tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20742644127934777942024-03-11T21:50:31.030-07:00Ethical College AdmissionsJim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-52983854827372448892015-12-11T10:13:00.001-08:002015-12-11T10:13:13.032-08:00ECA Has Moved!
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Ethical College Admissions blog has a
new home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The blog can now be found at <a href="http://www.thoughtfulcollegesearch.com/">www.thoughtfulcollegesearch.com</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please check it out.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-79258567377565896522015-11-19T08:04:00.002-08:002015-11-19T08:04:13.228-08:00Is College Admission Fair?<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is the college admissions process
fair?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Asking that question brings to
mind an old joke about television.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
joke, credited to comedian Fred Allen (among others), asks, “Why do they call
television a medium?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The punch
line?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Because it’s neither rare nor
well done.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Like the joke, asking if the college
admissions process is fair relies on a potential <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">double-entendre</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By “fair,”
do we mean “just” or do we mean “not that good”? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last month in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle of Higher Education</i>, Eric Hoover and Beckie Supiano wrote
a fascinating <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/College-Admissions-Isn-t/233523">piece</a> on the concept of fairness in college admission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was quoted rather extensively in the
article, so I’m not exactly objective, but they did a great job of examining the
various dimensions of a principle that’s hard to argue against and even harder
to define. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">No one in his or her right mind would
argue that the admissions process should be intentionally unfair, but what does
fairness in college admissions look like? Even if we agree that “fair” equals “just,”
that raises more questions than answers (which regular ECA readers know we are
perfectly comfortable with).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does a just
admissions process reward past performance or predict future accomplishment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is fairness about equal treatment or equal
consideration?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it fair for an
institution to admit based on institutional interest and priorities? Is an
admissions process based on merit fair, given that much of what passes for
merit is really privilege in disguise? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fairness lies in the eyes of the beholder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned that first hand a number of years
ago when my parents divorced after thirty years of marriage. I was in graduate
school at the time, and as I watched them go through that experience I had
three “a-ha” moments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first was an
odd role reversal where I found myself the adult and them the children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second was that each of them was happier
after the divorce than I had ever seen them together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The third had to do with the concept of
fairness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each of them said to me in
separate conversations, “All I want is what’s fair,” but they had very
different conceptions of fair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fairness in college admission is
challenging even when focusing on a single variable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take SAT scores for example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know that they have a high correlation
with family income.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If two applicants
have identical scores, one from an affluent suburban school and the other from
a rural high school where 10% of graduates go to college, do those scores mean
the same thing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should a set of scores
earned after spending hundreds of dollars on test prep count the same as those
for a student from an inner-city environment who takes the test cold?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The same is true for things like
GPA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it fair to consider a transcript
without context?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students from the same
high school with the same GPA may have very different schedules, and different
high schools have very different grading scales, and even more important,
different grade distributions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s
more fair, admitting the student who earns a certain GPA without breaking a sweat,
or the student who earns the same GPA in the same courses through hard work
that maximizes ability?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Both of those examples make the case for
a holistic admissions process as best and maybe fairest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But making fine distinctions among hundreds
or thousands of superbly qualified applicants requires either a complex
calculus or the use of professional judgment that is largely subjective.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The very first article I ever wrote on
college admissions was an article for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle
of Higher Education</i> back in 1988.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the article I argued that selective college admission is a textbook example of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Distributive Justice</i>, a type of ethical
dilemma where the challenge is to find a fair way of allocating a scarce
resource.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also posited that the
fairest way to allocate scarce spaces in freshman classes was using random
selection once admissions officers had identified those who were qualified for
admission.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was an idea whose time had not
come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For months I heard reports of my
name being cursed in admissions circles, and some close friends thought I must
be joking, writing a satire akin to Jonathan Swift’s proposal to eat
children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most interesting feedback
was from students who wrote letters to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were opposed to random selection,
wanting to believe they were admitted because they were better than other
applicants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article was ultimately
reprinted in several venues, including a textbook on logic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never figured out if it was seen as an
example of good logic or poor logic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
may reprint that article in a subsequent post.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps the appropriate question is not
“Is college admission fair?” but “Should college admission be fair?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do highly-selective colleges and universities
worry about fairness in the admissions process?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At some level, yes, in that they strive for decisions that make sense
within a school group, for instance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
another level, they worry more about what’s fair for the institution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have heard a legendary admissions dean say
that “The admissions process is rational, but not necessarily fair.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another well-known dean put it a different
way, “I work for … university.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My job is
to bring in the best, most interesting freshman class to help the university
achieve its strategic goals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not my
job to be fair to students or schools.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is probably a disconnect between
what the public expects from the college admissions process with regard to
fairness and the reality of the process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just because fairness isn’t easy to define doesn’t mean that it isn’t
worth aspiring to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If college admission
serves not just institutional interest, but the public interest, then the
public deserves a process that is as fair as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The alternative is that we lose public confidence
and trust in our profession.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The next time someone describes college
admission as fair, let’s make sure they mean "just" and not "just okay."<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-1776611928708659402015-11-04T06:08:00.002-08:002015-11-04T06:08:46.453-08:00Restricted Early Action<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This edition of Ethical College
Admissions will tackle two issues that are unrelated except for a tenuous
connection to the November 1 Early Decision/Early Action deadline. WARNING: This
post may serve as evidence that I am suffering from PNSD (Post-November 1
Stress Disorder) after surviving the two most hectic, stressful two weeks of my
entire career. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Topic #1:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Is it time to rethink the counselor recommendation letter as a
meaningful part of the college admissions process?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ve been thinking about that question on
a daily basis through October as I tried to find time and energy to write the
largest number of recommendations for Early Decision and Early Action
applications of any year in my entire career.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This time of year is always a challenge, and I can remember Halloween
nights when my children were little when I would take them trick-or-treating
and then return home to write last minute recs, but this is the first time I’ve
had the sense that this deadline might get the best of me mentally and
physically. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">So what’s different?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clearly I’m older, and the three hours it
takes me to write a good letter drains me, even as I still feel great
satisfaction in capturing the essence of a student and telling their story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of the additional burden is having the
largest class in school history, twice as big as my first class 25 years ago,
and yet I know my colleagues in public schools with absurd counseling loads
won’t and shouldn’t feel any sympathy.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The other changes are more global and
subtle. One is that the application process has become compressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I started in this profession, the
application process lasted from mid-October until the end of January.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My son was born nearly thirty years ago at
the beginning of February, and I have clear memories of spending the previous
weekend working on rec letters for the last major deadline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The workload used to be fairly evenly
distributed throughout the process, with a wave every two weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now the November wave has become a tsunami as
colleges move deadlines earlier and earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">For students the message is that the
early applicant gets the worm, that applying ED or EA is advantageous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the most selective colleges having admit
rates of 5-10% and committed to crafting a class, the best (and maybe only)
strategy for the unhooked student is to apply early. That coerces too many
students to make application decisions before they are developmentally ready. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The college recommendation letter is an
art form, perhaps even an example of “neo-realistic American fiction.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its role in the college admissions process
dates back to the 1920s, when colleges became more interested in producing good
graduates (defined in a narrow way that resembled country club membership),
than good students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At independent
schools “the letter” takes on mythic proportions, such that when I was first
hired as a college counselor writing “the letter” seemed to be the entire job
description.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is it time to rethink the rec
letter?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have talked to colleagues the
past couple of weeks who are convinced that it’s time to replace the narrative
letter with a paragraph or series of bullet points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not ready to go that far, or to follow in
the footsteps of a predecessor whose recommendation letters consisted of either
“Recommended” or “Highly Recommended,” but I worry that the quality of my
letters will suffer as the quantity increases. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">At a time when there is discussion about
designing a <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Why-the-Debate-Over-a-New/233996">new admissions process</a>, I hope that “reform” will not mean a new application
platform alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope we’ll think
carefully about what we’re trying to measure, which parts of the application
process provide useful information, and how the timing of the admissions
process impacts not just the colleges asking for the info, but also the
students, teachers and counselors that have to provide the info.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Topic #2:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Is it time to rethink Restricted Early Action?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“How many kids do we have applying
early?” is a question I commonly receive at this time of year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a question I no longer know how to
answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Early” now includes Early
Decision, Early Action, Restricted Early Action, “priority” deadlines, and
rolling admission, so any attempt to answer ends up being an essay answer to
what is intended to be a short-answer question.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In a landscape full of confusing options,
the one that takes the cake is Restricted Early Action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Restricted EA might be described as a
compromise between Early Decision and Early Action, with a student restricted
from applying other places (with exceptions) but having until May 1 to commit,
and like most legislative compromises it is deeply unsatisfying.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Restricted EA came about because several
high profile institutions threatened to withdraw from NACAC if not allowed to
prohibit their EA applicants from applying EA to other institutions, as allowed
by the commonly agreed upon definition of Early Action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was one of the early skirmishes in what
has become the ongoing war within college admissions between institutional autonomy
and common professional standards, and the vote to allow Restrictive EA was
seen by many in the profession as another victory for the privileged few. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Restricted Early Action raises some
interesting ethical issues. Restricted EA came about after some
highly-selective colleges saw an insane increase in applications after making
the change from Early Decision to Early Action, a change made in response to
criticisms that Early Decision advantages students who are already
advantaged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I understand the desire to
keep EA numbers from getting out of control, but how can a college interfere
with a student’s freedom to apply to other institutions? I am surprised that
someone hasn’t filed a lawsuit alleging restraint of trade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same argument could be made about Early
Decision, but I think that Early Decision is different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ED is a contract, a moral contract to be
sure, where the student agrees to declare a first choice and limit applications
in exchange for an early decision from the institution.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I would argue that Restricted Early
Action is really a form of Early Decision, only Early Decision that is
non-binding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the NACAC Admission
Practices Committee and Assembly developed definitions for Early Decision and
Early Action back in the 1990s, they drew the line between the two as being
binding vs. non-binding, defining Early Decision as binding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is certainly defensible, but I would
argue that the line is better drawn as single-choice vs. multiple-choice, with
students restricted to a single choice in ED.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Colleges with Early Decision programs should then have the option of being
binding or giving students until May 1 to deposit.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I don’t know that my “modest proposal” is
any less confusing, but it is more consistent philosophically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t address more fundamental questions
about early applications, such as whether Early Decision should exist at all or
whether colleges should admit more than half their classes early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those will have to wait for another day.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">ECA is off to the nation’s capital for
the College Board National Forum, looking forward to discussions about the
Coalition and prior-prior along with infomercials for College Board products.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-27108195835012157672015-10-16T05:57:00.002-07:002015-10-16T05:57:48.963-07:00The Coalition<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Someone needs to ask questions, probably
you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was part of the first message
I saw upon checking e-mail as soon as my transcontinental flight landed on the
tarmac in San Diego on the Tuesday prior to the NACAC Conference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The correspondent was a loyal ECA reader with
a suggestion for the next post, forwarding me a NACAC Exchange discussion on
the <a href="http://www.coalitionforcollegeaccess.org/press-release.pdf">announcement</a> the previous day that the Coalition for Access, Affordability,
and Success will offer a new application platform beginning next year.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m not sure I’m the right person to be
asking questions or that I will ask the right questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am concerned rather than exercised by the
existence of the Coalition, and readers of the blog know that I am far more
comfortable in the clouds than in the weeds.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is not an understatement to say that
the Coalition was the major topic of conversation during NACAC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Saturday morning session devoted to
explaining the new initiative was packed despite having moved to a larger room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That session was not as contentious as
expected, but ended with a line at each microphone hoping to comment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had the distinct feeling throughout the
conference that folks affiliated with the Common Application were overjoyed to
find themselves not the center of attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Within the college application platform “family,” the Common App
suddenly finds itself the “good child.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Does college admissions need another
application platform?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can argue both
sides of that question. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a perfect
world I’d like to see the application process simplified, with students able to
use a single application for all schools. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I also worry about the Common Application
becoming too common, too big.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In its
quest to increase membership and market share, I fear the Common App has lost
its moorings, core values such as the belief in holistic admission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same danger exists for organizations like
NACAC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is there a point at which
membership growth compromises mission?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Coalition, on the other hand, is
smaller and more homogeneous, but runs the risk of being elitist and exclusive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are 125 colleges and universities that
meet the Coalition’s dual criteria for membership, a six-year graduation rate
of 70% and a commitment to meet full need (or, in the case of public members,
affordable tuition for in-state students).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As of the conference, 83 had signed on. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I appreciate the Coalition’s expressed
goal of increasing access, but I am not alone in feeling that the access piece
feels like an add-on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Coalition
began as a reaction to the technology problems encountered by students and
colleges two years ago after the Common App introduced a new technology
infrastructure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That debacle opened a
lot of eyes to how easily the college admissions process could ground to a halt
as a result of the power concentrated in a few players (Common App, College
Board, Hobsons).<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I applaud the Coalition’s desire to
refocus the college process away from being transactional and toward
“reflection and self-discovery.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like
