Character Assessment in College Admission Guide Overview

How can college admission leaders assess character more effectively? Our guide — consisting of more than a dozen individual resources — provides valuable guideposts, tools, and fresh ideas for your admission team.

The goals of this guide are to:

• Offer new, potentially powerful ways for college admission offices to integrate and assess student character and other non-cognitive skills and capacities as part of the admission process

• Provide concrete tips and tools for colleges doing this work

Why is this guide needed?

Colleges need new assessments not only to more accurately and fairly identify and weigh key non-cognitive, social, ethical, and emotional capacities, but also to send important signals to students about what colleges—and, by extension, society—value. Current assessment systems also often increase inequities.

What does the guide include?

• Character Assessment in College Admission Guide Overview

• Definitions of Key Character/Non-Cognitive Terms and Skills for Use in Admission

• The Thrivers Study: A Tool for Understanding the Characteristics of Successful Students

• Character Assessment Readiness: An Audit Tool for College Admission Offices

• Sharing Institutional Values: Examples from College Admission Websites

• Examples of Character-Focused Essay Questions in College Admission

• Examples of Language that Articulate the Importance of Family Responsibilities in College Admission

• Exploring Character through Recommendation Forms: New Ideas for College Admission Leaders

• Ideas Worth Testing: Innovation in Character Assessment In College Admission

• Examples of College Admission Character Assessment Tools

• Deans Commitment Letter

• Character Assessment in High Schools: Recommendations for the College Admission Process and Beyond (for high schools)

• Writing Character-Conscious Letters of Recommendation: Tips for High School Counselors and Teachers (for high schools)

Where should I start?

We recommend starting with the Guide Overview, which includes:

• A Note to the Reader

• Introduction

• General Tips

• How to Start

• Description of Resources

We welcome feedback as you engage with this resource and in this meaningful work. If you develop additional tools or wisdom to share, we hope you will tell us, so that we can share widely and better guide others. Please email collegeadmissions@makingcaringcommon.org to connect with our team.