How to show interest in a college before you apply

RReaders in Stanford's admissions office are asked, in part, to predict what a student will contribute on campus, and most applications leave that prediction to the reader's imagination. A student lists clubs at home, writes warmly about the college in a supplement, and hopes the reader can picture the rest. The reader usually can, but only vaguely, and a vague picture is a weak argument in committee.

Underneath this sits a practical question that families face early: once a student decides to pursue an interest outside school, where should the work actually happen? In the office we learned from, readers had a consistent answer. It strengthens the activities page, and it helps in a second place most families would never think to connect, as a single example shows.