What Does Holistic College Admission Mean?

Last Updated on October 28, 2024 by Jill Schwitzgebel

You may have an inkling of what “holistic admission” means, since “holistic” is now a fairly mainstream term.  But, it may be easiest to define holistic as related to college admission by what it is NOT.  It is not a formulaic or strictly quantitative approach to admission.  A holistic approach is not based solely on GPAs or test scores or other numerical data.  So what does holistic college admission mean?

Holistic admissions takes into account a much broader range of factors about the student, usually weighting them each differently, according to the college’s particular goals and mission.  Each colleges’ Common Data Set will let you know how important each of these factors are.  Here are a few of the aspects that are typically covered in a holistic evaluation:

• Academics – GPAs, standardized test scores, sometimes class rank, if it’s available
• Extracurricular Activities – volunteering, club participation, athletics, and any leadership roles
• Rigor of Curriculum – colleges will each have their own metric to evaluate students’ transcripts to assess academic rigor, and they’ll also put it into the context of the student’s high school, and what opportunities were offered to students there.
• Personal Essays – Students’ written expression about themselves
• Letters of Recommendation – insights about a student’s character and potential
• Unique Talents or Achievements – Anything that may set an applicant apart from others
• Student Background – this is a bit of a “catch-all.” It allows a college to take additional factors into consideration, like personal circumstances that could have impacted a student’s school career or a student’s geographic location or a high school’s academic reputation. It is true that sometimes, colleges will consider the success of other graduates of a student’s high school that also attended that college.
• Demonstrated Interest – some colleges will take this under consideration, but likely not unless a student is on the edge of admission versus denial.

Most colleges in the US use a holistic admissions model. We know that some of the most highly competitive colleges will only spend EIGHT minutes reviewing an application, so that’s a whole lot of information to get through to provide a holistic review to make a decision!

The Process

Perhaps one of the most important things to know is that most colleges do use a combination of both quantitative and holistic admissions.  At a large university, and at any college that receives a huge number of applications, it is likely that GPA and/or test scores on the application are going to first go through a computer screening, before moving on to the next phase of the process. The college will re-weight the high school GPA using their own formula before doing so, so that they are comparing apples-to-apples.  The application review may end after the screening, with some students being automatically admitted with no further review required.  Some applicants also may be automatically denied admission at some universities after the screening, without moving on to the next stop.

After that initial high level screening, the next step varies by what a particular college deems most important.  It’s at this point that a college may take a closer look at the curriculum on a student’s transcript, or they will evaluate the essay or examine the extracurricular involvement. Colleges generally are not completely forthcoming about the process they each use in a holistic review. You can read more about how the process unfolds in College Admissions Competition (Who Are Students Really Competing Against?).

At some universities, applications will also be considered according to the major the student listed on their application.  Applicants may have to meet a higher bar for admission, depending on their major.

When a Holistic Application Review Matters Most

While colleges put emphasis on a variety of factors in a holistic review process, those holistic factors are going to matter most in certain scenarios:

• Students who had a situation that significantly impacted them, which resulted in a less-than-favorable transcript.  Maybe students lost a family member that they were close to or maybe they moved across the country and their grades took a dive.  Or maybe they have a disciplinary action on their transcript that they need to be able to explain to give it context.
• Students who are applying to those few extremely competitive colleges with low admission rates.  The applicants to these colleges likely all have high GPAs and/or test scores, so those colleges will certainly be utilizing a holistic approach to reviewing applications.

For students in that former category, it’s probably especially important that they apply to a college where holistic admission review is a priority.  That is primarily going to be a small liberal arts school that will really spend time considering the whole application before reaching an admission decision, rather than a college that is likely to do a quantitative “pre-screen” of applications.

In the latter category, those colleges may or may not first do a quantitative pre-screen of applications.  But ultimately the great majority of applicants will share similar academic backgrounds.  So, the colleges are using a holistic approach to look for those students who stand out among a pool of equally impressive academic transcripts.

Conclusion

The aim of holistic admissions is to build a diverse student body and assess applicants in a more comprehensive manner. A holistic review considers an applicant’s potential to contribute to the university community beyond academic achievements. It allows for a more well-rounded assessment of an applicant’s abilities, character, and potential for success in college.