What are certain desirable qualities that CMC are looking for? eg community service/intellectual curiosity etc& How can I present these qualities in my personal statement/activitity list?
I wouldn’t guess that the qualities CMC looks for are especially distinct from the qualities that all colleges are looking for. And they’re not looking for every student to stand out in the same ways. Sure, there are attributes they would like every student to have (such as the intellectual curiosity example you cited)… but again, these are the sorts of things that all colleges would like to see.
Trying to reverse-engineer a persona based on what you think a college wants is not the way to approach applications. Focus on who you are, and what strengths you have to offer. Present yourself as vividly and three-dimensionally as you can. Sell the reader on what you have to offer as a potentially member of their college community. Show that you understand and value the strengths of the college, and that you envision ways of contributing in that context.
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Like many applicants, especially those who are applying to colleges with low acceptance rates, you have it backwards. You should be applying to colleges which fit who you.
The question that you should lead with is why you want to attend CMC. NOT why you want to be accepted to CMC, but why you want to spend four years studying at CMC. You should not be thinking of “being accepted to a prestigious college” as a goal. Your goal should be attending a college which is good for you.
CMC has fewer than 1,300 students, and each cohort which enters is 310-330 students. So fit is extremely important, and this goes both ways. If CMC is not a good fit for you, it will be a very difficult 4 years.
As for what you want to emphasize on your application? Unless you have dozens of academic and extracurricular accomplishments, you will not be sifting through them to figure out which to put in your common app. So emphasize your strongest academic and extracurricular achievements, and of those, emphasize the achievements which you think best represent your interests and passions.
Other than that? This can change from year to year, and it depends, among other things, on who else is applying. Since you do not know that, it is a waste of time and effort to try and craft yourself into the “ideal applicant” for CMC, or for any specific liberal arts college, especially since it is likely to be in vain.
Acceptance rates to CMC are extremely low, so I assume that you have other colleges on your list.
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