<p>Sungchul, are you saying that social skills is the main thing judged by colleges, other than intelligence?.. After reading through, things such as innovativeness, creativeness, kindness, uniqueness, passion, dedication (I'm not gonna go and analyze why these things are wanted,) are also wanted by admissions officers.</p>
<p>^Those are qualities wanted by admissions officers. If you think about it, a university is not just a place to go learn- especially an elite college's name, is a brand name. Admissions officers define that brand name, in a way. Would you think more highly of a college that consistently outputs shy people who can not communicate, even if they are smart? Chances are, their smartness will not even show to the world. More likely, an innovative, kind, unique, passionate, etc. person will have a stronger influence on the world/on people around that person, and will be thought of more positively by others. This, in turn, improves the quality of the brand name. Additionally, such a person is a great person to have on campus, and is likely to take advantage of allll a campus has to offer, including ECs and networks of friends and professors and what not. Admitting people with "personality" is therefore kind of a win-win situation.</p>
<p>Holy crap equilibrium, stop repeating what everyone else just said. Yes, they wan't personality. End of story.</p>
<p>I agree with T26E4</p>
<p>I expect that elite schools (as well as others) do admit some students who are extremely strong in an academic field and do not appear to have much "personality." But they will want to generally get as many kids who are both academically and socially fit. Most of the students here at CC will talk about the rule more than the exception when it comes to the qualities they think admissions people look for because not many are savants. </p>
<p>Also, consider what the admissions committe people see in every pile of apps. Applying to selective colleges has become a science, with test prep courses, private admissions counseling, essay coaching and consults, ECs and volunteer work that are chosen specifically with college applications in mind. Seeing what looks like a student's true personality come through in an applicaton would be reassuring for an admissions officer, I think. At least for me, it would allay some of my natural suspicion that the admissioons package was "engineered" partly by persons other than the student.</p>