The passion project advantage in college admissions | College Connection
The cover page of a recent New York Times special supplement stated, “There are few challenges facing students more daunting than applying and paying for college.” Let’s focus on the “applying” aspect for now.
More than 50 colleges and universities, some of them favorites with New Jersey students, have acceptance rates below 15%, according to U.S. News & World Report. The eight Ivy League schools, as well as Duke, Northeastern, Swarthmore, Barnard and more, have single-digit acceptance rates starting as low as 3%.
Students know that an impressive GPA and SAT scores, and often a multitude of AP courses with a high score on year-end exams, is only the starting point for a chance of being accepted to many of these revered institutions. The next step is to stand out from the crowd, typically through an impressive “passion project.”
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A passion project is a unique activity that students create or engage in that relates to a specific area of interest. Students demonstrate their ability to immerse themselves in something they’re passionate about, typically to benefit a particular group, such as their peers or a community organization. An ideal passion project usually relates to the field that a student plans to pursue in college.
A future English major may want to start a high school book club to promote literacy and encourage thoughtful discussion among students. This group could organize an annual collection drive to provide books to schools in underprivileged neighborhoods.
A future pre-med student might launch a campaign to collect used eyeglasses to be dropped off at sites (such as Costco and Walmart) that ship them overseas and distribute them to visually impaired children and adults worldwide. A social media campaign could educate people, within the school and neighboring community, and drop-off bins could be set up at convenient locations.
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A future business or engineering student could launch a Speaker’s Bureau at their high school, inviting guest speakers on a monthly basis, to offer insight into the multitude of specialties within the field. For business, professionals who specialize in Accounting, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain Management, Entrepreneurship, and Business Analytics could be invited. For engineering, experts in Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, and Aeronautical could be asked to present.
Regardless of the project undertaken, the goal is to demonstrate leadership and provide assistance to an identifiable group. Colleges value ingenuity and a commitment to help others, making a “passion project” particularly beneficial to students engaged in an increasingly competitive college admissions process.
Susan Alaimo is the founder & director of Collegebound Review, offering PSAT/SAT® preparation & private college advising by Ivy League educated instructors. Visit CollegeboundReview.com or call 908-369-5362.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: College admissions: Why passion projects are important