the idea of replacing the personal essay with writing that is more reflective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But given that some Coalition member schools
will accept the Common App as well as the new application, I have visions of
answering whether students are better off writing the essay for the Common App
or submitting materials through the Coalition’s Virtual Locker portfolio
feature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On that note, is it my
imagination or were 75% of the vendors at NACAC highlighting their portfolio
“products”?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">What I find most worrisome about the
Virtual Locker is the underlying assumption, that admissions frenzy is caused
by the short window of time in which the process takes place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure that’s correct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will having the ability to begin collecting
admission materials as early as ninth grade abate the frenzy or accelerate
it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will it give an additional edge to
the already privileged, and will it lead to a new admissions-related industry,
the Virtual Locker Monitor/Consultant (“We Unlock Your Future”)? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Coalition has announced that it will <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/after-criticism-a-controversial-effort-to-recast-admissions-pushes-back-its-start-date/105664">delay</a>
the start of the Virtual Locker until next summer, and that seems like a smart
move.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The broader question is whether starting
the college search process earlier is desirable, or even possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The acceleration of the application process
into the early fall rather than the winter has already compromised much of the
educational and developmental value of the senior year in high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How early do we want kids obsessing about
college?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should college admission be the
primary goal of a high school education or the product, the natural next step?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am probably ultra sensitive about this
issue because I work with boys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
students are bright and motivated, but the X factor in their intellectual
growth and development is maturity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each
spring when I meet with juniors, I ask, “Has it hit you yet that next year at
this time you will be getting ready to go someplace else?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the course of the spring I can see the
consciousness of the junior class change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The students I meet with in February or March, who are the first to make
appointments and presumably the most ready to think about college, almost
universally answer “No.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By April, the
answer is “It’s starting to,” and in May the answer is “Yes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several years ago I was in a Board committee
meeting where a Lower School parent asked whether waiting until the junior year
to talk about college was too late.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Before I could respond, a university professor who was the father of two
boys already in college spoke up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yes
it is, “ he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But any earlier is
too early.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I hope the Coalition will help us have a
conversation about whether we have a college admissions process that serves the
public interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do the college search
and application processes measure readiness for college?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should the college admissions process be a
bridge from adolescence to adulthood?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Are we measuring/valuing the right things and are we asking the right
questions? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps most important, are we sending
the right messages?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Coalition includes
many of the nation’s leading public and private colleges and universities, and
as a result has the opportunity to shape discussion within the profession and
to educate the public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would love to
see the Coalition make a strong statement asserting that applying to college is
about self-discovery rather than just getting in somewhere, that authenticity
is more important than resume-building and gamesmanship, and that the value of
college lies in the experience one has in college rather than where one is
admitted.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-35922287998839312982015-10-06T07:30:00.002-07:002015-10-06T07:30:57.378-07:00Late Post Card From San Diego<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I just finished my first day back at work
on the East Coast after five wonderful days with 7500 of my closest friends in
San Diego.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are some updates and
observations from the NACAC Conference:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> ---</span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
big issue in San Diego was last Monday’s <a href="http://www.coalitionforcollegeaccess.org/press-release.pdf">announcement</a> of the creation of the
Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success consisting of 83 elite private
and public colleges and universities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Coalition will introduce a new application platform next year as an
alternative to the Common Application, and there are a lot of <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Coalition-s-Plans-for-New/233628">questions</a> and
<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/10/05/admissions-leaders-debate-coalitions-plan-offer-new-application-and-portfolios-high">concerns</a> about how it will impact college admissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I landed in San Diego last Tuesday and
turned on my phone, the first e-mail I saw was from a loyal reader of this
blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He forwarded me part of an e-mail
discussion on the NACAC Exchange, and commented that “someone (you?) needs to
ask some questions.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I plan to comment
on the Coalition and the issues it raises, but need time to process and to
catch up on all the work that piled up at school while I was away.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> ---</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another
friend of this blog, Bill Dingledine, received the Gayle Wilson Award for
extraordinary service to the profession during the conference opening
session.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bill was the first person to
post a comment when ECA started three years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> ---</span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">On
Saturday the NACAC Assembly <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Where-Else-Are-You-Applying-/233626">amended</a> the Statement of Principles of Good
Practice to prohibit colleges from asking applicants or secondary schools to
list or rank order their college or university preferences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have written about this issue, both with
regard to the Common App adding a question and the Federal Government proposing
ending the listing of other colleges on the FAFSA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not everyone on the college side is happy
with the change, and in fact I saw a college admissions dean walking around the
exhibit hall with a home-made sandwich board urging delegates to vote against
the proposal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I understand that having
rank order information is helpful to colleges, but its misuse, even if only by
a few schools, is wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I applaud Todd
Rinehart and the Admission Practices committee for their willingness to take on
this issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Todd has been a great AP
Chair, and I hope there might be more NACAC leadership in his future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His AP shoes won’t be easy to fill, but the
new Chair, Lou Hirsh, is a superb choice as Todd’s successor.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> ----</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
current issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chronicle of Higher
Education</i> contains an interesting <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/College-Admissions-Isn-t/233523">article</a> by Eric Hoover and Beckie Supiano
examining the concept of fairness in college admissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a thoughtful and well-written treatment
of a challenging topic (I am quoted in the article so may not be totally
objective).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I plan to write a follow-up
post on the subject, and may even reprint a 1988 essay I wrote for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle</i> arguing that random selection
is the only fair way for elite colleges to admit students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the first article I ever wrote about
college admissions, and it was also an idea whose had not (and has not) come.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
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the previous <a href="http://ethicalcollegeadmissions.blogspot.com/2015/09/college-counseling-or-college-placement.html">post</a> was featured by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inside
Higher Ed </i>in its “Around the Web” section last Tuesday, the 7<sup>th</sup>
time that has happened.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last week was enjoyable, even if I’ll pay
for it the rest of the month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks to
everyone who went out of your way to mention that you read and/or appreciate
ECA. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The interest and support means a
lot.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-77983704660268585682015-09-29T05:18:00.000-07:002015-09-29T05:18:52.575-07:00College Counseling or College Placement<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last week I was part of a four-person
team (two college admissions deans, two independent school counselors) invited
to evaluate the College Advising office at a good Mid-Atlantic boarding school.
I have participated in this sort of thing or been part of accreditation teams a
handful of times, and there are three constants. It is always educational and
eye-opening to be on another campus, the visitors get more from the experience
than the institution being evaluated, and it is amazing how much you learn
about the culture of a place in a short period of time.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">A couple of things during the visit
inspired this post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, the person
who at most schools would have the title of Director of Admissions is instead
the Director of Enrollment Management.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Enrollment Management has become common enough in higher education that
I have suggested (only half in jest) that NACAC might rebrand itself as
NACACEM, but it is the first time I have seen a secondary school use that term.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have no problem with that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enrollment Management is a controversial,
misunderstood, and hot button term for many in the college admissions world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is easy to label many of the unsavory
practices in college admissions under the umbrella of Enrollment Management
(and I was correctly called out by Jon Boeckenstedt for being guilty of that in
a post a couple of years ago), but Enrollment Management is a neutral concept,
and on my own campus I have said that our admissions office should be thinking
strategically about Enrollment Management rather than just filling spaces.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m not nearly as accepting of the other
hot button term I encountered during the visit. While the office we were
evaluating is the College Advising office, we learned that the Board committee
overseeing that area of the school is the Admissions and College Placement
committee (why it isn’t the Enrollment Management and College Placement
committee I’m not sure).<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The term “College Placement” produces a
visceral response deep within my being, at least when used as a verb rather
than a noun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also brings back
memories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Twenty-five years ago, soon
after starting my job at St. Christopher’s, the school went through a strategic
planning process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I argued passionately
that my job is college counseling rather than college placement, but my
argument fell on deaf ears among the Board members overseeing the plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I lost the battle but ultimately won the war,
but I am not foolish enough to believe that everyone in the school community
believes in the gospel of college counseling.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">College placement is the secondary school
version of the view that college admissions is about sales rather than
counseling. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is particularly present
in independent schools, whose customers may believe (and may be promised) that
the investment in time and tuition will pay off with a prestigious college
sticker on the BMW.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the most destructive suburban
legends about the college admissions process is the metaphor of the college
counselor as Hollywood agent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This view
sees college counselors as negotiators, cutting deals for students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is grounded in the assumption that
college admission is about who you know more than what you know, that an
independent school college counselor can pick up the phone and call his buddy
in the admissions office at Brown or Pomona and call in a favor. The psychologist Michael Thompson refers to it as "The 'Special Relationship' Delusion" in an excellent <a href="http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/Fenced-in-by-Delusions.aspx">article</a> entitled "Fenced In By Delusions."<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">If I have that power (which would
actually be a superpower) I’m not aware of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have the ability to serve as an advocate and get a close or even a
second look for a student, but that is grounded not in relationships but in
credibility and professionalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
worth noting, however, that when I surveyed counselors for a NACAC
pre-conference workshop several years ago, several commented that they suspected
or feared the existence of a college counseling secret society with powers they
weren’t privy to. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The emphasis on college placement rather
than college counseling is misguided, seeing the destination as more important
than the journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also unfair to
students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was young I wanted my
students to get in to college because of my efforts, but as I have matured I
have realized how foolish that was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
job is not to get students in, but rather to help them get in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are trail guides, providing knowledge,
wisdom, and support during a process that can be mysterious and stressful.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The general public may believe that
college placement (the noun, as exemplified by the college “list”) is a metric
of school quality, of value added, and schools don’t go out of their way to
disabuse them of that notion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But good
college counseling is the real gift, the real added value that a school can
provide its students and parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
college search process should be transformational just as college is
transformational, and college counseling that understands the developmental
importance of the college process, helps the student look within to understand
his or her true self, and provides guidance and wisdom to help a family
navigate the complex and often-confusing admissions and financial aid processes
is worth its weight in gold, or at least tuition dollars. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-65480103718633869342015-09-16T06:28:00.001-07:002015-09-16T06:28:39.120-07:00FAFSA-palooza<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This summer those of us who qualify as “college
admissions geeks” had the opportunity to experience our very own “FAFSA-fest,”
as the U.S. Department of Education made two major announcements regarding
changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The addition of a third FAFSA-related
announcement from the White House earlier this week turned it into a “FAFSA-palooza.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">FAFSA.com<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In late July the U.S. Department of
Education announced that it will take over the web domain FAFSA.com as part of
a negotiated settlement with its previous owner, Student Financial Aid
Services, Inc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Student Financial Aid
Services, Inc. is a for-profit company providing services such as FAFSA form
preparation for a fee, and the settlement with the Department of Education
coincided with a separate complaint filed against Student Financial Aid
Services by another Federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,
for illegally billing more than 100,000 consumers.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I first encountered this issue during my
tenure as President of NACAC. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Board
member had done a Google search for the FAFSA during one of our meetings, and
all of us were disturbed to learn that the first search result was FAFSA.com
rather than FAFSA.gov, the official site to access the FAFSA. On FAFSA.com
families were offered help in completing the FAFSA but had to pay a fee to do
so (if the form isn’t free, doesn’t that make it the “AFSA”?).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The services appeared legit, but I was
troubled by the fact that families (and counselors) who were unsophisticated or
just not paying close scrutiny could easily believe they were on the official
FAFSA site and spend money unnecessarily.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I applaud the Department of Education for
taking over the web domain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only
does the decision serve the public interest, but this issue provides a
counterpoint for those who believe that there should be no Federal presence in
education and that the Department should be abolished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Abolishing
FAFSA Order<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In August the Department of Education
announced proposed <a href="http://www.nacacnet.org/research/PublicationsResources/bulletin/2015Bulletin/08-26-2015/Pages/FAFSA.aspx">changes</a> to the 2016-17 FAFSA. The most substantive of those
changes is that colleges receiving a student’s FAFSA will no longer see the
list of other colleges to which the student is sending the FAFSA. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Currently a student may send the FAFSA to up
to ten colleges, and those colleges know the other colleges on the list. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The proposed change is in response to
concerns about how that information is being used.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The FAFSA form does not explicitly instruct
students to list colleges in rank order, but in recognition that a number of
states use FAFSA order to disburse state grants, the instructions state, “For
state aid, you may wish to list your preferred college first.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">But how do colleges use the order listed
by students on the FAFSA?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both NACAC and
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">InsideHighEd.com</i> have <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/28/colleges-use-fafsa-information-reject-students-and-potentially-lower-financial-aid">reported</a> that
at least some admission offices and consultants on enrollment and financial aid
are trolling the data to judge a student’s interest in a given institution, and
may make admissions and financial aid decisions based on a student’s FAFSA
order. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several studies suggest that
55-70% of students enroll at the school listed first on the FAFSA, and examples
of how FAFSA order is used include leveraging financial aid, offering less
institutional aid to a student who lists a school as number one and is
therefore presumably likely to enroll, or protecting yield by wait listing a
student who is qualified for admission but lists the institution lower on the
FAFSA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latter practice could be a
violation of federal law, which prohibits the use of FAFSA information for any
purpose other than awarding financial aid.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">So what are the ethical issues involved
here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The NACAC Statement of Principles
of Good Practice prohibits colleges from asking students to rank their order of
interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s not the case here, but
the only thing worse than asking is making assumptions about interest based on
a student’s FAFSA order when the student isn’t aware it’s being used that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would be less of an issue if a student
provides the order voluntarily, with full awareness of how it may be used.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are also ethical issues related to
the leveraging of financial aid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it
ethical to offer less financial aid to a student because he or she is more
likely to enroll, or more financial aid to a student who is less likely to
enroll?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those practices may serve an
