Why Knowing Your Strengths and Weaknesses is Importantto Application Process

After understanding the importance of self-assessment, you should start the process of forming a structure of the application. Before you begin, however, there is something to remember. Self-assessment is not easy.

Most of us have never stepped back to look at ourselves. The reasons could be many but the most obvious one is because it is difficult to do. Today, when every detail of our life is public, thanks to Facebook Twitter, we think we know who we are. We have opinions on all issues, we are quick to judge others, and we feel it is very easy to answer the question, ‘who am I’.

The common question asked at any interview is “tell us about yourself”. And the most common answers to this are my name is this, I am from there, I attend this school/college, I want to major in that.

If you look at this response from the interviewer’s point of view, you will realize the person taking the interview didn’t learn anything about you that he didn't already know. All these answers are already there on your CV.

So what kind of impression does this response give?

When someone asks you to talk about yourself, they want to know who you are, internally. There is no right way to answer this, but the best answers are usually related to passions, interests, goals, or personality.

What about answers that start like this –

• Making music is what gets me out of the bed. 
• Or I am the oldest of three brothers. 
• I will be the first from my town to attend college in the US. 

Think about how the conversation will unfold from these beginnings. To begin the process, you need to ask yourself questions to get you thinking. Answering these questions may not be easy as you need to figure out what your answers actually mean.

People usually ask why they have to understand and identify their strengths, weaknesses, and passions.

There are two benefits. First, you are going to come across many questions related to these ideas during your university application process, especially essays and statement of purpose. Second, it is going to help you with understanding college fit and shortlist the universities accordingly.

When you explore your strong subjects and topics, for example - chemistry, maybe you will realize that in your chemistry class you asked more questions than others. The answers to those questions inspired you to read more about chemistry outside of class. Your reading led to you winning awards in chemistry.

You love chemistry because it has inspired you to become more knowledgeable. Chemistry is more than just a strong subject on your mark sheet. It's a passion that should be included in your application.

Knowing who you are makes it easier to describe your personality to an admission officer, and it can also help you learn what you need to thrive in college.

Complete Series: How to Apply to Universities Abroad