413: Intellectual Curiosity + College Admissions: What It Is, Why It Matters to Colleges, and How to Show It

In today’s episode, Tom Campbell (CEG’s Community Manager) and Susan Tree (a college counseling and admissions legend with 40+ years of experience) chat about “intellectual curiosity”: a quality that many colleges actively look for in students, yet is a little more ambiguous and nuanced compared to mapping out a high school course plan.

This is part 2 of a series about students’ academic background and interests and how they factor into the admissions process. Part 1 is about all things related to the academic part of a student’s college application— which, at many selective colleges, is seen as the “foot in the door” of their selection process.

On the episode you’ll hear Susan and Tom discuss:

• Identifying an academic superpower and framing it in that way in your college application
• How coming across as "too complete" to colleges (as in, you have no bigger questions you'd like to solve) can actually make your application less competitive
• How to infuse intellectual curiosity into your supplemental essays
• Showing academic and nonacademic alignment for particularly popular majors

Hope you enjoy.

Play-by-Play

• 1:38 - Reframing your accomplishments as superpowers
• 7:12 - Identifying your learning style among Architects, Gardeners, and Explorers
• 10:22 - Why colleges want different types of learners  
• 13:52 - Why communicating what you’re curious about to admissions officers is a good idea 
• 15:07 - Staying in touch with who you are on your application 
• 19:17 - Understanding the pressure to present a complete version of yourself
• 22:55 - An example of showing intellectual curiosity through supplemental essays 
• 26:44 - The value of curiosity in non-academic spaces
• 32:52 - How highly-selective colleges evaluate quality vs. quantity in their applicants
• 38:51 - What is academic alignment vs. non-academic alignment? How does this impact the way colleges read applications?
• 43:34 - What if your high school doesn’t offer specialized programs to help you explore your intellectual curiosity?  
• 46:49 - Final thoughts

Resources

• Episode 403: AP, IB, Honors, Oh My!: How Admissions Officers View Your High School Courses, Rigor, and School Context (with Susan Tree)
• How to Choose a College Major (Step-by-step)
• How to Write the "Why this Major" College Essay
• What the Heck are "Hooks" and "Institutional Priorities"?