institution’s interest, but they also have the potential to harm public trust
in the college admissions process.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have seen suggestions that colleges
knowing FAFSA order may benefit students, but I am unclear what those benefits
might be, and invite readers to weigh in on potential positives for students
and or institutions.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">When my children were little, they had a
hard time understanding the difference between want and need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My son used “need” as a synonym for “want,”
whereas my daughter added a third category, “<u>really</u> want,” as if really
wanting something imposed an enhanced obligation on me to provide it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get that colleges want, and maybe even
really want, the information they get from a student’s FAFSA order, but I
question whether they need it.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Department of Education is soliciting
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=ED-2015-ICCD-0101">comments</a> from the public until October 13.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Earlier
FAFSA Timeline</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Late Breaking News:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Monday the White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/09/14/fact-sheet-president%E2%80%99s-plan-early-financial-aid-improving-college-choice">announced</a> that as
of October 1, 2016 students will be able to complete the FAFSA using previous
year tax information rather than having to wait until the end of the tax
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the surface, that seems like a good
move, but it’s too early to know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
believe in the Law of Unanticipated Consequences, and as Jon Boeckenstedt
points out in <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/New-Fafsa-Changes-Will-Bring-/233137/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en">article</a> on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle of
Higher Education</i> website this morning, this change could have major
reverberations for college admissions and higher education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stay tuned.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-50487906525525425222015-07-10T07:41:00.000-07:002015-07-10T07:41:10.608-07:00Harvard Complaint Dismissed<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even though the blog is officially on
summer break (and, in fact, at the beach), two quick updates, one newsworthy,
one not.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The U.S. Department of Education Office
of Civil Rights has dismissed a <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-07/harvard-bias-complaint-dismissed-by-education-department">claim</a> by more than sixty Asian-American groups
that Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants in undergraduate
admissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Department of Ed
dismissed the claim because a <a href="https://studentsforfairadmissions.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/SFFA-v.-Harvard-Complaint.pdf">lawsuit</a> making similar charges filed last
November by Students for Fair Admissions is pending in Federal District
Court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A recent ECA <a href="http://ethicalcollegeadmissions.blogspot.com/2015/06/less-asian.html">post</a> discussed the
issues surrounding the charges and the lawsuit.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">As mentioned at the time, that post was
selected for InsideHigherEd.com’s <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/around-the-web">“Around the Web”</a> section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the past three months four ECA posts have
been featured, making Ethical College Admissions the most-mentioned site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To quote a character portrayed by famed
character actor Walter Brennan in a 1960’s western series, “No Brag, Just Fact.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Except in this case it is a brag. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-63906705065534803572015-06-30T11:53:00.004-07:002015-06-30T11:53:53.547-07:00School's Out for Summer<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is
the final post before ECA shuts down for the summer, featuring some news
updates and brief comments.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
always appreciate reader feedback, and want to respond to Nola Lynch’s comment
posted on the blog yesterday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She found
a distinction I made between consultants and counselors “extraneous,” and
objected to my lumping all educational consultants together, including those
who are members of IECA and HECA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
comment may have been extraneous, but I was struck by the fact that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Boston Globe</i> <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2015/06/01/college-counselors-advise-some-asian-students-appear-less-asian/Ew7g4JiQMiqYNQlIwqEIuO/story.html">story</a> described those who
advise Asian-America students to appear “less Asian” as consultants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What I
didn’t intend at all was a comment about the independent consultant community
at large.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think of our independent
colleagues as being college “counselors,” and had actually forgotten that the C
in both IECA and HECA stands for consultant rather than counselor. I plead
ignorance rather than malice. My issue was with those whose advice is solely
about strategy and gaming the system, a danger about which all of us need to be
vigilant, regardless of our title.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Steve
LeMenager’s comment alludes to the unhealthy obsession with prestige and
branding in college admissions and in our society, and a recent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Washington Post</i><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/harvard-stanford-admissions-hoax-becomes-international-scandal/2015/06/18/4abac970-156a-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html"> story</a> exposes the
dangers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A student at an elite magnet
school falsely reported that she had been admitted to a unique program that
would allow her to spend two years at Harvard and two years at Stanford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She also reported that Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg had personally called her to encourage her to go to Harvard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story received media coverage in her
native Korea, referring to her as the “Genius Girl,” only to be exposed as
false.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The unfortunate incident followed
another Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/virginia-student-earns-admission-to-all-eight-ivy-league-schools-and-others/2015/04/10/64e46100-df0d-11e4-a500-1c5bb1d8ff6a_story.html">story</a> about a student from the same school who had earned
admission to all eight Ivies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that
something worth celebrating or reporting as news?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At the
end of a monumental week of decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/us/supreme-court-will-reconsider-affirmative-action-case.html?_r=0">announced</a> yesterday that it will take another look at the case of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fisher v. Texas</i>, which it considered two
years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time the Court sent
the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit asking it to consider
whether the UT-Austin affirmative action plan satisfies the legal demand for
“strict scrutiny.” The Fifth Circuit approved the Texas plan last year by a 2-1
margin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will news of the scandal where
the President’s Office at UT-Austin ordered students with connections admitted
influence the way the Supreme Court reconsiders <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fisher</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On
Friday the U.S. Department of Education announced that it will back away from
its plan to <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Education-Department-Now-Plans/231137/">rate colleges</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Department will produce a website with lots of data for consumers but will not
include ratings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Avoiding the temptation
to rate colleges is a good decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Today the Federal government; tomorrow <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">U.S. News</i>? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sweet
Briar College in Virginia will remain open for at least another year under the
terms of a settlement brokered by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring
between the College’s Board and a group of alumnae that had filed suit arguing
that the closing of the college violates the trust that established Sweet
Briar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saving Sweet Briar, the alumnae
group, will contribute $12 million under the terms of the agreement, and the
college will get a new Board and administration. I wrote about Sweet Briar’s
closing as a case of institutional euthanasia, and I worry that the settlement
is only prolonging the college’s demise, but I admire those who have worked to
keep Sweet Briar alive and wish them success.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
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</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
June 6 administration of the SAT was marred by a printing error that resulted
in students having five minutes less on two sections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The College Board has since <a href="https://lp.collegeboard.org/information-regarding-the-saturday-june-6-sat-administration">announced</a> that
neither of the two affected sections will be scored, but that the error won’t impact
the validity of student scores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
College Board and ETS are easy targets, and there are plenty of folks glad to
see them squirming after a screw-up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There have been calls for everything from giving a free summer re-test
to refunding part of the test fee because of the fewer questions to cancelling
scores for any student who asks. The CB has responded by offering free
registration for October for any student who took the June test.<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
College Board’s confident assurance that the validity of a student’s scores are
unaffected by the two missing sections begs the question, Why is the test so
long?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If scores are unaffected by those
two sections, then why do we need those two sections to begin with? The answer
may be for PR reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nearly thirty
years ago an admissions dean friend who was active with the College Board told
me that it had the technology to give the SAT on a computer with the ability to
produce accurate scores with only three questions (how you answered the first
question would determine what your next question was).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What kept them from introducing the new test
were concerns that the public would lose confidence in the SAT (that would
never happen).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So is making the SAT long
and arduous tied to building the brand?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This
morning’s “Around the Web” section of insidehighed.com lists the most recent post as
one of its two selections, the sixth time ECA has been included.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ECA
is headed off to summer vacation, remembering the wisdom of Alice Cooper
(“School’s Out for Summer”) and Porky Pig (“That’s All, Folks”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll be back in September. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-54532898266561554492015-06-25T07:44:00.000-07:002015-06-25T07:44:39.474-07:00Less Asian?
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Do
Asian American applicants face an unlevel playing field?” was the opening
question posed to me by NPR <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All Things
Considered</i> weekend host Arun Rath in an <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/05/23/409039828/behind-the-curtain-of-college-admissions-fairness-may-not-be-priority-1">interview</a> about the “landscape” of
college admissions.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It
was not a question I was expecting, and for a moment I hoped I was having a
version of that dream where you realize that the final exam is tomorrow and
you’ve somehow forgotten to go to class for the entire semester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The issue had come up in passing in a
pre-interview the previous day with a producer from the show, but I didn’t
expect it to be the focus of the interview. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
shouldn’t have been surprised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
somehow missed a <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/asian-american-organizations-seek-federal-probe-of-harvard-admission-policies-1431719348">news story</a> a couple of days earlier that a coalition of 64
organizations filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office
of Civil Rights alleging that Harvard’s holistic admissions process
deliberately discriminates against Asian-American applicants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A <a href="https://studentsforfairadmissions.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/SFFA-v.-Harvard-Complaint.pdf">lawsuit</a> making the same claim was filed
last November in federal district court by the group Students for Fair
Admissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And within a couple of days
after the NPR story ran the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Boston Globe</i>
<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2015/06/01/college-counselors-advise-some-asian-students-appear-less-asian/Ew7g4JiQMiqYNQlIwqEIuO/story.html">reported</a> that college admissions “consultants” (not the same thing as college
counselors) are advising Asian-American students to appear less “Asian” when
applying to elite colleges. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
answered Rath’s question by explaining (but not defending) the nature of
highly-selective college admissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
an environment where only 5% or 10% of applicants will be offered admission,
there are lots of exceptionally qualified students who won’t get in. To borrow
a phrase from logic, merit is necessary but not sufficient. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Selectivity, the desire to build a
well-rounded class, and the belief in holistic admission all frustrate students
and parents who want to understand what it takes to get in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also expressed my view that the hidden
currency of selective admissions is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">uniqueness</i>
(that may not be the right word), in that the more there is of any quality or
talent the less valuable it is, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vice
versa</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As
a college counselor (rather than a “consultant”), I sit down with every student
who aspires to attend an Ivy or similarly selective college or university and
explain that earning admission requires both a superb record and luck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is especially the case for students
without a hook (recruited athlete, diversity, legacy).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The odds for unhooked applicants are much
lower, probably less than 1%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of the
thirteen students in this year’s senior class who were admitted to a national
highly-selective school, only one didn’t have some combination of hooks (if you
count a couple of Early Decision full pays).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All had superb credentials, but without the hooks they probably wouldn’t
have been admitted.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So
are Asian-American applicants intentionally discriminated against or just
unhooked?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are not currently
underrepresented in the Harvard student body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Asian-Americans make up 20% of Harvard’s student body, compared with 5%
of the general population in the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That doesn’t mean they’re not discriminated against, of course, if they
“deserve” an even larger percentage. Affirmative action cases such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fisher v. Texas</i> refer to the concept of
“critical mass,” an imprecise term, given that a precise numerical definition
of critical mass looks a lot like a quota. Critical mass is normally thought of
as a minimum number, but might it entail a maximum as well? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
plaintiff in the court challenge, Students for Fair Admissions, is an offshoot
of the Project for Fair Representation, an advocacy group headed by Edward Blum
devoted to ending race-conscious admission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The group’s concern for the plight of Asian-Americans may be more a
matter of convenience than conviction, as it has also filed a lawsuit against
UNC-Chapel Hill with no mention of Asian-American applicants. Questionable
motives do not automatically mean that the suit is without merit.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Most
of the evidence of discrimination presented in the Students for Fair Admissions
suit is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">prima facie</i>, circumstantial
in nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A 2009 study by Princeton
professor Thomas Espenshade and Alexandra Radford concluded that
Asian-Americans needed SAT scores 140 points higher than white students to get
into elite colleges at the same rates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The consistency in percentage of Harvard students from various ethnic
groups over a long period of time is cited as evidence of racial balancing, as
is the discrepancy in the percentage of Asian-Americans at Harvard (20%)
compared with the percentage at Cal Tech (40%), which doesn’t take race into
consideration in admission.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Then
there is the historical argument against holistic admission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holistic admission, including such
application staples as the personal essay, extracurricular activities, and
letters of recommendation, traces its origins back to the 1920s, as documented
in Jerome Karabel’s dense but fascinating history of admissions at Harvard,
Yale, and Princeton, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chosen</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holistic admission was part of a move from
the “best student” paradigm to the “best graduate” paradigm, ultimately
replaced by today’s “best class” paradigm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Karabel’s contention is that holistic admission was a tool to limit the
Jewish enrollment at Harvard, and the lawsuit argues that today holistic
admissions limits the number of Asian-Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
don’t want to believe that holistic admission is being used to unfairly
discriminate today, even if it’s clear that in the past terms such as
“character” and “leadership” were defined in a narrow, even racist, way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe in holistic admission and regret
that the Common Application has moved away from it as a pillar of its mission,
but also recognize that holistic admission can be a veil of secrecy over the
admissions process.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If
Asian-American applicants are being disadvantaged in the selective admissions
process, it’s less due to holistic admission than other factors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One is the increasing international nature of
the student bodies at highly-selective schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why admit Chinese-Americans when you can admit students from China?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
other is the “class full of differences” paradigm, which values and rewards
spike talents and compelling personal narratives rather than the superb resume
pursued by many Asian-American students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At a counselors’ breakfast I attended last fall sponsored by five
highly-selective colleges, the consensus among the admissions officers present
was that 90% or more of applicants were qualified, even superbly qualified, but
very few were “interesting.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
was annoyed by that attitude, because I think that a college education should
help young people become “interesting,” but in this case it’s also
instructive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Asian-American applicants
don’t have to be advised to be less Asian, but rather more interesting, more
individual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the same way that
independent schools had to come to grips that what might be best for a student
educationally, being a well-rounded individual, was no longer the best way to
earn admission to a highly-selective college or university, the path pursued by
many Asian-American applicants, superb grades and scores supplemented by a menu
of activities like tennis and violin, is no longer the sure path to Harvard or
other schools.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">P.S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My hope is to do one more post next week
before the blog goes on summer break. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-24902776804057181122015-06-05T07:30:00.000-07:002015-06-05T07:30:57.841-07:00A Few Things Considered
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">HEADLINE:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ethical
College Admissions Mentioned on NPR All Things Considered</i>!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Several
weeks ago I was interviewed for a story on the weekend version of NPR’s
signature program, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All Things Considered</i>.
