The Intersection of Smart and Interesting

What are colleges looking for when they have a finite number of outstanding students they can admit? This is the question I recently posed to a colleague who has spent many years working in competitive college admissions.

Their answer was instant - “they are looking for students at the intersection of Smart and Interesting”. I immediately formed a picture of students waiting at a bus stop on the corner of these two streets and we continued to have a lively debate.

How do you measure smart?

How do you report smart?

Is smart best seen in the student who can thoughtfully communicate years of acquired knowledge, inquiry and skills in a two-hour examination?

Is smart best seen in the student who offers a solution to a question that no one had thought to ask?

Needless to say, we had fun with this conversation, we both agreed that smart on its own, especially if measured with traditional intelligence or achievement scales was never enough and it is only when smart is combined with interesting that you start to identify students for the admit list.

So what makes a person interesting? We could all contribute to this list; our list included students who were enthusiastic, passionate, open-minded, balanced and creative. We also said that interesting people are often courageous about a cause or line of thought, prepared to stick at it, take risks and will typically have failed but are not defeated, in other words, they fail-well and learn.

Although college admission may seem a long way off for most SISQ students we are very mindful of the need to ensure that curriculum, learning opportunities, enrichment and mentoring places our students on the intersection of Smart and Interesting!

Philip Bradley, Head of School