyond a strong GPA and test scores? What do they believe in? Who are they and what are they going to contribute to our campus and eventually, to our alumni body? What are they passionate about?

Several years ago, a student of mine became passionate about curing mesothelioma, a fatal disease with which her father had been diagnosed. She was passionate about pursing ways to cure it. From this passion, she raised $80,000 for research, met with senators and congressmen on Capitol Hill, spoke at an International Symposium on Mesothelioma in Washington, DC, served as an Intern for the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, and established a Breath of Hope Club at her high school. This is passion. This was noticed in her application and this student was admitted to Harvard. Yes, she had great grades and test scores, but what made her a remarkable student of excellence was her passion and what she did with it. The student was able to demonstrate her passion through her resume, college essay, and letters of recommendation. These are the differentiators.

Most students applying to competitive colleges provide well-written essays. The key to a GREAT essay is for it to reflect the student’s voice, personality, passion, and impact, not the voice of a teacher, essay coach or parent. It needs to show the student is a standout person of excellence who has pursued their passion. Admissions officers have read so many essays that they know when a student’s essay has been edited and reworked by an adult, counselor, teacher or essay coach.

Letters of recommendation written by teachers provide colleges with the insight to what the student is like in the classroom, the extent to which the student is respected by the faculty and provides indicators on how the student might contribute to the college classroom.

Letters of recommendation for successful students applying to very competitive colleges may have statements such as “This student is one of the most qualified students I have taught in years,” or “This student raises the most intriguing questions and has made significant contributions to our school” or “I highly recommend this student for admission, above all others”. For a teacher to write these statements, the student must have demonstrated intellectual curiosity, asked provocative questions, served as a leader and positive influencer and be of very strong character. The student must impress the teacher with their genuine passion for learning, character and leadership. If a student has a passion for learning and is of strong character, all of this will come naturally to him or her and this is a student who may be a strong candidate for a very competitive college.

Above all, the key differentiator in the student’s application is the action they have taken to pursue their passion or passions inside and outside of the classroom. For the Harvard student, she pursued her passion for finding a cure for heart disease in a number of remarkable and different ways. Another student with whom we worked, was conflicted about what he wanted to study in college. He thought it was business but had interests in other areas too. He decided to explore every option from marine biology to film to business. This young man continued to pursue his passions in very remarkable ways until he had a direction. He had both Georgetown and University of Pennsylvania (Penn) pursuing him and in the end, his heart and soul belonged to Penn. In this case, he was not sure of what he wanted to study but he did know he was passionate about several things. He pursued each one and through the process of elimination, landed on his major and achieved admission to several Ivy League caliber colleges.

Pursue your passion for academics, learning, and a cause you believe in. Be a remarkable student of excellence. Even if admission to an Ivy League caliber school eludes you, you will be prepared for the road to admission of an amazing university where your future will be launched.

Jan Kerchner has an undergraduate degree from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Cornell University. She has a Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA and is a Certified Educational Planner. She is the founder and CEO of the College Blueprint, LLC, an educational consulting firm serving the Irvine community for 18 years and a recipient of the 2017 Irvine Excellence Award for College Counseling.

GPA is the most important factor in the college admissions process. One way to improve your grades is to know your preferred learning style. Each learning style has specific strategies which can be helpful to assist you in learning material. Take a look below and see if you can figure out YOUR learning style. Once you have done so, we encourage you to utilize some of these strategies while studying for your classes.

Visual Language

These students learn language skills by sight, mainly by reading and watching. They tend to be fast thinkers, to gesture freely while talking, and to communicate very clearly and concisely. They learn well from demonstration process – they must see to understand.

Visual Numerical

These students are able to understand material when they’re able to see numbers written. Alike with visual language students, they must see to understand, learn best by reading and writing, and tend to be fast thinkers.

Potential Strategies

• Highlight and write as you study. Use different colors to emphasize specific points and to
  organize information.
• Make class notes visual with drawings, spacing, symbols, etc. Use capital letters and colors, too.
  This will help you to look forward to studying, and it is likely these shapes and images will help
  you to remember information more easily
• Use visuals from your textbook or your teacher’s lessons such as charts and pictures. To build
  recall, practice reproducing them on a piece of paper.
• Create notecards with written information organized into outlines, drawings, or diagrams. Review them for factual recall, and practice reproducing the outlines to be sure you’ve learned the material.

Auditory Language

These students learn best by listening. When studying, auditory learners listen to podcasts or video blogs that include various information pertaining to a subject. When recalling information, they are quick to remember specific phrases and statistics they heard during a lesson or supplemental study resource. They are normally very attentive listeners, and actively participate in conversations.

Auditory Numerical

These students are better with numbers when they can hear them spoken. These learners listen to statistics several times over in order to fully understand the information they’ve been given. They’re especially interested in visualizing numbers based on how the statistic or math problem is explained.

Potential Strategies:

• Read or recite information aloud as you study.
  
• Take notes or use a tape recorder to record lectures. Play recorded notes when commuting by
  car, or listen to voice memos on your phone in between classes.
  
• Study with a friend or group. Explain information in your notes to another person in order to
  reinforce your knowledge of the information. By hearing the information in different voices and
  numerous times, your brain will be more likely to absorb the information.
  