If you by chance missed it, you’re not alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It aired on Saturday, May 23, in the midst of the Memorial Day holiday
weekend, meaning that the listening audience numbered around 41. Even I missed
it, because I wasn’t sure if and when the story would be reported.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, here’s a <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/05/23/409039828/behind-the-curtain-of-college-admissions-fairness-may-not-be-priority-1">link</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">How
did this come about?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the previous
Wednesday afternoon, I received an e-mail from a producer at NPR.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said that they were looking to talk with
someone about “the current landscape of how colleges choose their incoming
class” and that she had read an <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/do-we-need-new-metrics-in-college-admissions/36579">article</a> I had written a couple of years ago for
Eric Hoover’s Head Count blog for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle
of Higher Education</i> asking if the college admissions process is measuring
the right things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She mentioned grit and
how one assesses it and racial preferences in admission as possible topics, and
that they were hoping to do the interview before the end of the week.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
timing was less than ideal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our seniors
were graduating that Friday, and Thursday marked the beginning of what we
affectionately refer to as the “24 hours of hell,” with four major events
crammed into a short span.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have our
Awards Assembly at 2, the Baccalaureate service at 5, and the Athletic Banquet
at 7, then have Commencement at 10 a.m. the next morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those of us with responsibilities in
several of those events, it is exhausting and stressful.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
therefore responded that it was a hectic time, but that I might be able to find
a couple of windows either Thursday or Friday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Within five minutes the producer e-mailed that she would call in fifteen
minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During that call we talked
about a couple of other possible topics, including how college admissions and
higher ed have become a business, and we set the interview for Thursday
afternoon, meaning that I would miss Baccalaureate.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
next morning she called again to confirm that they would send a radio producer
to my office to record the phone interview with Arun Rath, the weekend host for
All Things Considered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That made me
wonder if this might be different from the interviews I’ve done with newspaper
reporters, where a fifteen minute conversation shows up in the story as a
one-line quote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She also asked an
interesting question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you know
anything about college admissions when you don’t work at a college?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That question, usually unstated, is not
unfamiliar to those of us who work at the secondary level, and it raises an
interesting larger question. Does someone who works in the admissions office at
one institution understand the landscape of college admissions better than
someone who deals with lots of institutions? I cringe when I think about how
little I knew during my admissions days, but that may be me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any case, I answered by citing my years of
experience, NACAC leadership, and work with the blog, but wondered if they were
looking for a perspective different than I could offer. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
tried to prepare for the interview with some notes and talking points regarding
the admissions landscape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One point I
especially wanted to make was that there is not a single college admissions
landscape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are at least two
landscapes in the college admissions universe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most media coverage of college admissions focuses on the competition for
places at highly-selective colleges and universities, but that landscape
includes only 10% of the institutions of higher education in this country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other 90% are in a landscape where any
qualified student will be admitted, and I have <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/01/13/admissions">seen</a> statistics that 80% of
students are admitted to their first-choice schools.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
never got the chance to make that point, because the interview went down a
different path than I expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the
exception of one question about “grit,” the rest of the interview was about
whether Asians are discriminated against in the college admissions process, a
subject I wasn’t prepared to discuss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
be fair, the producer had mentioned that issue in passing in our pre-interview,
but not that it would be the primary focus, and I had also missed a <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/asian-american-organizations-seek-federal-probe-of-harvard-admission-policies-1431719348">news story</a>
several days before that a coalition of 64 organizations had filed a complaint
with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights alleging that
Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants in the admissions
process.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So
there I was, being interviewed for a national radio audience, asked to comment
on Harvard’s treatment of Asian-American applicants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew full-well that I was in a minefield
where it would be easy to say something that might easily be misconstrued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw my job as providing context about how
admission works rather than defending it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I talked about how in my view the hidden currency of selective
admissions is uniqueness, that the more of any talent or quality the less
valuable it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I talked about holistic
admission as a way to build a class and how frustrating that can be for
students and parents who don’t understand why they don’t get admitted in an
environment where most highly-qualified applicants are denied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I suggested that fairness is hard to
achieve in a process where so many metrics are ultimately measures of
socioeconomic privilege.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On
the fairness front, one response that was edited out of the interview was my
suggestion that the fairest way to admit applicants is using random selection
from among those judged qualified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
first suggested that in a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle of
Higher Education</i> article in 1988, and some saw it as satire, akin to Jonathan
Swift arguing for eating children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
if selective admission is an exercise in Distributive Justice, allocating a
scarce resource fairly, then random selection achieves fairness even as it
prevents shaping the class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I
originally made that proposal, neither students nor admissions officers found
it compelling, and apparently the same is true for NPR.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Throughout
the interview I felt off my game, and when I ended I was convinced it would
never be used, especially after Arun Rath started to ask a follow-up question,
then said “Never mind.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But thankfully
it didn’t sound as bad as I feared.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In
the next post I will consider whether Asians are discriminated against and whether
Asian students should be encouraged to look “less Asian.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-46065731382154322852015-05-20T08:28:00.001-07:002015-05-20T08:28:54.407-07:00Endgame
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Which
college would you pick for him?” the parents of a junior asked as we wrapped up
a parent conference the last week of April.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I gave my standard response, which is that it is not my job to tell a
student where they should go but rather to help them figure out what is right
for them.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Within
a couple of days I was forced to rethink both the sanctity and the strength of
that core belief when May 1 arrived with four of my seniors unable to decide
where they would deposit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s more
than I ever remember, although it is possible I have repressed previous years
in order to maintain my sanity. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m
not sure why more students struggled this year to make a final decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did the weeks I missed this spring after
surgery prevent me from having the kinds of post-decision conversations I
normally have?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have we not given this
generation the tools and practice in decision-making?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or is the answer the same found in so many
SAT multiple-choice questions, “None of the above”?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
four situations had little in common.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One student had a choice between an Ivy and a full scholarship at one of
the nation’s best liberal-arts colleges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A second was trying to parse the differences between the business
programs at comparable institutions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
third was trying to resolve the conflict between what his gut was telling him
and what his family and friends were telling him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the last was mourning the reality of the
choices available to him, a reality that shouldn’t have surprised him but
nevertheless did.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Making
the final choice is the hardest part of the college process for many
students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Up to that point it is all
about possibilities and options, but on May 1 choosing one door means closing
others permanently.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One
of the major factors contributing to difficulty in choosing is the myth (I
prefer the term “Suburban Legend”) that says a student will have that moment
when they fall in love with a particular school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That myth can be paralyzing for students who
haven’t had that experience, and I am quick to point out that the “fall in love”
moment is far from universal and that those blinded by love may actually make
worse college decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One
of the negative consequences of the growth of college admissions as an industry
is that we have lost focus on the college search and admissions processes as
essential developmental steps in the transition from adolescence to
adulthood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Choosing where to go to
college is not an end in itself, but part of a student’s journey of
self-discovery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As such how one chooses
is ultimately more important than where one chooses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>College selection should be transformational
in the same way that a college education should be transformational.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Deciding
where to attend college might qualify as the first adult decision for many
young people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adult decisions are
important rather than trivial, and they have significant long-term consequences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also don’t have easy, obvious answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no perfect or obvious choice, so you
make the best choice you can, weighing and balancing the pros and cons of each
option.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Several
years ago the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wall Street Journal</i> ran
an <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203806504577181351486558984">article</a> with the intriguing title, “What’s Wrong With the Teenage Mind?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What indeed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The article argues that there is a widening gap between the onset of
adolescence and the onset of adulthood, resulting in “teenage weirdness.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The causes are complex (or else I’m not smart
enough to understand them).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are
two different neural systems that interact in the development into adults, and
they don’t work as well in sync as they once did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One system has to do with emotion and
motivation, and the other with judgment and control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first is tied to the changes that occur
at puberty, while the second is tied to the development of the prefrontal
cortex, the part of the brain that inhibits impulses and allows long-term
thinking and planning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The key
ingredient in the development of sound decision-making is experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is only by practice in making decisions
that one learns how to make decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">At
one time in history children prepared for adulthood through formal and informal
apprenticeships, practicing the skills they would need as adults with
supervision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today in our zeal to protect
our children, we don’t give them the opportunity to practice making
decisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like to see us have a
discussion about how the college search and application processes might
function as preparation for the major life decisions students will make the
rest of their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That
probably marks me as clueless—I prefer the descriptor “idealist.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly the college admissions process as
currently practiced would have to change, and it is not clear that colleges see
anything wrong with the current process.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s
the meta-issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But how do you help a
student decide when it’s May 1, a deposit is due by the end of the day, and you’ve
made clear that double-depositing is not an option?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
try to focus on being an asker of questions rather than a provider of
answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why would you pick college A over
university B?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would prevent you
from choosing it? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is there any
information that might help you make the choice?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When those fail, my default question is,
Which one will you regret not choosing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That question helped two of my four identify their leanings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
also use the counseling technique of reflecting back to them what I am hearing
them say, either validating or challenging their perceptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In doing so I have to be careful not to let
my own personal agenda get in the way, i.e. what is the impact on the college
list (a topic I hope to address in my next post).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tell students that there is not a bad
choice to be made, but rather a choice between good and good, and sometimes
even point to Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Less Travelled,” which makes the
point that the act of choice itself makes a decision right or good.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">All
four of my students made a choice by the end of the day, but within a week two
of them had other options, one getting off a Wait List and the other
successfully appealing a denial at a school which uses the appeal process like
a Wait List.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Why
is it that I end the college admissions year feeling like a reality-show
contestant, relieved not to have been voted off the island for another
episode?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why indeed?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">P.S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The previous post was also selected by insidehighered.com
as one of two daily selections for its Around the Web feature, the fifth time
that’s happened. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-20176705714300977082015-04-28T12:24:00.001-07:002015-04-28T12:24:13.425-07:00Where Else Are You Applying?
