In France, admission is easy to read: grades on Parcoursup, a ranking, a competitive exam. The most selective American universities say they practise "holistic" admission, and the word worries French families because it seems to allow anything. Yet it has a precise meaning, which the universities describe themselves, and it changes the way an application is built.
The holistic admissions process: what universities say
Stanford writes that it practises holistic admission: each part of the application is read as part of an integrated whole. It looks at three things: academic excellence, the context in which the student has worked, and their activities and "intellectual vitality". MIT says that it is the match between the applicant and the Institute that drives its selection. Harvard cites growth and potential, interests, character, and what the student would bring to the community.
No grade or score guarantees admission, and none rules it out on its own. Universities compare whole applications, taking the student's school into account.
How much each criterion weighs: the Common Data Set
Universities publish a standard questionnaire each year, the Common Data Set, whose section C7 gives the importance of each criterion. Yale, in its 2025-2026 edition, fills it in as follows.
| Importance | Criteria (Yale, Common Data Set 2025-2026) |
|---|---|
| Very important | Rigour of secondary school record, class rank, grade average, essays, recommendations, activities, talent, character |
| Considered | Standardised tests, interview, first generation to attend university, alumni relation, geographical residence, state residency, volunteer work, work experience |
| Not considered | Religion, level of applicant's interest |
Harvard, in its 2025-2026 edition, ticks "considered" for all its criteria, without rating any as "very important": another way of saying that nothing decides on its own.
Holistic admission vs regular admission
The difference from "standard" admission comes down to one idea: grades open the door, they do not walk through it. At the most selective universities, many applicants have excellent grades; selection happens on what remains, the essays, the letters, the activities and what they say about the student. The British system, by contrast, selects mainly on the subject: grades, tests and an interview in the chosen discipline.
What it changes for a student from a French lycée
First, grades must be read in context: a 15 out of 20 at a demanding lycée is worth more than it seems, provided the School Report explains it. Second, character and activities cannot be improvised in the final year: they show in what the student has done steadily, over several years, in or out of school. Finally, the essays and letters carry a part of the application no report card replaces, and they are the pieces the French system prepares least.
Dated sources. Selection pages of Stanford, MIT and Harvard consulted on 3 October 2026; section C7 of the 2025-2026 Common Data Sets of Yale and Harvard. Universities update these documents every year.
Building a holistic application
A holistic application is built over several years, with consistency: the subjects chosen, the activities, the reading, the competitions, the essays tell the story of the same person. For the overall system, see How the US university system works and When to start preparing university admissions.
That is what we do with families at Carmine: setting out what the student wants to do, and building, year after year, an application that shows it.