Over the past few years, I kept encountering the term serendipity, but I never quite found the time to explore it more deeply. That changed a few weeks ago when I was sitting on the exercise bike at the gym and started reading about it. The more I looked into the concept, the more relevant it seemed — not only for higher education, but perhaps for admissions as well. So I did some reading, reflected on the idea, and discussed it with a few colleagues at ITB. Here are the main takeaways.
What is serendipity?
Serendipity has three core features:
- a chance and surprising observation,
- a conclusion drawn from that observation, and
- an innovative outcome — for example, a new theory, a better explanation, or a useful product.
What matters is not luck alone. Serendipity depends on someone noticing the unexpected, becoming curious, drawing connections, and turning an observation into something meaningful.
This requires the ability to:
- notice an unusual event,
- pay attention to it,
- take an interest in it,
- look for an explanation,
- connect it to other fields or problems, and
- assess its potential value.
Where does the term come from?
- The story begins with a Persian poet. Around the year 1300, Amir Khusrau wrote the tale of the Three Princes of Serendip. “Serendip” is an old name for present-day Sri Lanka, derived from Sanskrit.
- In the story, the King of Serendip sends the three princes on a journey to prepare them for their future responsibilities — in modern language, one might call it an early personal development measure. It seems to have worked: along the way, the princes repeatedly made unexpected observations and drew intelligent conclusions from them.
- The word serendipity itself was first used in 1754 by the British writer Horace Walpole in a letter describing an unexpected fortunate discovery. In 1841, Edward Solly referred to Walpole’s letter in Notes and Queries and suggested that the term deserved wider circulation.
- That suggestion gained real momentum in the 20th century. At General Electric, research leader Willis R. Whitney fostered a research culture that encouraged sensitivity to unexpected discoveries. Later, the sociologist Robert K. Merton played a major role in establishing the term within scientific discourse.
Four familiar examples
- Penicillin: In 1928, Alexander Fleming noticed by chance that mold on an unattended Petri dish was killing bacteria. That observation eventually led to the first major antibiotic.
- The microwave oven: Engineer Percy Spencer was working on radar technology when he realized that a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. That unexpected observation led to the microwave oven.
- X-rays: In 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was experimenting with cathode rays when he noticed a glow on a distant screen. This led to the discovery of X-rays.
- Teflon: Roy Plunkett was trying to develop a new refrigerant when he unexpectedly discovered a strange, slippery substance: polytetrafluoroethylene, later known as Teflon.
How can universities foster serendipity?
Universities can create conditions that make serendipity more likely by helping students notice the unexpected and make productive use of it.
Three conditions seem particularly important:
- Interdisciplinarity and diversity: Different perspectives increase the likelihood that unexpected observations will be noticed and interpreted in meaningful ways. Universities can support this by encouraging students to take courses across faculties and by creating interdisciplinary or international projects.
- Exploration: Students should not work only in strictly deductive settings focused on hypothesis testing. They should also have opportunities for exploratory work, where unexpected findings can emerge and be pursued.
- Explicit attention to serendipity: Serendipity itself can become part of academic training. Students can be invited to identify examples and reflect on how discoveries happen. This helps cultivate curiosity, openness, alertness to the unexpected, and a pioneering mindset.
What might this mean for admissions?
There is no direct test for “serendipity ability.” However, the concept does point to several traits and capacities that may support it — and that can be assessed through tests, questionnaires, or interviews.
- Cognitive ability and critical thinking: Strong cognitive skills help students recognize unexpected findings, interpret them correctly, and derive meaningful action from them. Critical thinking helps them examine observations from different angles and seek additional evidence. Many admissions tests already assess these abilities.
- Openness and curiosity: These traits make people more likely to notice interesting signals and engage in the exploratory thinking that can lead to useful insights. They can be assessed through personality measures or explored in interviews.
- Creativity: Creative people often think flexibly and divergently, which may help them recognize and make use of novel situations more effectively.
Admissions offices can also encourage serendipity more broadly by designing processes that support student diversity. A diverse student body brings a wider range of perspectives, questions, and ways of thinking — fertile ground for serendipitous discovery.
Conclusion
Serendipity is the combination of unexpected observation and the ability to respond to it intelligently. Universities can foster it through interdisciplinary learning, exploratory environments, and by explicitly encouraging curiosity and openness.
In admissions, it may be supported indirectly by taking into account cognitive ability, critical thinking, openness, curiosity, creativity, and diversity.