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Last
week a minor furor erupted following an announcement by The Common Application
that member schools can add a question asking students to list the colleges to
which they are applying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Todd Rinehart,
Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment and Director of Admission at the
University of Denver (a Common App member) as well as Chair of the NACAC
Admission Practices Committee, wrote an <a href="http://www.nacacnet.org/research/PublicationsResources/bulletin/2015Bulletin/04-22-2015/Pages/ToddRinehartOpinion.aspx">op-ed</a> for last week’s NACAC <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bulletin</i> laying out his personal (rather
than official) views on the topic, and a number of people, mostly from the
secondary side, have posted on the NACAC <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Exchange</i>
regarding the decision. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It
remains to be seen whether this is a minor border skirmish in the battle
between institutional interest and student sovereignty or a major attack
designed to further erode the principles that have guided college admission and
counseling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also remains to be seen
if this is another sign of the morphing of the Common App as it becomes a
bigger player in the college admissions landscape representing a broader
spectrum of member colleges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last fall
the organization announced that it would no longer require members to use
holistic review of applicants, previously one of the bedrock principles
underlying the Common Application.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is
the next change the current Common App requirement that members schools be
NACAC members in good standing?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
change potentially puts Common App members at odds with the Statement of
Principles of Good Practice. The SPGP does not prohibit schools from asking
students where else they have applied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Mandatory section of the document prohibits colleges from asking students to
rank their preferences and also states that students may not be required to
respond. The Best Practices section of the document recommends that colleges
not ask.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So
colleges may ask the question, but should they?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In a recent post, I wrote about the Naturalistic Fallacy, which states
that just because you have ability to do something doesn’t mean you should.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This blog’s conception of what is ethical
extends beyond what is or isn’t permitted by the SPGP, so let’s examine the
ethical issues.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In
a <a href="http://ethicalcollegeadmissions.blogspot.com/2012/12/hip.html">post</a> a couple of years ago regarding the University of Iowa’s decision to add
a question on its application tied to sexual orientation, I argued that while I
applauded Iowa’s desire to send a message about its openness to the LGBT
community, the application should include only questions relevant and necessary
to determining an individual’s merit or fit for admission. Does the “Where else
are you applying?” question meet that test?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Unless
I’m missing something (always possible), there are two possible reasons for
colleges asking that question, only one of which might be related to the
admissions process itself. Colleges and universities have a legitimate interest
in knowing what their overlap schools are, but there are more efficient ways
than asking students on the application.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The best way would be for Common App to provide that aggregate
information to its members after the completion of the admissions year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If students must be asked, survey them after
decisions have been made rather than as part of the application.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
more likely reason for asking the question is yield management, and it is here
that we land on shaky ethical ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>First of all, asking a student to report where he or she is applying is
an infringement of privacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
information is owned by the student, and is not the college’s business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even when the question is optional, it is
still coercive. Does optional mean truly optional or NFL off-season workout
“optional”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a counselor, I generally
advise students to answer optional questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This one will be different.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s
due to the potential for inappropriate use of the information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a <a href="http://ethicalcollegeadmissions.blogspot.com/2013_04_01_archive.html">post</a> two years ago, I detailed the case
of a college wanting to Wait List one of my students because “we won’t get him.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were aware of the other colleges on his
list through an alumni interview, and falsely assumed he wasn’t seriously
interested because of the other places he was applying and because he hadn’t
applied for their merit scholarship, which they were obviously using as a
measure of Demonstrated Interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
fact he had scheduled the alumni interview as a way to demonstrate interest and
chose not to apply for the scholarship so that they wouldn’t assume he had no
interest if he didn’t receive one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
protested and the college relented, but not before letting us know how offended
they were that we would question their judgment.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
get that yield is an important enrollment management metric, and that it is
harder to predict than ever before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
bothers me, though, is that a number of institutions are trying to predict
yield not to stabilize enrollment, but as a metric of prestige, as a way to
keep admit rate as low as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
only thing worse than asking a student to rank their choices is to make
assumptions about a student’s interest without them knowing, whether based on
the application list or the student’s FAFSA rank order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both are unethical because they turn students
into pawns in a chess game they don’t know is being played. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There
are two larger issues that this discussion identifies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first is a growing chasm between high
schools and colleges regarding how the college admissions process should be
conducted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is not news, but one of
the things that make college admission counseling a profession rather than a
business is a shared set of core values and conventions based on what is best
for young people in a crucial developmental process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fear we are losing that.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
other issue is that the current admissions/application process has become a
vicious circle that serves none of us well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is the time of year when we will read stories about how this is the
toughest admissions year in history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Students and parents (and counselors) respond by submitting more
applications, especially given that no college wants to be a safety
school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The increase in apps makes yield
hard to predict and increases use of yield tools such as Early Decision and
Wait Lists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s wrong with this
picture?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it time to rethink college
admission? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-53738282288051154492015-04-24T08:25:00.000-07:002015-04-24T08:25:08.216-07:00Report and Remembrance
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
just returned from the annual Potomac and Chesapeake Association for College
Admission Counseling conference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
conference is always a highlight of my spring, and in fact when I scheduled my
knee surgery (if you’re tired of references to my surgery, I’m planning for
this to be the last post in which I reference it) I made sure I would be healed
enough to attend.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This
year’s PCACAC conference was special in that it was the organization’s 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary, and so it was held at the Homestead resort in Hot Springs,
Virginia (the town is the birthplace of golf legend Sam Snead).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The anniversary meant that it was an
opportunity to look back at the organization’s proud history as well as look to
the future, and a number of PCACAC’s Past Presidents had featured roles during
the proceedings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had the opportunity
on Sunday afternoon to serve as moderator/participant for the opening plenary
session, a panel consisting of five former PCACAC Presidents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three of us had also served as President of
NACAC, and the other two had served or are serving on the NACAC Board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a lot of experience and wisdom in
the room, and it was interesting to ponder the ways in which our profession has
changed and stayed the same.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
highlight of the opening dinner on Sunday night was the presentation of the
Jack Blackburn Award, named for the legendary late Dean of Admissions at the
University of Virginia and given to an individual for commitment to ethics,
integrity, and access, all principles that Jack Blackburn personified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The award is relatively new, but has quickly
become as valued as the other top award presented by PCACAC, the Apperson
Award.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was privileged to receive the
Blackburn Award a year ago, and the previous winners include Lou Hirsh, who
will succeed Todd Rinehart as Chair of the national Admission Practices
Committee for NACAC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those are big shoes
to fill, but Lou is a superb replacement as chair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This
year’s Blackburn recipient was Mildred Johnson, Associate Vice Provost for
Enrollment Management and Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Virginia
Tech.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have known Mildred since we were
rookie admissions roadrunners nearly 40 years ago, and she is an inspired
choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mildred is an old-time
admissions officer in the best sense, someone for whom the essence of the job
is working on the front line with students, and she has insisted on (and been
allowed to) continuing to do school visits and counsel students in a way that
is rare among senior members of our profession anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am always amazed at how well she knows my
students despite working at a large state university.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
also did a session on Monday on “Gender and College Admission,” and will write
about that in my next post (unless I decide to write first about the Common Application
asking students to list where they are applying), but had to leave the
conference early after I learned on Monday morning that a close friend died
over the weekend and the funeral was Tuesday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
death was not unexpected, for my friend was 91.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She had told me in our last conversation that she wasn’t doing well, and
I had been trying to her reach her by phone daily for the previous week without
success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was nevertheless sad to see
one of the most unique, special friendships of my lifetime end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Following the funeral, my son suggested that
I write about her in the blog, so here goes.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mary
Alleta Pannill was my friend for more than 40 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her late husband was my advisor and
philosophical mentor in college, a once-every-hundred-years professor at any
institution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I first visited
Randolph-Macon College as a prospective student, none of the admissions staff
was available (they may have been at PCACAC) and he interviewed me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was so honest and forthright about the
college’s strengths and weaknesses and such an impressive person that I’m not
sure I ever gave any other college a chance, but the opportunity to study with
him by itself made Randolph-Macon the right place for me.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Once
I arrived on campus I became close friends with both husband and wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had suffered a major heart attack the
previous year and had to limit his afternoon office hours, so she maintained
them when he couldn’t be there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On many
Sunday mornings I would see them out for breakfast when I went out to get a
newspaper and would stop and visit. She and I engaged in a tutorial on subjects
ranging from existentialism to the philosophy of William James.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Two
weeks after I went off to graduate school, her husband passed away suddenly
from another heart attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I worried
about her, because she was physically frail, looked older than she was, and was
devastated from losing a life partner to whom she was truly devoted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had no children, and our friendship
developed into a new phase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told me
at one point that her husband had always hoped that I would replace him, and I can
imagine no greater compliment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
ultimately had the opportunity to come back and do that for a year, and she
served as my unofficial teaching assistant, co-hosting a reception for my
students and suggesting the book that became the culmination of my Intro to
Philosophy class, Tom Robbins’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Another
Roadside Attraction</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Through
the years we maintained a personal and intellectual friendship, visiting
bookstores together and having conversations on a myriad of topics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After she moved into a retirement home where
the other residents didn’t share her intellectual interests, I tried to take
her to lunch regularly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was a
creature of habit, so we always went on Sunday, always went to the same fast
food place, and I was to pick her up at 11:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If I hit traffic lights or had to wait for a passing train, I worried
about disappointing her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the past
couple of years my son would join us, and she would have us look-up tidbits
online to help in her scholarly pursuit of knowledge about the 19<sup>th</sup>
and 20<sup>th</sup> century British Aristocracy.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In
recent months I worried that each time we got together it might be the
last.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was the first person to call
me after my surgery, a huge step for her because she hated to bother me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was desperately hoping to recuperate in time
to have lunch again, but ran out of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The last time we talked she told me she was not doing well and said how
much the friendship meant to her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The feeling
was mutual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was so proud of how she
made a life for herself after losing her husband, and inspired by her passion
for learning and for ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her death
leaves a void in my life, but I am richer as an ethicist and as a person for
having known her.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One
last note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last post on the lexicon
of college admissions was featured earlier this week as one of the two featured
“Around the Web” articles on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Insidehighered.com</i>,
the fourth time the blog has been mentioned on that site. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-6654629301189819442015-04-17T07:54:00.000-07:002015-04-17T07:54:37.651-07:00Lexicon
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve
been thinking that it might be time to retire a couple of phrases/concepts from
the lexicon of college admissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
two I have in mind are arguably outdated, confusing, and potentially harmful to
students and parents trying to understand college admissions.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
returned to work on Tuesday after being out for six weeks recovering from knee
replacement surgery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To prepare for
being back in the office, I went through my own form of “spring training” on
Monday, meeting with the parents of one of my juniors at a local Starbucks. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not a coffee drinker, so I don’t
generally hang out at Starbucks, but they’re ubiquitous and a perfect neutral
place to meet. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
combination of warm Spring weather, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frappuccino</i>
™, and being back in college-counseling mode was intoxicating, and it helped
that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">barista</i> didn’t ask us to
solve America’s race issues. We talked about engineering, D3 soccer, and costs,
and it was a good meeting until they made the mistake of asking about merit
scholarships, discovering the hard way that one of my weaknesses is a tendency
to give essay answers to short-answer questions.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
responded that the term “merit scholarship” is a misnomer, neither a
scholarship nor about merit, at least in the way that parents and students
think about merit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With some exceptions,
merit scholarships are more accurately strategic discounts, given not to reward
merit but rather to induce a student to enroll.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Colleges use merit aid to attract students they wouldn’t normally appeal
to, and as a result a student is most likely to receive merit aid at schools
several levels of selectivity below the schools they might aspire to. (Let me
be clear that I don’t buy the “you should go to the most selective/prestigious
college you can get into” suburban legend.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That
is not necessarily a message that families want to hear, as I discovered in my
own household when my daughter was a senior in high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My wife got angry at me when I told her that
our daughter was likely to be admitted to most of the schools on her list, but
wasn’t a candidate for a merit scholarship at those schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only thing that made her angrier was that
I turned out to be right.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
returned from my Starbucks meeting to discover that Jon Boeckenstadt had
published a <a href="https://jonboeckenstedt.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/the-death-of-merit-aid/">piece</a> on his blog with the title, “The Death of ‘Merit Aid’.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As always, his analysis is worth reading and
better than mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jon has a similar
piece for the back-page “Hall Pass” column in the brand new issue of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal of College Admission</i> (I was
honored to write the Hall Pass column for the previous issue) where he includes
“Need Blind” as a term that may deserve scrapping.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My
candidate for removal from the lexicon is “Demonstrated Interest.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I <a href="http://ethicalcollegeadmissions.blogspot.com/2014/05/difped.html">wrote</a> about this topic last spring, arguing
that Demonstrated Interest is no longer about interest but rather a student’s
likelihood of enrolling and that demonstrating interest is no longer a simple
concept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once upon a time, visiting
campus was a sufficient demonstration of interest (for that matter, once upon a
time submitting an application was a demonstration of interest) but it seems
that many private institutions are attempting to manage acceptance rate and
yield by attempting to measure a student’s likelihood of enrolling through multiple
metrics.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A
recent e-mail exchange on the ACCIS (Association of College Counselors in Independent
Schools) e-list highlighted the brave new world of which Demonstrated Interest
is an integral part and the challenges involved in how to counsel students properly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several horror stories were cited, including
a highly-qualified student Wait Listed because she failed to respond to one
e-mail, an admissions officer making a comment that a student responding to an
e-mail on a smart phone is not as serious as responding on the computer, and
another admissions officer responding to a counselor pointing out that the
student had visited the campus and loved the college, “Some students visit
twice.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Several
years ago I visited a selective mid-Atlantic university and was told that it
was tracking demonstrated interest by whether the student had clicked on the
applicant portal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the same breath I was
told that the university had discovered that few of its diversity applicants
clicked on the portal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They received a
pass because they were in high demand.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
don’t think there is anything wrong with a college or university taking
interest into account in enrolling a freshman class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I was an admissions dean, I would want a
class including students who wanted to be at my school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ethical issue is not the use of interest,
but how interest is measured and how the importance of interest is communicated
to students.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If
clicking on e-mails (and attachments within an e-mail) is important, then it is
incumbent on an institution to be transparent about that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students have a right to know the rules of
the game that the college is playing and what demonstrates interest and how
much interest needs to be demonstrated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the deeper issue is whether some of the measures being used really
measure interest or likelihood to yield, and whether using those measures
demonstrates a lack of understanding as well as a lack of interest in teenagers
and how they think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My students don’t
see clicking on an applicant portal as having any connection to the interest
they have in a school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The danger for a
college in measuring interest using those measures is that you will end up with
a student body full of kids who are good at playing games or strategizing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure I’d want that student body.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Demonstrated
Interest and Merit Aid are connected in that they reflect the increasing
influence of big data on the college admissions process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Colleges hire consultants to determine how
much aid will maximize a student’s likelihood of enrolling, and technology has
given colleges the ability to track information and contacts in a way that hasn’t
been possible until recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
long-established principle in ethics with regard to science and technology is
the “naturalistic fallacy,” which states that just because you have the ability
to do something doesn’t mean you should do it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If
interest deserves to be a more compelling factor in college admissions, we
ultimately need a larger discussion of whether the admissions process needs to
change significantly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do we want even
more emphasis on Early Decision, or more use of Wait Lists rewarding interest
at the end of the process?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are there
admissions criteria that are no longer as important in an interest-driven
climate?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s have that discussion
before we penalize kids for not showing “interest” they don’t know they should
be showing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Are there other phrases or concepts that it's time to abolish?</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-58250230506781068932015-04-08T08:33:00.000-07:002015-04-08T08:33:23.143-07:00Institutional Euthanasia
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One
of my graduate school professors told a story about his first experience
teaching ethics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He assigned a paper on
the ethical issues associated with euthanasia, and to his surprise several
students turned in papers that had nothing to do with end-of-life issues
(euthanasia) but rather discussed the ethical challenges faced by children and
teenagers in places like Vietnam and Myanmar (youth in Asia).<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
was reminded of that story twice last month. When I checked into the hospital
for surgery on Tuesday, March 3, one of the first questions I was asked was
whether I have a living will and a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had I been paranoid or a member of the Tea
Party I might have seen sinister motives or Obamacare Death Panels behind those
questions, but chose instead to hope they were perfunctory rather than
foreboding. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Later
that day when my anesthesia wore off and I checked my e-mail for the first
time, I saw the stunning news that Sweet Briar College had announced that it
will close at the end of the school year.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Sweet Briar family is currently going through its own stages of grief—shock,
denial, finger-pointing, fund-raising, and lawsuits. Just in the past week a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle of Higher Education</i> <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/How-Sweet-Briars-Board/228927/">article</a>
described the Board meeting, held not on campus but at a Washington hotel,
where the conclusion was reached that Sweet Briar must close. <a href="https://savingsweetbriar.com/">Saving Sweet Briar</a>,
an alumnae group formed in opposition to the closure, called for the Board and
President to resign and convinced the attorney for Amherst County in Virginia,
where Sweet Briar is located, to file <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/03/30/lawsuit-seeks-to-stop-sweet-briar-college-from-closing/">suit</a> seeking to prevent Sweet Briar from
closing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The group has raised $3 million
in pledges, far short of the $250 million the Board estimates would be required
to keep the college afloat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same
time, a friend who is the transfer coordinator for a public university in
Virginia is spending a majority of his time working with Sweet Briar students
needing to transfer.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
feel for the Sweet Briar community—students, alumni, faculty and staff—and what
it is dealing with in the aftermath of the announcement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t imagine what it must be like for
one’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">alma mater</i> to exist no longer,
and I particularly feel for an old friend who served as Dean of Admissions for
many years and was a wonderful ambassador for the college. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I described the Sweet Briar announcement as
unprecedented in an interview for an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Education
Week </i><a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/college_bound/2015/03/does_sweet_briars_closing_signal_the_fate_of_other_small_colleges.html">blog</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t remember another
institution deciding to close without previous signs that it was terminally ill
(if I’ve missed another example, I trust that readers will let me know).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Several
others interviewed for the same story called Sweet Briar the “canary in the
coal mine,” a harbinger of other colleges that will be forced to close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that’s the case (which I’m not ready to concede),
which mine?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Small liberal arts colleges?
