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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