One of the foremost characteristics college admissions officers look for in applicants is the ability to innovate. Top colleges want students who know how to identify problems or opportunities and formulate solutions. As a high school student, you have many opportunities to show your ability to innovate, and entrepreneurism is an ideal way to accomplish that goal. The following Ivy League admission tips will help you use entrepreneurism to craft a strong admissions profile.
Entrepreneurism Can Strengthen Your Admissions Profile
Being entrepreneurial is a powerful way to demonstrate value to colleges; it combines a number of desirable traits, such as leadership, innovation, determination, and commitment.
Top-tier colleges want students who are the future leaders in their respective fields, and in today’s competitive marketplace of products, services, and ideas, being a leader means investing time and resources into something, taking risks, and learning from every experience.
Whether or not you are naturally entrepreneurial, taking the seed of an idea and growing it into a project, business, or organization requires a great deal of drive, effort, and perseverance. Admissions officers favor applicants who display these qualities.
The Benefits of Social Entrepreneurism
Exhibiting an entrepreneurial spirit is good and will certainly set you apart from many other applicants. Still, being a social entrepreneur—someone who seeks to use entrepreneurial means to develop solutions to social issues—can add an additional layer of depth to your admissions theme and narrative, making it truly exemplary.
Top colleges are community minded, and they want a student body that cares about the issues facing our world. Graduates that solve social problems reflect well on a college. As with every other aspect of your application, past demonstration of social entrepreneurism is the best indicator of future engagement.
You should consider your interests and passions, drawing inspiration from them to make something bigger happen. For example, if you have a passion for helping erase the stigma associated with autism, you might start out by advocating for this cause. Then, you might consider starting a community project in partnership with a local organization and maybe even starting an organization of your own.
The key is to accomplish something through what you say and do. You should strive to make a measurable difference. Try to communicate the tangible results of your efforts. How many people does your blog reach? How much money was raised? How many people were served? What did your organization accomplish?
Is It Too Late to Start?
If you are close to finishing high school, you might feel it is too late to start pursuing some kind of entrepreneurial activity. Every student is different, however, and admissions officers understand that people begin to discover their passions at different times in life. Ingenuity often requires some kind of catalyst, and almost any experience can awaken the entrepreneurial spirit within you.
If you are truly passionate about something, a nudge may be all it takes to start transforming that passion into a project, business, or nonprofit. And the experience you would gain pursuing a social project or starting a business will likely prove invaluable.
Admittedly, it can be hard to decide what extracurricular activities to pursue to strengthen your admissions profile, and each student is different. An admissions consulting firm such as Ivy League Prep can help you craft an outstanding admissions profile and pursue activities that will impress your target colleges.