Women’s colleges?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Colleges located in
rural areas?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">While
there was no advance warning that Sweet Briar was on the brink of closing,
several economic vital signs pointed to serious illness. Its enrollment had
dropped to 523, its discount rate was 62%, and it was dipping into unrestricted
endowment to pay its bills.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
suspect the seeds of Sweet Briar’s decline have been present for a long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my first year as a high school counselor,
back in the mid-1980’s, I had two girls apply there Early Decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither was a strong student, but coming from
a strong independent school should have been solid candidates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sweet Briar ultimately admitted both, but
only after acting as if it was doing a huge favor to both me and the
girls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was young and inexperienced,
but not stupid, and when I checked Sweet Briar’s admissions statistics I saw
that it had turned down fewer than 80 applicants in the previous admissions
cycle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sweet Briar was one of several
Southern women’s colleges that were masterful at maintaining the illusion of
selectivity and prestige.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that was at
one time a strength, it may have turned to a weakness, preventing Sweet Briar
from addressing systemic, long-term issues.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That
begs a more important question, which is whether there is anything Sweet Briar
could have done to change its fate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is
Sweet Briar’s situation a product of mistakes or mismanagement, or simply an
instance of a product for which there is no longer a sufficient demand?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">From
an ethical perspective, the Sweet Briar situation is most interesting as a case
of institutional euthanasia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is closing
Sweet Briar killing the college or letting it die?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who has the right to pull the plug on a
living institution?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is more
important, maintaining Sweet Briar’s existence at any cost or maintaining a
certain quality of life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does a
venerable institution deserve death with dignity, and what does that look like?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Such
questions are difficult and even painful in the field of medical ethics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What amount of treatment is reasonable given
a patient’s condition at the end of life, and what treatments merely delay
death?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who is capable of giving informed
consent in a situation that is emotional?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Should quality of life be a consideration, or is life itself sacred,
regardless of quality?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These questions
have scientific, theological, and public policy significance.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
questions are no less perilous when it comes to closing a college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sweet Briar’s Board and administration have
been criticized for the secretive process leading to the decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly the suddenness of the announcement
and the lack of consultation with stakeholders are unfortunate, and yet may
have been unavoidable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Board has also been criticized for failure to execute its duty of stewardship
by not turning over every leaf to keep the college in operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From everything I’ve read, though, it is
clear that Sweet Briar is not just ill, but terminally ill. Sweet Briar might
be able to stay open for several more years of decline or could perhaps follow
the path that other struggling colleges have taken by targeting a different
clientele and changing its mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
does Sweet Briar best honor its proud history by fighting to the bitter end or
by choosing death with dignity? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-12485740034308788482015-03-25T07:05:00.000-07:002015-03-25T07:05:16.565-07:00Duress
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My
last post, dealing with President’s Office interference in the admissions process
at the University of Texas at Austin, was written under duress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Duress” might be too strong a word, because
no one was holding a gun to my head or threatening my children. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
should also be clear that the “duress” was self-imposed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Tuesday, March 3, I had knee replacement
surgery, and not knowing how I would feel in the aftermath, wanted to publish a
post on the Texas situation the previous day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The surgery went well, I seem to be recovering as well as or better than
expected, and I’ve developed a new appreciation for the DuPont slogan, “Better
Living Through Chemistry.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is
only now, three weeks after surgery, that I am starting to feel the urge to
write.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That
urge may have nothing to do with the surgery and everything to do with the
biorhythms of blogging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been two
and a half years since I started Ethical College Admissions, and it is almost
certainly the most rewarding thing I’ve done in my professional life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finishing a post and finding my “take” on a
subject is an endorphin rush like no other.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Long
before I ever thought about joining the blogosphere (or had any idea that such
a thing existed), I remember hearing my friend Jeannine Lalonde (better known
as Dean J, author of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Notes From
Peabody</i> <a href="http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/">blog</a> for the admissions office at the University of Virginia) talk
about how blogging had changed her life, such that the first thing she does
each morning is check her two blogs (she also writes one on <a href="http://www.smallchichome.com/">design</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t do a daily blog, as I struggle to
carve out time to think and write, but if I go two weeks without posting I
start to feel the way I do when I go too long without chocolate. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jeannine
talked about seeing a blog as a conversation with readers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That, of course, assumes that there are
people reading the blog (if a blog post falls in the forest and no one reads
it, does it make any impact?). When I began writing I had no idea if I had
anything worth saying, if I could discipline myself to write on a regular basis,
or if anyone would care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was shocked
the first time someone mentioned that they had read and liked the blog, and it
is gratifying to know that there are a number of people out there who care
about the same issues I do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to
the ClustrMaps analytic tool, the last post drew the 20,000<sup>th</sup>
visitor to the site.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
am particularly appreciative of those ECA readers who reach out either to
express support or to challenge my thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After the Texas post there were two I want to highlight who supported my
overall position but challenged me on specific points.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Steve
LeMenager’s <a href="http://ethicalcollegeadmissions.blogspot.com/2015/03/texas.html#comment-form">comment</a> took issue with a point I made regarding the principle of
fairness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Kroll report indicates
that the students admitted to UT-Austin by the President’s Office over the
objections of the Admissions Office did not take the place of an already
admitted applicant but increased the size of the freshman class, and I
suggested that was, if not “better” and “more fair,” at least not as ethically
objectionable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Steve suggests that both
the report and I might be naïve (my word, not his).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He correctly points out that admissions in a
“hyper-selective” (his word, not mine) institution are zero-sum, that any
decision to admit one student is by necessity a decision not to admit other
students, and that thinking of admissions slots as finite helps an institution
focus on its priorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Steve worked at
Princeton, so he has experience and perspective that I don’t have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He allows that it might be different at a
public university, but I think he is right and that my thinking was
sloppy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m also encouraged to know that
hyper-selective institutions struggle over the fairness piece involved with
admitting a class.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
other communication was an e-mail from Jon Boeckenstedt at DePaul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jon is someone whose voice and perspective I
value, and I am particularly envious of his ability to organize and analyze
data (here’s a link to Jon’s <a href="https://jonboeckenstedt.wordpress.com/">blog</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jon
quibbled (his word) with a statement I made that was almost a throwaway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One
of the things that struck me when reading the <a href="https://www.utsystem.edu/sites/utsfiles/news/assets/kroll-investigation-admissions-practices.pdf">Kroll report</a> was the impact of
the Texas law that guarantees admission to students in the top 10% of their
class in Texas high schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>75% of the
spaces in the freshman class at UT-Austin come through the Top 10% program,
including most of the spaces in certain academic programs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Kroll report suggests that UT-Austin
would like to be holistic in admissions but that the 10% law prevents its
ability to do so because of the legal mandate to put emphasis on a single
factor, class rank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The report also
suggests that the 10% law results in students admitted who are less qualified
and less likely to succeed, a claim I repeated.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jon
called me out on that point, citing a <a href="http://diverseeducation.com/article/50840/">study</a> published by a conservative think
tank, the National Bureau of Economic Research, that shows that students who
benefit from the Top 10% law perform and graduate no differently than students
with similar credentials who are just outside the top 10% of their high school
classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jon further points out that the
real culprit is that too many of us accept uncritically the notion that
students with higher SAT scores are more “qualified” for college. Jon’s point
is a good one, and I plead guilty to leaping to that conclusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There
is a more interesting philosophical question here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How much does it matter what admissions
criteria we use?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The argument for
holistic admission review is that it allows an institution to take into
consideration and value a broader spectrum of qualities, thereby producing a “better”
class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But better than what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the Texas Top 10% rule produces a student
body that is just as successful in terms of GPA and graduation, does holistic
review add any value other than the flexibility and discretion to admit
students the university wants to admit for other reasons?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">During
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bakke</i> case, the first Supreme Court
case involving the use of affirmative action in college admissions, a major
argument put forth by foes of affirmative action was that affirmative action
programs admitted less qualified applicants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But if a student is admitted to medical school and then successfully
graduates and becomes a doctor, does it ultimately matter how they were
admitted?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Part
of me says yes and part of me says no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If the point of medical school is to produce doctors and the admissions
process admits a student who completes the curriculum and practices medicine,
then the student is qualified and the admissions process has accomplished its
mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in a hyper-selective admissions
environment where admission is a zero-sum process, fairness requires that the
criteria used for admission be relevant and predictive for every applicant.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
would like to argue that the sloppy thinking pointed out by Steve and Jon were
caused by the duress of my upcoming surgery, but the truth is that it comes
from the duress found inside my head on a daily basis.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-67606994051289092342015-03-02T08:34:00.000-08:002015-03-02T08:34:16.559-08:00Texas
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A
number of years ago one of my students was surprisingly admitted to a prominent
public university.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wasn’t
unqualified, but classmates with stronger credentials were Wait Listed or
Denied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told the Dean of Admissions
that I assumed that he was a political admit, and my boss at the time was
shocked that I would openly use the “p” word with the Dean.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
eventually learned the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently
the boy was the very last admit to the freshman class, and a prominent state
legislator who headed the Appropriations Committee had conditioned his
continued support for the university budget on the student’s admission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately or unfortunately, the boy never
ended up enrolling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the summer,
he was involved in an alcohol-fueled incident where he vandalized fifteen cars,
and he had to meet with the Dean of Admissions and the university psychologist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he claimed he didn’t remember the
vandalism because he was drunk, the psychologist responded with a Law and Order
moment (J.K. Simmons, not B.D. Wong), concluding that he would have remembered
after the fifth car.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
thought back to that situation when I <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/02/13/investigation-finds-ut-austin-president-influenced-admissions-decisions">read</a> a couple of weeks ago that an
independent investigation had concluded that the President of the University of
Texas had overruled the University’s Admissions Office and ordered
underqualified applicants, most of them with wealthy parents, to be admitted.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It
would be easy to react to the Texas story with shock and outrage, especially
when that is how one feels, but it would also be as disingenuous as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gendarme</i> in <u>Casablanca</u> who
discovers that there is gambling taking place in Rick’s Café.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is there anyone naïve enough to believe that
the University of Texas is unique among colleges and universities, both public
and private, in admitting candidates who get in because of who they know rather
than who they are?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
have read the <a href="https://www.utsystem.edu/sites/utsfiles/news/assets/kroll-investigation-admissions-practices.pdf">Kroll report</a>, and here are the facts regarding undergraduate
admission (the investigation also covered admission to the UT Law School and
MBA program).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The UT admissions process
included a practice of putting “holds” on any application where the President’s
Office received a letter or inquiry from a “person of influence”—generally a
member of the Legislature or Board of Regents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The original justification for “holds” was to ensure that the person of
influence was notified prior to a negative decision.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A
number of the holds were admitted on their own merit, and the majority of the
up to 300 holds in any given year were competitive for admission, but 72% of
holds were admitted compared with 40% admitted overall. 82% of the holds were
Texas residents. The number of holds has increased in recent years, partly
because technology allows for computerized tracking and also because admission
to UT has become more competitive, with nearly 40000 applications for just over
7000 spaces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other changing dynamic
is that President William Powers and his chief of staff, Nancy Brazzil, have
been less collaborative than previous presidents, more willing to order certain
students admitted over the objections of the Admissions Office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The report found no evidence of any <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">quid pro quo</i>, but President Powers
justified the interventions as being in the best interest of the University.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Kroll
found that there were only 73 enrolled students in the six-year period from
2009 to 2014 with grades and SAT scores a full standard deviation below the average
admitted student.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the exceptions
demonstrate influence, some a commitment to ethnic and racial diversity, and in
a few cases a reward for legacy status, despite the fact that Texas law
prohibits legacy preference in admissions. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So
what are we to make of all this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First
of all, as already stated, I have a hard time calling this a scandal, but it
certainly doesn’t reflect well on the University of Texas at a time when it has
already received significant judicial and public scrutiny for its affirmative
action program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One may certainly
question the use of affirmative action to achieve diversity as described in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fisher v. Texas</i>, but the goal is at
least laudable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The practices described in
the Kroll report constitute affirmative action for those who are already
privileged, and there is no possible defense for that.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
culprit tying together both of those is Texas Education Code Section 51.803,
better known as the “Top 10% Law.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
law, which requires UT-Austin to admit automatically applicants who rank in the
top 10% of their high school class, has had the impact of diversifying the
student body at the expense of holistic admission review, admitting students
who are not as prepared or qualified for success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The original law was amended to limit top 10%
admission to 75% of the student body at UT-Austin, but it places great stress on
the institution’s ability to value other important qualities, especially at a
time when application numbers are surging.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are two relevant ethical principles at
stake here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One is transparency. The
Kroll Report notes that nowhere in any public description of the admissions
process at UT is there reference to the system of holds, and saves its strongest
criticism for the President and Chief of Staff’s failure to reveal the
existence of holds and end-of-cycle meetings between the President’s Office and
Admissions during a previous internal review, saying that they “appear to have
answered the specific questions asked of them with technical precision” and “failed
to speak with the candor and forthrightness expected of people in their
respective positions of trust and leadership.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Kroll Report, p. 14)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
other issue is fairness. Should any institution have a “side-door” admissions
policy available to only to the few connected enough or savvy enough to know
about it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And is the use of political
influence in the admissions process particularly egregious at a public flagship
university with responsibility to all the citizens of the state?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>President Powers may have acted in what he
