What “Holistic Admissions” Really Means — And Why Grades Aren’t the Only Thing That Matters
Families often hear that college admissions are “holistic,” but rarely are they told what that actually means in practice.
The assumption tends to be this:
Grades and test scores matter — and then everything else is just decoration.
In reality, the opposite is often true.
Grades and scores establish readiness.
What determines distinction is whether a student’s application reveals a person, not just a performer.
When Strong Numbers Aren’t Enough
I’ve worked with many students who look excellent on paper.
Take a student like Alex — thoughtful, capable, academically consistent. A strong GPA. Solid test scores. Nothing to apologize for.
And yet, when his application was read as a whole, something was missing.
Not effort.
Not intelligence.
Not potential.
What was missing was dimension.
There was no clear sense of how Alex moved through the world, what drew his attention, or how he made meaning of his experiences. The application was competent — but flat.
That’s where “holistic” begins.
Holistic Admissions Isn’t a Checklist
Colleges don’t use holistic review to reward students who do more.
They use it to understand students more fully.
Essays, recommendations, activities, and interviews are not separate components competing for attention. Together, they answer quieter questions:
How does this student relate to others?
What patterns show up in how they spend their time?
What do they care about enough to return to?
Do they understand why their experiences matter?
Holistic review isn’t about assembling traits.
It’s about revealing coherence.
Leadership, Impact, and Authenticity — Reframed
You’ll often hear that admissions officers value leadership, impact, and authenticity. Those words can feel abstract or performative unless they’re grounded properly.
Leadership, at its core, isn’t about titles.
It’s about initiative — noticing something that matters and responding to it.
Impact isn’t about scale.
It’s about engagement — staying with something long enough for it to change you.
Authenticity isn’t about oversharing or drama.
It’s about alignment — when what a student does, says, and reflects actually match.
These qualities don’t come from strategy. They emerge when a student is paying attention to themselves.
Why Activities Matter — and Why Most Are Misunderstood
Extracurriculars aren’t evaluated in isolation. Admissions readers aren’t asking, “Is this impressive?”
They’re asking, “What does this tell me?”
A long list of activities can obscure a student just as easily as it can showcase them. A shorter list, pursued with intention, often says more.
Depth communicates something breadth can’t:
curiosity
commitment
follow-through
self-trust
When students choose activities because they feel meaningful — not because they’re advised to — their applications begin to sound like themselves.
The Real Tradeoff Isn’t Grades vs. Activities
The real tradeoff in admissions isn’t academic versus extracurricular.
It’s performance versus understanding.
Students who focus exclusively on metrics often struggle to articulate who they are when the time comes. Students who understand themselves — even imperfectly — tend to write applications that feel grounded, human, and memorable.
That’s what holistic admissions is designed to notice.
A Calmer Way to Think About the Process
Holistic admissions isn’t asking students to become someone else.
It’s asking whether they’ve begun to recognize who they already are.
When applications reflect that understanding, grades fall into their proper place: important, but not defining. Supporting, but not leading.
The goal isn’t to impress a committee.
It’s to make sense — as a person, not just as an applicant.
And when an application makes sense, admissions decisions often do too.
