“Personal Context” appears to be an overlooked component of holistic applications. After doing some brief research, I’ve found that nearly all top schools mention personal context and the influence it has on holistic admissions, as demonstrated with these quotes from Stanford and Yale admission sites:
“…This means that as we review each application, we pay careful attention to unique circumstances. We take into account family background, educational differences, employment and life experiences…”
“…[we evaluate] Within the context of each applicant’s life and circumstances, we look for that desire and ability to stretch one’s limits.”
**So, I have to ask, what are your thoughts on personal context? **
Speaking of context… I should probably give some of my own, right? I am writing this because I am a fully online student; I took every step of this college admissions adventure by myself; I pushed myself to get the top-tier stats that I needed; I far, far exceeded my expectations; all these accomplishments were done while working in an incredible relaxed/lazy environment in which (most of the time) people wake up at 11, don’t have work, and just have fun all day. This is just a bit of my story (didn’t want to bore everyone), but the point I am trying to make is that some people’s stats, GPA, and ECs aren’t exactly impressive in the context of applications as a whole, but they start to stand out and become more impressive when their context is accounted for. So, how does this actually impact an application?
Does anyone have any experience with personal context in holistic admissions? Context is almost never given in ‘chance me’ threads, and it seems like most posters here are evaluated with a direct comparison to other applicants. I assume this is because the typical applicant here is pretty stereotypical, but I could be wrong.
I think context matters. A kid who has top stats in spite of coming from a low income family and whose main ECs are working to help support their family or taking care of younger siblings (cooking, etc.) while parents work is probably going to be looked at differently than a high stats student from an upper income family who has all the time in the world to study. How they present their story matters.
I’m certain my daughter’s personal context played an important role in her admission, given her stats were at the lower end the middle 50 of the school she was accepted to, but of course all the factors need to line up too. If she had been below the 25th percentile, or hadn’t done a great job in her essays, or hadn’t had what we presume was an excellent LOR, I doubt context alone would have been enough to tip her into the acceptance zone.
I think it’s tough to measure the value of personal context. Those with an interesting background will likely write a much better, more interesting essay, so they already have that advantage. Then it comes down to how impressive an applicant’s achievements are in the context of their environment. But, this is also where I get confused. Take a kid that has a 4.0 and 36 ACT who spent their entire life at top schools and was essentially expected of HYPS since birth. How is that kid more impressive than someone with a 4.0, 33, who did all their work entirely without any accountability and had no expectations other than ‘dropout’?
I think it’s because I am looking at a holistic approach with 2D glasses. Since all aspects are considered, maybe adcoms will be more impressed with the second kid because he demonstrated some skills that the first student didn’t, but wouldn’t it just cancel out the context? I’m not sure, to be honest.
@bopper
It’s depressing how, in terms of opportunity, some live such a better life than others. Although, speaking strictly in my experience, I think that the person getting served on a plate will have a lot of other struggles in life-- struggles that aren’t demonstrated by the comic.
If someone would like to send me a PM, I would love to discuss how I compare to a typical applicant and some of the confusion in regards to these applicants. Although I understand I am not favorable in admissions, I still have trouble understanding why.