believed were the best interests of the University, but were those the best
interests of the state of Texas?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be
fair, the students admitted by order of the President over the objections of
the Admissions Office did not take the place of an already-admitted student but
increased the size of the freshman class.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As
a counselor I have never been comfortable with the politics of college
admissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tell students and parents
that I don’t understand the politics on a particular campus and don’t want
to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same time it is my
responsibility to advise my students about the realities of college
admission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is not uncommon for a student or parent to contact me and tell me that they
know someone who has influence and can help them gain admission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they tell me that the individual with
connections wants to know to whom they should address the letter, I know they
don’t have the hoped-for influence, because the person with influence would
already know the person to contact and would do so by phone call rather than
letter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Based on that I suspect the
Kroll Report may have underestimated the level of influence in the process at
UT-Austin, because its review of the folders of the 73 enrolled outliers and
its recommendations focused on letters of recommendation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m betting the most powerful behind-the-scenes
lobbying for individual candidates didn’t involve a letter. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-44453632029116004392015-02-14T11:11:00.000-08:002015-02-14T14:22:41.399-08:00Test-Optional<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There
is the act, and there is the explanation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And sometimes the explanation is the more problematic of the two.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A
number of years ago one of my seniors got in trouble for having a beer in his
car during the junior-senior formal dance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It wasn’t a big deal, but he was suspended for a day and required to
inform the colleges to which he had applied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unfortunately, he took his sweet time informing his first-choice
college, where he was on the Wait List, despite the fact that the college’s
application clearly stated that the student was obligated to report all
disciplinary infractions occurring after the application had been submitted. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By
the time he reported the suspension he had been admitted off the Wait List. The
Dean of Admissions, curious about the delay, required him to come to campus for
a meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the meeting the student’s
explanation raised more red flags than the offense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He explained the beer in the car by saying he
hadn’t planned to go to the dance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Didn’t you look out of place without a tux?” the Dean asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The student responded that he was wearing a
tux.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“So you drive around the West End
of Richmond on Friday nights wearing a tux?” the Dean asked incredulously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The disciplinary offense wasn’t serious
enough to rescind the acceptance, but the explanation certainly gave the Dean
second thoughts. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Several
weeks ago Virginia Commonwealth University became the newest member of the
test-optional club, those colleges and universities (more than 850, according
to the <a href="http://www.fairtest.org/">National Center for Fair and Open Testing</a>) that allow at least some
applicants to forego submitting standardized test scores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <a href="http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/article_e711a1d1-37a9-5ecb-922d-29d8994474b8.html">change in policy</a> was announced by
President Michael Rao during his State of the University address. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">VCU
will no longer require applicants with a high school GPA of 3.3 or above to
submit SAT scores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All applicants to
some programs, including engineering, will be required to submit test scores,
as will candidates for university scholarships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In announcing the changed policy, President Rao said that students will
no longer have to “pass” a test that he described as “fundamentally flawed.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to VCU’s Vice Provost for Strategic
Enrollment Management, the change means that VCU will be able to admit 300
students who wouldn’t have made the cut a year ago.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
applaud VCU and other institutions that have become test-optional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The frenzy over standardized testing in the
college admissions process is not healthy for anyone (except perhaps the test
prep industry), and I’m glad that there are institutions that are questioning how
much value is added by test scores in predicting student success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A 2014 <a href="http://www.nacacnet.org/research/research-data/nacac-research/Documents/DefiningPromise.pdf">study</a> of 33 test-optional colleges and
universities by Bill Hiss, long-time Dean of Admissions at Bates College (which
became test-optional in 1984, the first school in my memory) showed few
significant differences in graduation rates and cumulative GPAs between
submitters and non-submitters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>VCU’s decision
seems to have been grounded in its own institutional research showing that high
school GPA is the most useful predictor of success at VCU, and I believe that
VCU is one of the institutions that has done significant work in looking at
non-cognitive assessment in the admissions process.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s
VCU’s explanation for the decision that I find curious.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">President
Rao’s doesn’t give any explanation for his declaration that the SAT is “fundamentally
flawed.” (I’m also not sure what he means by “passing” the SAT.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have never been accused of being an
apologist for the College Board (see previous <a href="http://ethicalcollegeadmissions.blogspot.com/2015/01/4-or-more.html">post</a>), but I don’t consider the
test fundamentally flawed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like many
things in college admissions, it may measure privilege rather than merit, but
in my experience it is not the case that SAT scores are random.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With rare exceptions, my best students score
well and my weakest students don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
College Board is certainly open for criticism on many fronts, whether it be
changing SAT from standing for Scholastic Aptitude Test to standing for…well,
SAT or its about-face on test prep from claiming one couldn’t prepare to
advertising itself as the SAT-prep experts, but I don’t consider the test
itself as invalid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is fundamentally
flawed is the way test scores are used rather than the test itself.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m
also curious about VCU’s decision to continue to require the SAT for some applicants.
Is the SAT not fundamentally flawed for engineering applicants, merit
scholarship candidates, and students with a GPA below 3.2?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That raises a broader philosophical
question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can an institution be
partially test-optional, or is being partially test-optional like being partially
pregnant?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Finally,
I wonder about the claim that being test-optional will allow VCU to admit 300
applicants it wouldn’t have admitted a year ago, especially in light of the
fact that in the same interview the Vice Provost stated that VCU doesn’t have an
SAT cutoff score and that the university claims to do holistic admission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holistic admission means that a college or
university has the ability to ignore factors that aren’t relevant for a student’s
admission, including low test scores, so VCU <u>could</u> have admitted those
300 students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would suggest that
VCU, like other institutions, has become test-optional for profile
protection/enhancement reasons rather than philosophical reasons. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-60219607044316208802015-01-29T07:56:00.000-08:002015-01-29T07:56:18.833-08:004 or More
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Is
it just me, or is this simply a stupid idea?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was the question posed in a post on the NACAC Exchange a week or so
ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
was immediately intrigued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am drawn to
college-admissions-related stupidity the way a moth is drawn to a flame or a
dog to a fire hydrant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Supreme
Court Justice Potter Stewart and pornography, I may not be able to define it,
but I sure know it when I see it, and it is one of the things that keep this
blog in business.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
was even more intrigued when I saw that the “stupid idea” in question was a
product of the College Board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
certainly have my issues with the College Board, which I have described tongue-partly-in-cheek
as America’s Most Profitable Non-Profit Organization. It has chosen to be a
corporate entity rather than a membership organization, a .com rather than a
.org, and College Board meetings often feel more like infomercials than
professional conferences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect
every policy decision made by the College Board is grounded in cost-benefit
analysis, in profit rather than principle, so it may be calculating, but never
stupid.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
“stupid idea” in question is the Apply to 4 or More™ <a href="http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/access-to-opportunity/four-or-more">program</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was not familiar with that name, but in
looking at the section of the College Board website devoted to the program I
recognized it as one of the Board’s programs to increase access to higher
education and particularly an attempt to deal with the issue of “undermatching”
as described by professors Caroline Hoxby at Stanford and Christopher Avery at
Harvard, where students from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds apply to
less selective colleges than their credentials might allow them to earn
admission.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
College Board website describes Apply to 4 or More ™ as “a national movement to
encourage all students—but primarily low-income, college-ready students—to apply
to at least four colleges.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students are
identified for the program based on having received a fee waiver for the SAT or
SAT subject tests, or in some cases based on Census data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They receive a packet of information
including a personalized cover letter, a college application timeline, and in
some cases fee waivers.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
goal of increasing access to higher education for low income students is
laudable, and in fact needs to be a national priority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is Apply to 4 or More a better way to
accomplish that than President Obama’s “free community college”
initiative?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure they address
the same population or the same issue, but I give the College Board credit for
trying to do something.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
am more interested in the messages sent by and the assumptions underlying Apply
to 4 or More.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To what extent does the
program provide understanding about the college admissions process and good
college counseling?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One
of those assumptions has to do with “undermatching.” The embedded assumption is
that the student could “do better,” with better=more prestigious=more selective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recognize that many students who come from
homes without financial resources and lack good college counseling may be
unaware of places that might be good options, but undermatching is not automatically
negative. I believe that the value of college lies in the educational
experience rather than the name on the diploma. A student who attends a less
selective school where he or she is a top student may have a better college
experience and better educational opportunities.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
don’t find the advice offered in Apply to 4 or More “stupid,” but I do find it
quaint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the kind of advice that a
guidance counselor might have provided back in the days when “guidance
counselor,” not “school counselor,” was the operative term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s exactly the kind of college counseling I
would expect to find if there was a college counseling office on Main Street
USA at Disneyland.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Take,
for example, the advice to “Build a Diverse College List,” including 1 “Safety,”
2 “Good Fits,” and 1 “Reach.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back in
the fall there was discussion on the NACAC Exchange about whether the term “safety
school” is pejorative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly no
college wants to be seen as a safety school, with its connotation as a place
where you’ll go if all else fails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apply
to 4 or more defines “safety” as “a college you’re confident you can get into.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are students who have a unique
self-esteem problem, in that they have far too much self-esteem, and are more
confident than they should be about where they’ll get in.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As
a college counselor I have never liked the term “safety,” although I think it
will be unfortunate if we get to a point where students and counselors can no
longer predict admission likelihood. I tell students that I want them to apply
to at least one school that they know, and more important that I know, they’ll
get in. I also don’t believe that every student must apply to a reach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The notion of “ good fit,” which to its
credit Apply to 4 or More emphasizes, is more about finding places that offer a
program and culture that meets the student’s needs and values, and a thoughtful
college search can result in a good fit even when a student applies to one or
two places.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Apply to 4 or more <a href="https://student.collegeboard.org/apply-to-4">student website</a> states that applying to four or more colleges
increases your chances of being admitted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I find that to be terrible advice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Admission has more to do with the quality of applications and options
rather than the quantity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If your credentials
make you a long shot for the Ivy League, applying to all eight rather than two
doesn’t increase your chances of getting into one but rather your chances of
getting rejected by eight rather than two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And if applying to four is better than two, is applying to 30 even
better?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do accept the argument that
students for whom financial aid is important may benefit from being able to
compare offers, but doesn’t the Net-Price Calculator allow that without having
to apply? (If I am showing my ignorance or naivete on that point, feel free to
correct me.)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
first rule of ethics is “Do no harm.” Apply to 4 or More ™ meets that test, but
I’m not sure it provides students with the kind of information and advice they
need to apply to college in 2015.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d
love to see a conversation about what information we should be providing, what
advice we should giving, and how best to do that.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-29850821345584220682015-01-15T10:47:00.001-08:002015-01-15T11:11:17.907-08:00Ratings, Not Rankings<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As
I was driving to work on the Friday that Christmas break began, I heard on the
radio that the U.S. Department of Education was releasing its <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/documents/college-affordability/framework-invitation-comment.pdf">plan</a> for federal
college ratings that day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had two
immediate reactions reflecting different parts of my DNA. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Putting
my blogging hat on, my initial thought was that I needed to write a post analyzing
the plan for Monday publication, but then I came to my senses and realized that
no one would have the time or interest to read about federal college ratings (or
any other issue I might write about) three days before Christmas.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
cynic/conspiracy theorist within me noted that a common government tactic is to
“hide” bad news by releasing late on a Friday afternoon when the media and
public are not paying attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How bad
must the plan be to justify “dropping” it on the Friday before Christmas?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
have read the plan and realize there was no sinister intent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Obama administration had promised release
of the plan in fall of 2014, and the following Sunday happened to be the first
day of winter.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s
also no plan. A <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle of Higher
Education </i><a href="http://chronicle.com/article/More-Metrics-More-Problems-/150945/">article</a> describes it as “heavy on possibilities and light on
details.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That assessment is generous. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point the Department of Education has
only a vague idea of what the final version might look like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/public-feedback-college-ratings-framework">release</a> describes it as a college ratings
“framework.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It might be more accurately
described as a skeleton, only with enough bones missing that a casual observer
would be hard-pressed to identify the animal.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
goal of measuring access and affordability is laudable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So is the decision to “avoid rankings and
false precision” and focus on outcomes rather than input factors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The question is how easy it is to actually
measure those things.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
easiest way to measure an institution’s commitment to access is the percentage
of enrolled students receiving Pell Grants, but how good a measure is that? I
have previously written about the danger of confusing measuring what we value
with valuing what we can easily measure. Does the current threshold for Pell
eligibility capture all the students for whom access to higher education is
limited economically? Another potential metric, the number or percentage of
first generation students, is complicated by lack of a consistent definition
for what constitutes a first gen student.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">With
regard to affordability, what do metrics like “average net price” and “average loan
debt” tell us, and what are their limitations? The Department of Education
acknowledges that current net price data is incomplete, including only students
receiving aid (which might be okay).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
addition, public institutions only report average net price data for in-state
students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this time, average federal
loan debt is not being considered in the proposed ratings, and the Education
Department recognizes that using that data could lead some institutions to
encourage students to take out more expensive private loans rather than federal
loans in order to game the ratings.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
proposed ratings are on shakiest ground when it comes to measuring
outcomes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should degree completion be
measured over four years or six years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Should four-year institutions be penalized for students who transfer to another
