The activities you engage in say a lot about who you are. A science geek who is tinkering with the design of a bicycle to prevent the rider from falling head first in a collision, who is winning awards at local and national science fair contests and eventually making it to the Intel international competition and winning gold in physics, while also creating artistic ceramic pieces and some plain ones for a water irrigation project in Uganda, is a unique species. As well, the student who is the president of her school’s Human Rights Club, is the founder of a startup which makes beads and bracelets from upcycled plastics and donates the proceeds to the aquarium, creates an IOS app to help youth overcome addictions, and who starts a club which brings a Syrian refugee family of 4 and resettles them in Canada is a totally different species. So is the young musician who puts together concerts every single year to raise 20k+ for UNICEF during his high school career. You might also run into a young person who is a beekeeper, selling honey to raise funds for Hives for Humanity, who is also into rowing, biathlon, and environmental activism. Each of these youth is outstanding in his and her own way and each is valued by the university admissions officers who read these students’ applications.
Universities look for diversity in the students that they admit, and I don’t just mean racial or ethnic diversity. They want a diversity of interests and talents. What each student brings to the campus makes for an interesting and lively community – intellectually, artistically, athletically and otherwise. Whether you are that environmental crusader or defender of animal rights, there are universities that want you. Whether you are a fearsome debater or a democratic leader, you are valued. You can be an advocate for the underprivileged or handicapped, a pacifist, feminist, humanist, realist, or innovator and you will be welcome to the campus. You might be an artist at heart, a champion of children, a coding guru or an outdoor enthusiast and you will certainly be valued for who you are.
The value you bring to a campus community is presented in the application that you painstakingly put together, highlighting your interests, talents and accomplishments, and telling your life’s story. You, therefore, cannot be too humble. You are limited in the space you are given to showcase who you are so you have to choose your words carefully, telling anecdotes that demonstrate your target characteristics, enabling your reader to see the awesome young person that you truly are. It is certainly not an easy task but those of you who put the time and effort into brainstorming for the characteristics you want to highlight, coming up with creative ideas of how to unambiguously portray yourself, while presenting a cohesive and interesting application, are the ones who will ultimately make it into your target destinations. So, who you are and how you go about introducing yourself to the reader is a question well worth pondering about! Good writing skills are a must, of course!