<p>First of all, when i say personality, i don't mean the applicant's character. I feel that character is what the applicant is passionate about, what he/she likes to do, traits such as innovativeness, creativity.. and these things can be seen through EC activities and sometimes essays... However, character is only part of "who you are." </p>
<p>I think personality is the applicant's social ability, and social traits. Is the applicant a quiet person? Is the applicant a nice person? a boisterous person? an obnoxious person? Sure this is less important.. but it is still significant. Colleges want to have a good community, and happy community. How do they determine personality? Also, how much weight do you guys feel colleges put on personality?</p>
<p>Essays and sometimes, colleges ask you to describe yourself in five words (I know Dartmouth asked this last year, and I think Stanford did too.) </p>
<p>Also, recommendations help with that too. If you're a hard worker but quiet and shy in class, it'll be on there.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses everyone.. I also have one more question that be a little more strange.. but what kind of personality would a college want?.. My idea is that they would want someone to be decent in socializing, and be nice/kind..</p>
<p>I think personality type is probably pretty low on the list of what they're looking for and it would probably be difficult for them to ascertain a lot about someone's personality unless it was an extreme one.</p>
<p>I think that as far as what personality colleges are "looking for", obviously stuff like creative, intellectual, challenging, motivated, etc etc. But with the personality that you're using in context, more of different behavior, really, it's up to the college and most likely they want a variety of them. Not all quiet, but not all totally loud/outgoing/eccentric types, etc etc.</p>
<p>Okay.. thanks alot or the responses... Just one more question.. How much weight do you think colleges put on this factor of personality? (Not character)</p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of colleges in this country accept the majority of students who apply, and base acceptances almost 100% on grades, coursework and perhaps test scores. Other than not wanting students who are, for instance, convicted murderers, most colleges don't care about personality when it comes to admission.</p>
<p>Place like HPYS want students with lots of demonstrated leadership ability, and they want students who'll be active participants in ECs on campus or in the surrounding community. Consequently, a student who is a social isolate wouldn't be desireable unless the student is, for instance, nationally or internationally recognized for some academic ability.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting this; I was wondering the same thing.</p>
<p>I'm a pretty funny kid and sociable but that won't go through on the apps while an anti-social video gamer that lacks communicative skills would look better on paper.</p>
<p>I heard this completely as a rumor so listen or don't. Some colleges supposedly look for certain keywords in your application or resume. The specific example I heard was that if you are president of the choir, Harvard wants to see that you were "elected president of the choir" because they see the word elected as showing you are a likeable person. Just "president of the choir" gives them leadership but nothing more. Not that it's really any different to you but because they look for the keyword it helps if that's how you phrase it on your app. It can't hurt anyways.</p>
<p>Frog, That's an interesting find... Where'd you hear it?
RR119, the posts above describe how they assess</p>
<p>K, I only have 1 more question: So would you guys say that this is like 10% of the college application for very competitive places? Less? More? Also, how good of a personality do you need to have without it being bad to the app? If your EC's, recs, essays convey that you are an averagely sociable person, is that good enough?</p>
<p>You're asking us to quantify something that isn't quantifiable, frankly. Put forth your best effort and don't spend capital worrying if your quiet personality will be a nod against you. Like NSMom said, most colleges don't care. The few that do -- well, they're almost crapshoots anyways. I'm sure NSM (a Harvard Alum) will agree with me (Y alum), our classmates spanned the entire spectrum of sociable types to complete off-beat folks to downright unpleasant people.</p>