• Talk to yourself when you study. Describe diagrams and practice answering test questions out
  loud so that you are actively participating in the learning process.
  
• When solving problems, talk yourself through each step. If you audibly hear and understand the steps behind the answer, it’s more likely that during a test, you’ll be more confident in your
  capabilities.

These people are feeling and touch-oriented, good at hands-on tasks, good linguists, and very sensitive to others' feelings. They learn best by doing and moving. Good ways to learn are through hands-on projects or experiments, writing down the information that they’re provided, and applying it to real-life situations. They may have difficulty sitting for long periods of time.

Potential Strategies:

• Use as many of your senses as possible when you study: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
  
• Incorporate candy into your math problems, or use colored paper for different assignments.
  When explaining information to others or reviewing lessons, use gestures and listen intently to feedback.
  
• Move around or walk when you study. Chew gum while you study at home or squeeze a rubber
  ball to encourage whole-body movement.
  
• Use a timer and decide on a specific amount of time during which you feel you can effectively sit and work. Underestimate your ability at first, and work up to longer periods when
  possible. When the timer sounds, take a break and do something physical. Go outside and get
  your body moving, and that will help you to maintain patience and energy while studying.
  
• When solving a problem, move around and manipulate items to represent parts of the problem. For instance, bring objects into the mix. Select some items from the kitchen to represent.
  
• When taking an exam, remember what you did physically as you studied. This will help you to
  remember specific facts and information that you focused on while learning.

These students prefer to study on their own. They are diligent and focused, and are most productive
when in a quiet, individual setting. These students often perform well under test-taking conditions.

Potential Strategies

• Study in a quiet place. Eliminate background noise by quietly playing classical music or an
  environmental sound track such as the sounds of waves crashing or birds chirping. These small things will ultimately make you feel more comfortable, and will focus your attention on the material you’re studying at a specific time.
  
• When in need of assistance, work one-to-one with peer tutor rather than studying in groups. This will increase your ability to absorb information, as group situations become overwhelming. Having a one-on-one interaction mirrors your individual learning, with an extra person to bounce ideas off of and receive support from. 

These students learn best by interacting with a group. These people benefit greatly from the environment of a classroom, and do best when they’re able to interact with classmates. Communicative activities allow them to feel comfortable, and group members facilitate their learning capabilities.

Potential Strategies:

• Study with a friend or classmate. Teach each other the material, and collaborate on study guide assignments.
  
• Attend study group sessions. Teachers provide these review sessions for learners like you
  
• Organize your own study group. Getting friends together to have pizza and study for a big test
  coming up can help you achieve your best potential.

Oral Expression Learner
​
These students usually do well in speech classes. Oral Expression is the means by which a student
presents their thoughts through speech, and they learn by applying these strategies to classroom
material. They are able to convey their thoughts clearly by way of speech. They often learn best by
creating presentations for their classes.

Potential Strategies:

• Read or recite aloud as you study. As you hear yourself speaking the material, and as you work to put the information into your own words, you will absorb it with more confidence.
• Study with a friend or study group. As you express your thoughts and opinions to others, you will learn the material more easily.
• Explain information in your notes to another person. Teaching others is the best way to learn information.
• Recite information out loud. Describe diagrams and practice answering test questions to yourself.
• Separate potential or practice test questions into “chunks,” and recite each part to yourself in a whisper or silently. As you familiarize yourself with the material and the wording of the questions, you will feel more comfortable approaching the test.

Written Expression Learner 

These students are often very confident in expressing themselves through writing. They are very thorough writers, and this translates into their learning. They read diligently, and will re-read several times until a topic is crystal-clear. They can spend hours rewriting notes and summaries while studying for a test, yet this dedication will earn them excellent grades.  

Potential Strategies

• To build recall, practice reproducing information on a piece of paper or chalkboard.
  
• Use study cards with written information organized into outlines, drawings, or diagrams. Review them by writing to reproduce the information and allow yourself to become familiar with it.
  
• When testing, give yourself 5 minutes to jot down as much information as possible on a blank
  sheet or on the back of test pages (if permitted). Write down formulas, outlines, mnemonics, learning cues, etc. Use these to expand ideas for writing. "Right brain" learners may use mapping techniques for organizing thoughts before writing.

SOURCES

Tindall, L.W., et. al. (1980). Puzzled about educating special needs students?: A handbook on modifying vocational curricula for handicapped students. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Vocational Studies Center, University of Wisconsin

http://specialedcoop.org/coop/wp-content/uploads/CITELearningStylesInstrument.pdf

Several times each month we will be sending short informative articles addressing college planning topics. Our hope is that you will find them to be a quick way to stay current on timely admissions information. Feel free to pass them on to friends and family members. Additionally, if you have topics you would like to see us include in future issues of Expert Insights, please let us know. We would love to hear from you!

During the summer months, there are countless interesting and unique opportunities to pursue as a high school student. Going to the beach, hanging out with friends and sleeping-in are an appealing part of summer. But make sure you balance your free time with positive activities that will allow you to learn, mature, and gain more independence and experience as you prepare to apply to college. 

Colleges LOVE to see that a student has taken the initiative to participate in enriching and meaningful experiences and summer is a great time to do this. Your time does not need to be spent at a program on a college campus. While these can be very good, it is most important that your experience demonstrates your interests and passions.