<p>At what point are Adcoms looking beyond the numbers and achievements for that little something called personality (his numbers are outstanding, ECs excellent, yada yada)? </p>
<p>Our S is, above all, a genuinely goofy, funny kids with a warm and generous heart. I know that at least one of his letters (and likely all) will emphasize this.</p>
<p>If he’s applying to top private universities, they all look for it.</p>
<p>State universities, not as much. They have too many applications to read and obligations that factor in.</p>
<p>He’ll have to show it in the essays. Adcoms want to admit human beings -more than anything else, they’re looking for people who can connect with others and do something worth their life. They want people who are open and ready to change the world, not people confined to crunching numbers (although the two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive).</p>
<p>If your son can demonstrate that, his chances of acceptance jump significantly.</p>