Is it bad to have only one passion on a college application?

RReaders in Stanford's admissions office pushed students toward one or two points of real excellence, a field to study and work they hope to do, supported by activities that show depth. That advice, ours included, is right, and readers also noticed when it was taken too far. Imagine a file in which every line is about a single narrow topic, say one theory of constitutional interpretation: the student studies it, researches its history, writes about it, and every essay and recommendation letter returns to it. A reader's honest reaction to a file like that, in the office we learned from, was that it is a little odd.

The student certainly stands out, but the reader is not sure what to make of him, and in a process where readers must later argue for a file in committee, that uncertainty is costly. The question forming in the reader's mind is what happens when the dining hall conversation turns to concerts and camping.