What Values Do Colleges Look for in Students?

How do you as a young person going to college stack up relative to your peers?

The schools I work with are looking for more than good grades or high SAT scores. Here are six values that successful students possess:

Desire to grow – Teachers should never work harder than students do. Students should show up for school wanting to learn and motivated to do the work.

Curiosity – Students learn when they are curious. Do they care deeply about the subject matter?

Initiative – Do students wait to be presented with curriculum or are they motivated to learn on their own? Students who take initiative are going to learn more than those who wait to be given assignments.

Feedback – Good feedback loops give students what they need to grow. Feedback leads to self-awareness and

Courage – Learning new facts may not take courage, but learning new ways of living or learning how to be the change the world needs often does require courage.

Self-governance – “Adulting” is a term that implies learning how to do the things that adults do. When adults begin practicing self-governance, then they are using the agency mature adults walk in.

How do you rank relative to your peers in these traits? What can you do to grow in them?