I’ve often heard students, parents, and some counselors talk about “packaging” a student for college admissions. The thinking is that a student, like a product, needs to be marketed, positioned, and presented in the right way to be compelling to admissions officers. Sometimes the packaging starts long before the application, with discussions about how certain activities, classes, or awards will contribute to a student’s brand.
But the most successful college applicants, the ones who grab the attention of admissions officers and move the readers to lobby for admission, never get that way by strategically packaging themselves. The only packaging they rely on is authenticity.
A student who is genuinely interested in the Civil War asks her teacher to recommend outside reading because she really wants to learn more, not because it can help her build her brand.
A student who loves working at his part-time job at the mall and writes an essay about how he calms down a frustrated customer is presenting an honest slice of his life, not positioning himself to make more of an application impact.
A student who becomes the fearless leader of the math club and proudly tells her college interviewer about the club members’ habit of solving complex equations during lunch isn’t doing that because she’s heard that the college wants more female math majors; she’s doing it because that’s who she is.
Is there an art to application presentation? Absolutely. When a complex human being is reduced to just a few pages of application questions and essay responses, it’s important to use that space to present a clear and compelling picture of who you are and how you’ve spent your time in high school.
But packaging is not the way to do that.
You’re not a product manager hoping for attention in the cereal aisle; you’re a teenager hoping to get into college. Colleges want to get to know the real you, not some contrived version of you that was designed to artificially impress.
So stop worrying about packaging. Instead, use the space in your applications and essays to clearly and proudly share who you are, what you’ve done in high school, and what you hope to do in college.
The authentic you will always be more interesting—and more likely to get admitted—than the packaged version.