Leadership and Communication Skills

There was a student who had perfect SAT scores, excellent GPA and was a really good pianist.  He applied to many top colleges in the country.  He did not receive admission to some of the schools.  There were two reasons for his less than desired result.

First, he did not show any leadership in his application.  He was living in his own world during high school.  No clubs, no student government offices.  He was  interested in leading his life, but not in leading others.  The second reason was that he did poorly during the interviews.  Not all schools require interviews, but many recommend having interviews.  Interviews are great opportunities to tell the admissions committee what kind of person you are.  GPA, SAT scores only give a limited picture of you.  Personal essays and interviews help complete the picture.

Grades and test scores are not everything.  There will be more posts in the near future about interviews.