My mother-in-law’s 70th birthday party this year was an outdoor affair that featured a jazz quartet. All four musicians were high school students from two different schools. They’d found each other when two members posted an ad online looking for high school musicians interested in playing gigs and earning extra money. They were fantastic. And they looked like there was no place they’d rather be on a Friday night than playing their favorite jazz tunes to a crowd whose average age hovered around 60.

That small quartet encapsulated a lot of what colleges want to see from students, and what it takes to be successful.

Initiative: two students had an idea and did the work to make it happen.

Passion: they obviously love to play jazz.

Responsibility: they routinely make and keep their promises to each other and to the people who hire them.

Impact: they’re great musicians, and the party would not have been the same without them there. And I’m sure they make the same impact wherever they’re invited to play.

Individuality: I know a lot of students who play in high school jazz bands (these four girls play in theirs, too). But not many have taken that interest and channeled it into an entrepreneurial part-time job.

Likeability: they were likeable in person, and by demonstrating the traits above, they’ll be likeable on paper during the college admissions process.

I would be shocked if I learned that they were doing any of this just to put it on their college applications. But if I were their college counselor, I’d make sure they featured this passion project prominently.