Making Caring Common:
The Foundation Of IMPACTER
Harvard’s Making Caring Common (MCC) initiative identified eight key character skills to be considered in college admissions. We build on the foundational work of MCC by introducing students to curricular experiences that develop those same attributes for success in academics as well as in their personal lives.
Develop Character Strengths Through
The IMPACTER Cycle
By embedding Making Caring Common’s eight anchor attributes — Curiosity, Perspective-Taking, Purpose, Self-Control, Grit, Growth-Mindset, Compassion, and Gratitude — within the Impacter Cycle, students are provided a pathway for developing the foundational emotional skills that can serve them in classroom settings and beyond.
Values In Action:
Character Meets IMPACT
Beyond Academics
Impacter Pathway shares MCC’s focus on non-cognitive skills to enhance students’ interpersonal and social abilities.
Beyond Classrooms
Lessons designed not just for academic success, but to foster responsible global citizenry and real-world relationships.
College Admissions Reimagined:
Making Caring Common’s Footprint
admissions questions that underscore the essential competencies of the Impacter Pathway.
Common Application
IMPACTER Anchor Attribute: Grit
Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
University Of California
IMPACTER Anchor Attribute: Perspective-Taking
Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts.
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
IMPACTER Anchor Attribute: Compassion
Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc.
Texas Christian University
IMPACTER Anchor Attribute: Purpose
In her best-selling novel The Secret Life of Bees, TCU alumna Sue Monk Kidd wrote, “The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.” What matters to you?
Harvard College
IMPACTER Anchor Attribute: Self-Control
As you consider entering this community committed to honesty, please reflect on a time when you had to make a choice about whether to act with integrity.
Marquette College
IMPACTER Anchor Attribute: Curiosity
Marquette is named after French explorer Jacques Marquette, but exploration takes all forms. Tell us about a time you explored.
Experience The
IMPACTER Cycle
Unlock the power of the Impacter Cycle and drive forward a movement of enriched learning in your school or community.
