The Importance of Standing Out—Why and How
The average teenager’s day-to-day schedule goes something like this: wake up, go to school, attend a club meeting or two, eat dinner, do homework, and sleep. I am no different than any other teenager. I was no different than any other teenager— until I stepped out of my comfort zone and into a field of unimaginable possibilities.
I am a junior in a competitive high school in Northern Virginia, and standing out among 3,000 other students to impress colleges has been an issue that’s been lingering in the back of my mind my entire high school career.
Here are some tips that I have compiled as to why you should try to stand out amongst your peers and exactly how to do it. But first, what does it even mean to stand out?
Being true to YOU is the key to standing out
Regardless of what professional field you are considering pursuing in college or what job you are dreaming about achieving in the future, if you are not true to yourself and what you want to do, then chances are you will only end up pursuing someone else’s footsteps– uninterested, unmotivated, and utterly indistinguishable from the masses.
Students have been conditioned their whole life to simply study and get good grades in order to succeed. But that isn’t the case in life. Every person has their own unique story, and one you should capitalize on. Our past influences our future. Culture, passions, talents, likes, and dislikes, it is the culmination of uniquely personal viewpoints that make every individual so valuable. Society advances not from the echoing voice of a dozen carbon copies, but by the clashing and contradicting viewpoints of thousands that all come together to debate and collaborate until something new is created entirely.
Do not misunderstand, I know how scary “being true to you” may seem at first. The average person wants to fit in and be “accepted” by others. In society, there are crowds that share common interests. And if people don’t fit into those crowds, they may be judged in a negative way. After all, showing everyone all the quirky or less-than-perfect aspects of yourself may seem daunting, but just remember that no one is perfect, and everyone has their flaws. But only by exposing these flaws and making up for it in one another can we as a society continue to grow. Let us say you are an extremely creative individual, and a talented artist but lack coding skills. Now comes along a gifted coder, but they do not have the slightest clue how to actually design the app they want to create. Only together can you both come together and work, building upon one another’s flaws, to make the perfect app both in functionality and in design. But this was only possible because both individuals were honest and genuine about their own passions, skills, and weakness, and able to communicate that with one another.
Why colleges want you to stand out
Nowadays it seems everyone applying to top colleges has a 3.7 GPA, plays a sport, is the leader of a club or two, and has several impressive awards under their belt. So then what compels schools to pick one candidate over another? It boils down to who stands out.
Did you talk about your family’s recipe passed down through six generations, tying into your passion for gastronomy and culinary arts? Did you mention how your math and analytical skills make you a better ice skater by how you measure your own acceleration and the precise angles of your turns? Did you highlight the first time you moved away from your friends but built a communication platform or game to keep in touch?
There is a common misconception that colleges want to see something big, something advanced and incredible from each of their candidates. But that could not be less true. They simply want to see how you stand out. Of course, standing out means something different for everyone- it means taking control of the aspects of life that are within your control and to build something from them. To go above and beyond what you once thought yourself capable of. It is key to understand that a comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing ever grows there, and colleges recognize that.
Be true to yourself, push yourself, and never stop reaching. It is okay to fail, but it is never okay not to try. Colleges recognize that. You are still a kid, so keep exploring with the same childish fascination and curiosity and build something from your passions. If you do that then you will surely stand out.
What if I don’t think I can stand out?
Competition is everywhere, and it will never go away. As you progress in life, from college to work life even to personal matters, competition will follow you. The important thing is to remember the most important thing you can do to stand out is to be true to yourself! As cliche as that sounds, it is the truth.
No one else in the world has your specific combination of experience, education, and professional characteristics. Therefore, you stand out by emphasizing the history, experiences, and traits that make you unique. Love yourself, flaws and all.
If you still need more convincing then try this: write down three things you enjoy doing, three things you believe yourself to be talented in, and three things other people have complimented you on. Chances are quite a few of these overlap and give you hints about what some of your unique factors are. From there, set aside time daily to work on honing and improving your skills in these areas, and over time you will only get better and thus stand out even more.
Also, focus on what your purpose is in life— your purpose for doing things. Yes, everyone wants to be the “special” candidate, but it’s not the qualities that make them different, it is what purpose, what goal, what path they chose to seek, and why they actively strive to reach out on that makes them different from other people. Your purpose will indirectly make you stand out in ways that acquiring skills, experiences, accomplishments, etc. could not get to without a goal. To find your purpose, look within yourself— what do you want to know more about? What do you like doing? Why do you do the things you do? There are always reasons that every one of us acts the way we are now, but those reasons and purposes are hidden unless you make the effort to discover them.
These are all deeply personal questions, so even if your talents or your goal is similar to another person, with these questions in mind there will always be some variation you can capitalize on to make you stand out all the more. The journey of self-discovery is long but enjoy it!
About Inspirit AI
AI Scholars Live Online is a 10 session (25-hour) program that exposes high school students to fundamental AI concepts and guides them to build a socially impactful project. Taught by our team of graduate students from Stanford, MIT, and more, students receive a personalized learning experience in small groups with a student-teacher ratio of 5:1.
