Many applicants to the most selective university programs share high grades, high test scores, solid recommendations and generous doses of community service and volunteer activities. Yet, if they want to set themselves apart from the pool of exceptional students, a significant research experience in STEM or the social sciences helps.
When boiling down the college experience to its essence, students usually best remember getting to know one or two professors who were pivotal in sparking their curiosity and jumpstarting their motivation.
Richard Light of Harvard School of Education in his Making the Most of College, Students Speak Their Minds, describes the factors that define faculty who ‘make a difference.’ Professor Light interviewed over 1400 students to isolate his list of important factors
No matter how intelligent, clever, or driven students might be, the most important factor governing their success academically and professionally is how they interact with their fellow students and professors.
Andrew Roberts, an assistant professor of political science at Northwestern and author of The Thinking Student’s Guide to Colleges: 75 Tips for getting a Better Education, details how universities deliver an education. W
