<p>do you have to have good social skills to get into top colleges? I’m pretty bad at speaking, really and am not the most outgoing or talkative person.</p>
<p>There are certain colleges that seem to admit socially competent students to offset their nerdy image due to being so elite, namely northwestern, princeton, and vanderbilt</p>
<p>but then again this might just be because those types of students are drawn to schools that are known for being both social and ranked very highly</p>
<p>so nerdy socially incompetant shy kids can’t get into ivies? Uh oh, BU 2012 here I come :(</p>
<p>"so nerdy socially incompetant shy kids can’t get into ivies? "</p>
<p>Correct.</p>
<p>It’s easier to nail an interview if you’re more talkative and social. But ultimately interviews aren’t as important as the stuff on your applications, and it’s hard to measure social skills on an app. I don’t know much about Ivy admissions, but in general I’d think it wouldn’t be too big of a disadvantage. (I’ve met nerdy, less-than-socially-competent kids who go to Ivies :))</p>
<p>
um, how sure are you on that? ARe your social skills much more important than your recommendations, grades, test scores, essays? That’s just part of people’s personality, you can’t change that… My comment semi sarcastic, as I have known socially inept peopel get into ivies</p>
<p>I think his comment was sarcastic as well, Bob.</p>
<p>And I don’t think that good social skills is a must to get into college. Interviews, while recommended, are not required. </p>
<p>However, while social competence is not particularly measurable from an application, getting leadership positions and taking initiative generally requires a certain level of social skills. That being said, there are also plenty of things you can do that do not require social skills that can get you into a top school: winning International Science Olympiads and other written contests, writing best-seller books, etc.</p>
<p>I think it’s generally a plus, though, because it’s much easier to win Student Body President than the International Physics Olympiad ;)</p>
<p>^Some leadership positions actually involve that you have to most skill in a certain thing (music, sports) instead of how social you are</p>
<p>I was exaggerating. Obviously you need to have great scores, recs, grades, essays, etc. to get into Ivy League schools but at the same time, if the impression they get from reading your app is that you are an anti-social nerd, you will probably get rejected.</p>
<p>edit: I agree with what tako said.</p>
<p>Is being an anti-social nerd worse than being a very disruptive and rude person in class whom everyone hates? Are people who don’t really talk that much because it’s part of their personality automatically assumed to be anti-social?</p>
<p>“Is being an anti-social nerd worse than being a very disruptive and rude person in class whom everyone hates?”</p>
<p>Um, most people aren’t one or the other. It’s best to be NEITHER.</p>
<p>^Does being a quiet kid that people respect automatically assume being an antisocial nerd?</p>
<p>Okay, so lets say you have great grades but lack social skills. The Ivy League applicant pool has tons of kids who have grades just like yours AND social skills. When you talk about the Ivy Leagues, you are competing against the most qualified students in the country. Those schools don’t have to choose between someone who is great with people and someone who is a bookworm; they can have plenty of both. So, if you only have superior grades, you are at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>You can’t measure social skills unless the teacher rec said something specifically about poor social skills or the interview said so. So generally, as long as you’re not a huge prick, it isn’t a big deal.</p>
<p>
but you can’t really tell if a kid if a kid is an anti-social nerd if the teacher really hints at it in his/her recs…</p>
<p>And honestly, since when do teachers actually offer any “criticism” of a student in a recs? If I was a teacher, and a student whom I’d had problems with asked me for a rec, I’d suggest another teacher.In fact, I don’t think recs should be required (especially from counselors of huge public schools), because I don’t see much of an objective perspective to be gained on the side of admissions.</p>
<p>well if you arent relatively social then teach recs aren’t going to have much to say about you because they won’t know much about you.</p>
<p>as long as they’re not lambasting me, I’m good</p>
<p>If you have a hook, you don’t have to have good social skills. And this whole topic is subjective because it is difficult for colleges to well-estimate your social skills by reading a piece of paper and talking to you for 10 minutes.</p>
<p>Let’s just say that having good social skills is generally a plus, but not a requirement, to get into top schools.</p>