Table of Contents
What do colleges actually look for?
Admissions officers weigh far more than test scores. Each college has its own priorities (academic rigor, demonstrated interest, character, fit with its mission), and the mix differs from school to school.
Our school-by-school breakdowns translate each college's published priorities and Common Data Set signals into what actually moves the needle on an application.
What each college looks for
- What Arizona State University Looks For
- What Auburn University Looks For
- What Boston College Looks For
- What Boston University Looks For
- What Brigham Young University Looks For
- What Brown University Looks For
- What California Institute of Technology Looks For
- What Carnegie Mellon University Looks For
- What Case Western Reserve University Looks For
- What Clemson University Looks For
- What Colorado School of Mines Looks For
- What Columbia University Looks For
- What Cornell University Looks For
- What Dartmouth College Looks For
- What Duke University Looks For
- What Emory University Looks For
- What Florida State University Looks For
- What George Washington University Looks For
- What Georgia Institute of Technology Looks For
- What Harvard University Looks For
- What Indiana University Bloomington Looks For
- What Iowa State University Looks For
- What Johns Hopkins University Looks For
- What Kansas State University Looks For
- What Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Looks For
- What Michigan State University Looks For
- What New York University (NYU) Looks For
- What North Carolina State University Looks For
- What Northwestern University Looks For
- What Ohio State University Looks For
- What Oregon State University Looks For
- What Pennsylvania State University Looks For
- What Princeton University Looks For
- What Purdue University Looks For
- What Rice University Looks For
- What Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Looks For
- What Stanford University Looks For
- What Stony Brook University Looks For
- What Syracuse University Looks For
- What Texas A&M University Looks For
- What Tufts University Looks For
- What University at Buffalo SUNY Looks For
- What University of Alabama Looks For
- What University of Alaska Fairbanks Looks For
- What University of Arizona Looks For
- What University of Arkansas Looks For
- What University of California, Berkeley Looks For
- What University of California, Davis Looks For
- What University of California, Irvine Looks For
- What University of California, Los Angeles Looks For
- What University of California, Riverside Looks For
- What University of California, San Diego Looks For
- What University of California, Santa Barbara Looks For
- What University of Chicago Looks For
- What University of Cincinnati Looks For
- What University of Colorado Boulder Looks For
- What University of Connecticut Looks For
- What University of Delaware Looks For
- What University of Florida Looks For
- What University of Georgia Looks For
- What University of Houston Looks For
- What University of Illinois at Chicago Looks For
- What University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Looks For
- What University of Iowa Looks For
- What University of Kansas Looks For
- What University of Kentucky Looks For
- What University of Louisville Looks For
- What University of Maryland, College Park Looks For
- What University of Massachusetts Amherst Looks For
- What University of Miami Looks For
- What University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Looks For
- What University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Looks For
- What University of Missouri Looks For
- What University of Nebraska-Lincoln Looks For
- What University of Nevada, Las Vegas Looks For
- What University of New Hampshire Looks For
- What University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Looks For
- What University of Notre Dame Looks For
- What University of Oklahoma Looks For
- What University of Oregon Looks For
- What University of Pennsylvania Looks For
- What University of Pittsburgh Looks For
- What University of Rhode Island Looks For
- What University of Rochester Looks For
- What University of San Diego Looks For
- What University of South Carolina Looks For
- What University of South Florida Looks For
- What University of Tennessee, Knoxville Looks For
- What University of Texas at Austin Looks For
- What University of Utah Looks For
- What University of Vermont Looks For
- What University of Virginia Looks For
- What University of Washington Looks For
- What University of Wisconsin-Madison Looks For
- What Vanderbilt University Looks For
- What Washington University in St. Louis Looks For
- What Yale University Looks For
New breakdowns are added regularly. Check back for more schools.
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