As with most actions, what matters is not what you do, but how your actions are perceived. Depending on how you are viewed as a person, others will assign completely different meanings to what you do and choose to say. For example, when Michelangelo was commissioned to create the Statue of David, he spent four months doing nothing but stare at a block of marble until he started work on it. Though you can take away multiple lessons from this story, the one I will point to is that in the era of rich patrons commissioning works by artists, only someone with a reputation as Michelangelo’s could have gotten away with doing nothing for four months when they were being paid to work.
One thing you’re going to have to get used to is the idea that you’re not perfect. As crazy as this concept may be, it’s something that if not addressed, can ironically hurt college applicants. The truth is that admissions officers are so used to reading applications that they can usually spot BS when it’s handed to them. They know each student has his or her own set of hangups and a major mistake is that students like to act and present themselves as having no weaknesses. The last thing you want is to try and cover up, or worse, overcompensate for a weakness in your application.
The obvious solution is to find a way to make your weaknesses into positive, or at least neutral factors. Stoic philosophy contends that every obstacle can be turned into the path forward. So how exactly do you do this? In the case of a glaring weakness on your application, the best idea is to address it directly. Let’s say you don’t have a particularly high GPA. However, it’s only because you were never good at math and science, and your constantly mediocre grades in those classes are what dragged your GPA down because you’ve always excelled at history, art, literature, and music. Well here is a case where your GPA does not reflect your potential. If your application allows you to write additional comments (almost all do), write a quick blurb about how you have a passion for a specific subject outside your weaknesses and that while you may not be the best at math, you still have an intellectual curiosity about it. Explain that you once took a math class knowing full well you’d do poorly but did it anyways because you wanted to challenge yourself. You can also talk about how despite your weakness in math and science, you’ve been extremely focused on writing and literature and if accepted, would excel in these subjects. You’re expected to major in something anyways and or usually only required to take a couple introductory math and science classes at most colleges, so this would not be a cause of much concern.
This example, which applies to many students, is a great way to turn a weakness into something that benefits you. Not only have you explained the reason for a perceived weakness, but you’ve established your intellectual curiosity and passion in something that can translate into success at the next level. Furthermore, admissions officers will appreciate your honesty about your weakness instead of trying to overcompensate for it. Surprisingly, most college applicants do the exact opposite. Feeling insecure about a low GPA or standardized test score, they overcompensate with unnecessary gimmicks, a million letters of recommendations, fruit baskets, etc.
The method described above basically takes something that seems like a weakness and puts it into a context that makes you look favorable by drawing a positive externality from that weakness. The kid who seemingly can’t do math suddenly becomes the embattled writer with a strong intellectual appetite for learning outside of his comfort zone. The trick to is to briefly mention your weakness right away and then transfer into an explanation. Something like “You may be aware from my application that my GPA puts me outside of the top 10% of my graduating class. However, upon a closer look at my transcript, you’ll find that my academic struggles are primarily limited to mathematics
Poor ACT/SAT score – This one depends on there rest of your academic profile. if you consistently got good grades in school but scored lower than normally accepted at a university to which you are applying, you have some room to spin this. First, talk about how you realize your score is lower than is normally accepted at that school. This honesty is appreciated and in truth, plenty of students with below average scores are admitted every year if there is good enough reason to do so. Then talk about how you are an extremely diligent worker and that while you may not be a natural born genius, you believe you can outwork almost anyone the school can accept. This is an important point for schools because the last thing they want is to accept potential flops and dropouts. If you can convince them that your low ACT/SAT score and high grades proves you’re a hard worker, you can turn this common negative into a positive. Of course, this assumes you are indeed a hard worker and have good grades to begin with.

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Tags: stoic philosophy, weakness