Prompt has spent thousands of hours researching and talking to college admissions offices on what they look for in amazing applicants. What we found transformed our approach and pedagogy. So what do colleges look for? There are five key traits. Here is the third: contribution to community.

What do colleges really want to hear? How can you prove that you’ll be a unique asset to their student body? There are several essential strategies you can use to ensure colleges understand what you’ll bring to the table. Here are a few to help you showcase contribution, one of the five traits colleges look for in their applicants. 

What is contribution?

You can show contribution by discussing how you’ve made your community or organizations better. Often, my students discuss their roles within a certain organization without reflecting meaningfully on how their roles and actions have impacted or influenced others.

I always encourage my students to dig deep and really think about how their actions influenced not only the people they served but other people involved — maybe other volunteers, family members, or even leaders.

My students also mistakenly tell how they’ve contributed to their community rather than show  what they’ve done using concrete examples. A student might say something like, “I’ve contributed to my community by leading and establishing relationships with my classmates.” With a telling statement like this, admissions readers won’t know how you led others and why these relationships were impactful. Here’s what to do if you find yourself falling into this:

• In this scenario, I would ask the student to discuss one specific situation when they led their classmates through a challenge or activity and share what they did and said in this situation to produce a positive outcome.
• Or, I would ask them to discuss one specific relationship they’ve established and explain how their specific interactions with that person changed, influenced, or impacted that classmate.
• When my students express concern that their specific examples aren’t “compelling” enough, I reassure them that showing how they’ve impacted their community will almost always outweigh a general statement that tells the reader how they’ve done something — the proof is in the details!

Tips to show contribution in your essay

Use concrete examples

First and foremost, to show how you will contribute to a college community, show admissions readers how you have already contributed to a community. Be as specific as possible to show how you’ve changed or improved your environment or motivated and influenced your peers.

Of course, we can talk about how you’ve volunteered to help those less fortunate, but how might we differentiate this narrative to make your contributions stand out? And how can we use these “obvious” examples to show how you’ll contribute to a college community?

Transform the ordinary

Whether you’ve had “obvious” experiences in which you’ve helped your community or not, think about your strengths and traits and how you’ve used these qualities to impact or influence others.

When volunteering or serving in your community, how have you used your individual traits — your compassion, empathy, patience, determination, courage, openness, and adaptability — to help, support, or encourage others? Yes, you may have served food and water to those in need, but how did you connect with those individuals to help them feel heard or to recognize and address the larger problem at hand?

Sometimes, simply sharing how you interacted with others authentically can provide great insight into how you’ll contribute to a college community.

Reflect and introspect

But what if you haven’t had any volunteering experiences like this — then what? Thankfully, you’ve likely been a contributor in some form — maybe to your school, family, or local community — in a way that you haven’t yet recognized. Think about how your efforts may have had a domino effect within your environment. 

• How have your actions inspired others or motivated them to follow your example or try something new?
• Are you an outgoing student who loves to engage in deep conversations with your classmates? How have your shared perspectives influenced your peers or changed the way they thought about the world?
• Have you used your unique knowledge, skills, or abilities to help solve a problem in school, an extracurricular or club, or your community? How has your distinctive approach to solving this problem impacted others?
• Are you a confident leader on your sports team? How has this confidence and mentorship inspired and motivated your teammates to perform their best?

We can dig deep into basic topics like these to show how your strengths positively impacted others, contributed to a team dynamic, or improved the environment around you.

Whatever form your contribution may take, colleges want to see how your unique identity and attributes will translate into improving their college community.

Apply yourself to the college

Finally, contribution works for not only your Common App personal essay, but also for college supplements! If you are writing a supplemental essay, do your research on the college’s unique opportunities that will allow you to put these strengths into action and bring something valuable to your campus community: 

• Is there a research project in which you can apply your unique knowledge, skills, and abilities? How will your special skills add value to the research project?
• Is there a student organization or extracurricular in which you are eager to apply your confident leadership to unify your peers? What do you want to change or improve through your leadership?

Bottom line: Be genuine about what you want to contribute to your future college community and give it sincere thought — your authenticity will be evident through your writing! 

Check out our series on the five traits colleges look for, a deep dive into each trait and how you can know you possess it!

Contribution to Community

Diversity of Experience

Drive

Initiative

Intellectual Curiosity