What is demonstrated interest? What do colleges do with the data they collect about prospective students’ demonstrated interest? Most importantly, how (and why) should prospective students approach demonstrated interest as they search and apply to colleges? In this 3-part series, we’ll explore demonstrated interest and how prospective students can approach this college admissions trend that seems to be here to stay.
You may be a little lost without the background knowledge of demonstrated interest from the first article. Check it out then rejoin us here!
Demonstrated Interest: Let’s Get Started
Now that you know what demonstrated interest is and how colleges may use it, you’re ready for the next step of rolling up your sleeves and demonstrating your interest, right? Almost. First, you have some important work to do. Before learning how to demonstrate interest, we need to look at your why. We’ve gone over why a college may look at demonstrated interest. But what about you? Why do you want to incorporate demonstrated interest into your college planning?
For example, your “why” may be to get accepted to certain colleges just for bragging rights. Your “why” may be because your parents or counselors believe it’s essential that you exhaust all forms of demonstrated interest to maximize your chances of admission. Your “why” may even be because you genuinely want to attend a certain college and believe intentionally demonstrating your interest may help your chances of being admitted.
These are all valid reasons “why”; none of the reasons listed above are wrong. However, I am going to ask you to think deeper about your why. Why do you want to show demonstrated interest? What is your why for pursuing college? Starting with questions that get at your deeper why will help you in your overall college search, making it more productive and interesting.
Brace yourself, we’re about to dig deeper into life than you might expect for an article about demonstrated interest.
Looking at Your Why
Why before how. This is a good mantra for getting through your college experience. It is also a wise approach to take throughout life. Without identifying our “why,” or pushing ourselves to go beyond a surface level “why,” we are operating on autopilot. It’s like moving through important life situations without tapping into our deepest selves—our reasons, motives, and ultimate goals. Plato wrote, quoting Socrates, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” From a college search and application perspective, the examined life is not only worth living, but makes the entire process more meaningful and less stressful.
Why College?
An inspiring teacher nicknamed Cwod first introduced me and many of my high school peers to identifying our college “why.” Cwod taught AP US Government classes filled with seniors, so it was common for chatter about college topics to come up from time to time in his class (read: every day). As a beloved teacher, Cwod would get many requests to write letters of recommendation for college applications. Typically, teachers who receive these requests ask students when, where, how questions. For instance, recommenders ask questions like, “what’s your first deadline?”, “are you using Common Application?”, or “to which colleges should I send the letter?” Cwod’s question was different. When students asked Cwod for a letter, his response was “why?” This wasn’t intended to torture students, although some students’ groans at hearing it may have made it seem so. It was an honest question about our intentionality, direction, and goals. Had we examined ourselves and our lives or were we moving on autopilot?
As seniors, our lives were saturated with college; talk of college had been surrounding us for years, it felt as though we were all just expected to go to college. Cwod—who habitually pushed us to dig deeper into our political statements during classroom discussions—was asking us to take the same thought-filled approach with our own lives. Essentially, Cwod was insisting that we take a breath, take a step back, and be sure we’ve done the foundational, soul-searching groundwork to identify our “why.”
Working from Your Why
By taking the time to identify your interests, values, goals, and dreams at the start of the college search process, you’re building a navigation system for the entire process. This navigation system will serve to guide you in many ways. This system can assist you in finding colleges that are a good fit for you from the thousands of colleges out there. This system will help you connect the many parts of your application into a cohesive whole. And this system will serve as your North Star when it comes time to make your big decision about college in spring of your senior year.
If you’ve done your “why” work on the front end of your college search, you’ll have selected colleges that you are genuinely excited about. You’ll be hungry to learn and see more. Because of this, you’re likely to:
- check out the college’s websites
- read emails that your colleges send out
- visit with the admissions reps when they come to your high school or town
- make it to the campuses to see the schools for yourself
Your excitement about specific programs or opportunities is likely to come through naturally in:
- each of your communications with the admissions office
- the admissions interview, or your request to have an optional interview
Surprise! Interest demonstrated
Guess what? The bullet points above are common ways that colleges track demonstrated interest. Just by pursuing your genuine curiosity and natural excitement for your colleges, you’ll have demonstrated your genuine interest and excitement for your colleges. No finding time in your busy day to work through a separate “demonstrated interest” checklist. No losing time demonstrating interest to colleges that don’t actually track it (because remember, not all do!). There’s is no wasting your time at all—you’re pursuing answers and information you are actually interested in, not checking off a to-do list.
The result is the same. Interest, genuine or not, has been demonstrated. The journey and overall experience getting there was different, and I’d argue better in many ways, for students who identified and worked from their “why.” This is a valuable lesson for deciding how to approach college admissions and demonstrated interest, albeit a small consideration in the overall college admissions landscape. It is also a worthwhile approach for decisions and opportunities all life long. Discovering your true “why” for things is key for securing work you find purposeful, achieving success, maintaining happiness, and presenting your authentic self to the world each day.
Does this approach to college admissions counseling jive with you or a student you know? Reach out to learn more about working with me in your college journey.
Stay tuned for the final article, detailing ways you can genuinely pursue demonstrated interest in the college admissions process. Hint: if you’re genuinely interested in the school, most of these ways will be intuitive and happen naturally, without the need for a checklist or additional work!