four-year school?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And how meaningful is
data on earnings?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those numbers are more
heavily influenced by what a student majors in than from where he or she graduates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should we measure earnings five years beyond
graduation or over a lifetime?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And is a
school that produces lots of investment bankers and lawyers “better” than one
which produces teachers and those with non-profit service careers?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Another
issue to be determined is how institutions will be grouped for meaningful
comparison given differing missions and student populations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Virginia, the College of William and Mary
and Virginia State University are both four-year public institutions, but have
little else in common.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should they be
compared?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Far
more interesting are several larger philosophical questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s the purpose of the ratings?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it to provide information to consumers, or
is it to hold institutions accountable?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Is it possible to design a rating system that does both?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Are
ratings preferable to rankings?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Department
of Education plans to place schools in three categories for each metric—“high-performing,”
“low-performing,” and those in the middle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Those categories would seem to have been developed in consultation with
Goldilocks and the three bears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A year
ago two analysts at the American Enterprise Institute crunched the numbers
using three thresholds—25% Pell recipients, 50% graduation rate, and net price
under $10,000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Analysts-Map-Some-of-the/144551/">concluded</a> that only
a few institutions are terrible in all three areas (access, affordability, outcomes),
but only 19 four-year institutions exceed all three thresholds.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That
would seem to answer a question raised in the Department of Education draft,
about whether consumers would find it easier to see only a single comprehensive
rating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A single rating would probably
be easier, but easier is not better when it leads to the “false precision” that
so many of us find troubling in attempts to rank colleges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back in February, Bob Morse, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">U.S. News</i>’s guru of false precision,
gave advice and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/us-news-college-ranker-poses-questions-about-federal-college-ratings/2014/02/07/96634138-8f63-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html">asked questions</a> at a symposium on the technical issues
underlying federal college ratings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
like Wyle E. Coyote serving as an expert witness at a conference devoted to
Roadrunner protection.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
ultimate question is whether rating colleges is a legitimate function of the
federal government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answer to that
question may depend on one’s political leanings about the role of government,
but you don’t need to be a member of the Tea Party to question whether the
Department of Education should be rating colleges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same March meeting where Bob Morse
spoke, another speaker suggested that the government should develop a database
and leave it to others to figure out how to use it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A
lot depends on whether this is comparable to the gainful employment rules put
into place with regard to for-profits, and I don’t think it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that case, the federal government had a
legitimate interest in protecting taxpayers from fraud, because a number of
for-profits were operating an economic model where a huge amount of revenue was
coming from federal financial aid for an “education” that was leaving students
unprepared for employment and in debt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
fundamental principle of ethics is “treat like cases alike,” and this doesn’t
seem to fit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any case, there’s a lot
of work to be done and questions to be answered before federal college ratings
will make sense. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-13127729649383894992014-12-22T07:53:00.001-08:002014-12-22T07:53:19.184-08:00Happy Holidays
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
toyed with writing a quick post about Friday’s release of the federal
Department of Education’s “framework” for college ratings based on access,
affordability, and outcomes, but decided that no one will have time or interest
in reading this close to Christmas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll
work on it for publication next year.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That
leaves one item of business and holiday greetings.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
business (or, more accurately, shameless self-promotion):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the previous post regarding the Wainstein
report about the academic fraud scandal at UNC-Chapel Hill was one of two
selections last Monday in the “Around the Web” section of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/">InsideHigherEd.com</a></i>, the third time ECA has been mentioned on that
website.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
greetings:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ECA wishes “Happy holidays”
to all of our readers, whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa,
Festivus or just time away from writing college recommendations and reading
college applications. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In
the last school chapel service before Christmas break, our chaplain did a
sermon about the theological lessons found in classic cartoon Christmas
specials like “Frosty the Snowman,” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Rudolph
the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and “A Charley Brown Christmas.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was hurt that she left out my all-time
favorite, “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.” In the spirit of that show and the
immortal words of Tiny Tim (the Dickens character, not the ukulele-playing
1960s singer), “God bless us, every one.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-13457814340511806072014-12-12T06:57:00.001-08:002014-12-12T06:57:45.577-08:00Carolina Blue(s)
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
have read that airplane crashes rarely have a simple cause, but are usually the
product of a series of malfunctions and/or errors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, in the case of Air France 447,
which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 on a flight from Rio de Janeiro
to Paris, ice crystals apparently produced a faulty airspeed reading. That
caused the autopilot to disconnect, and the flight crew, all of whom had gotten
little to no sleep the previous night, proceeded to make a series of bad
decisions, leading to a stall that resulted in the plane plunging into the
Atlantic.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
was reminded of that story when I read the recently released Wainstein<a href="http://www.wralsportsfan.com/asset/colleges/unc/2014/10/22/14104501/148975-UNC-FINAL-REPORT.pdf"> report</a>
into the academic fraud at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The report, officially titled “Investigation
of Irregular Classes in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,” is the most recent and
thorough investigation into the scandal where over an 18-year period more than
3000 students, nearly half of them athletes, took “paper” classes that never
met, required only a paper, and were supervised and graded by a department secretary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Compared with a previous investigation headed
by former North Carolina Governor James Martin, the independent team led by
former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein had access to more than one million
e-mails and cooperation from both the secretary and department chair at the
center of the fraud.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Just
like airplane crashes, the scandal did not have a simple cause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Debby Crowder, the secretary in the
Department of African and Afro-American Studies who set up and oversaw the
phony classes, was a UNC graduate who is described in the report as a caring,
compassionate advocate for struggling students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That compassion, combined with a love for Carolina athletics, led her to
cut corners to help struggling student-athletes make grades that would keep
them eligible and allow them to earn degrees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was enabled by the hands-off leadership of department chair Julius
Nyang’oro.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Beyond
the department, a combination of factors allowed the fraud to occur
unchecked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tradition of academic
autonomy within higher education meant that professors from other departments
would not question or criticize practices within a different department. Academic
administrators ignored evidence of the fraud, such as the fact that Professor
Nyang’oro was supposedly teaching 300 independent study courses at one time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the biggest factor was an abiding but
naïve faith throughout the university community that an academic scandal of
such proportions simply couldn’t happen at a place as good as UNC-Chapel Hill.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Of
course the elephant in the report is the role that big-time intercollegiate
athletics plays at places like UNC-Chapel Hill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is at best a tension, and more commonly a chasm, between the
educational purpose of a university and the reality of Division One athletic
programs. The Wainstein report makes clear that the primary purpose of the
paper courses at UNC was not to help athletes make progress toward a degree or
receive any semblance of an education, but rather to keep them eligible to
play. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That
disconnect between education and athletics is not new, but has existed since
the earliest days of colleges entering the sports entertainment business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recently read Dave Revsine’s book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Opening Kickoff</i>, about the early
years of college football, and it is clear that there was never a time when
college sports and higher education weren’t at odds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the very beginning college football was
the “Wild West,” with abuses far beyond anything found today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the biggest culprits in the early part
of the twentieth century was the University of Chicago and its legendary coach,
Amos Alonzo Stagg.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Given
that the purview of this blog is college admissions rather than college
athletics, I read the Wainstein report to see if and how admissions issues were
mentioned within the report.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Steve
Farmer, the Vice Provost for Enrollment and Undergraduate Admissions at
UNC-Chapel Hill (who is both a friend and someone I respect greatly) is listed
as one of those interviewed as part of the investigation, and there is a short
discussion on pages 46-47 of the report related to admission of athletes.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Academically
elite universities like Chapel Hill often feel a tension between their high
academic standards and the effort to build a strong athletic program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One symptom of this tension is that
academically selective schools often feel it necessary to admit academically
under-prepared athletes in order to field competitive teams…This is a perfectly
legitimate and laudable approach to admissions, and it has resulted in countless
success stories where such student-athletes have excelled both on the field and
in the classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same time, the
admission of under-prepared student-athletes presents universities with
difficult challenges, as many require intensive academic support and remedial
instruction.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
report states that assessing the viability of admissions standards for athletes
at UNC is beyond the scope of the investigation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also points out that UNC’s practices with
regard to admission of under-prepared athletes fall within the mainstream, but
clearly a contributing factor to the scandal was admission of students not
capable of doing the work at UNC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Former
UNC academic advisor Mary Willingham has reported that she was aware of
athletes at UNC who were reading at an elementary school level.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There
is nothing inherently wrong with admitting students who are academic risks, as
long as you have a program in place that will give them a chance to be
successful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously giving grades for
courses that never meet doesn’t meet that standard.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">During
my days as an independent school admissions director I was in a situation where
I had to take some risks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned from
experience that half of them would work out and half not, but I couldn’t
predict which ones would fall in which category.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I also learned that kids I admitted with
behavior concerns would invariably be hanging out with each other by the end of
the first day of school.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned that
I was more likely to make mistakes with my heart rather than my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I admitted a young African-American male with
a single mother and low test scores because I wanted him to be successful, and
felt guilty when it predictably didn’t turn out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thankfully I ran into him a number of years
later and learned that he is a successful graphic designer.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
UNC scandal is partly a mistake of the heart, because Debby Crowder’s fraud
originated in compassion for struggling students, but the end doesn’t justify
the means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More troubling is the loss of
vision, failure to see that while wins and national championships are nice and
revenue-producing, the purpose of a university is first and foremost to provide
young people with an education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>UNC is
one of the finest public universities in America, but in this case deserves an
F. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-21864527251605047512014-11-24T08:41:00.001-08:002014-11-24T13:00:24.772-08:00All the News That Fits--Another View<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">On Friday I
received a thoughtful e-mail from Jon Reider shortly after the publication of
my post about media coverage of college admissions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jon is a regular reader of the blog and
correspondent as well as someone whose opinion I value, and I asked him if he
would consider adapting his e-mail as a guest post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here it is: <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
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</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jim, <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I have mused a
lot over the years about the best way to speak to the media. (I do get
called from time to time, so my ego is OK.) The best reporters like
Eric Hoover and Janet Lorin can often quote at more length, perhaps because
their space constraints are less severe than the daily press. I too have
winced at seeing a half hour chat turn into a half-sentence bite. I
sometimes try to say something like, "This is the key point."
But that wouldn't always work, and I doubt reporters want to be instructed in
their trade, any more than you and I do. So, yes, we have to live with it
and hope that the important stuff gets through, as it does in the second half
of the article.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> We can
remember the adage that "Dog bites man" is not news, but the reverse
is. Occasionally, reporters call trolling for a story: what is new
this year? What trends are you seeing? That sort of
thing. They are looking for the "Man bites dog"
story. The problem, as we know, is that the daily grind of
advising, editing, writing, waiting, and then either celebrating or consoling
is much the same year after year. The real news is slow and
cumulative: more early applications, more test optional schools, more
demonstrated interest schools, more selectivity. Fine for Jim
Fallows and the Atlantic Monthly, or Andrew Delbanco writing a book, but not of
much value for a daily newspaper.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> What
amuses me is the phenomenon itself, that Ms. Kaminer's hyper-sophisticated
editors consider this front-page Sunday stuff (below the fold, to be
sure). The early emphasis on the ridiculous excesses plays into
that, of course, just as the tale of the Cadillac-driving welfare queen made
good fodder for Ronald Reagan way back when. The extremes drive the noise
machine. One of these days, I hope to address the broader question of why
elite college admissions has become a fetishized commodity (in Marx's sense),
which is presumed to have magical value, akin to a Mercedes or Rolex. In
addition to spawning all the parasitic industries like test prep, organized
community service ventures, independent counselors, and maybe even our own
livelihoods, it has infiltrated late bourgeois culture with an array of
popular books, movies, TV shows, in addition to the regular coverage in the
Times, WSJ, and elsewhere. College admissions has become a
"myth" in the anthropological sense of a motivating and framing
narrative through which a culture makes sense of itself. How and
why this has happened is worth exploring.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jon Reider<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Director of College Counseling<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">San Francisco University High School<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
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</div>
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</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I am thankful to Jon for his willingness to contribute,
and as we approach a much-needed Thanksgiving break, I am thankful to all of
you who read the blog and share your thoughts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is good to know that there are many colleagues who share core values
about college counseling and admissions.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2074264412793477794.post-689216685550965692014-11-21T10:39:00.001-08:002014-11-21T10:39:38.477-08:00News That's Fit to Print
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On
Sunday <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Times</i> ran a front
page <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/nyregion/applications-by-the-dozen-as-anxious-students-hedge-college-bets.html?_r=0">story</a> about the increasing number of applications students around the
country seem to be submitting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was one
of a handful of counselors interviewed and quoted, something good for my school
and not so good for my ego and humility.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Since
the article appeared I talked with a friend who was also quoted in the
article.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was bemused (I think)
because a good thirty-minute conversation with reporter Ariel Kaminer showed up
in the article as a five-word quote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s the reality when dealing with the press, I suppose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter how eloquent you might be and how
much depth you might provide, a reporter has an angle and a limited number of
words, and chances are you’ll end up on the cutting floor.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
actually originally learned that lesson as a writer myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This past weekend was the annual football
game between Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sydney colleges in Virginia, the oldest
small-college football rivalry in the South.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s a great example of Division 3 athletics at its best, unlike the
headlines and scandals produced at athletic powerhouses like UNC-Chapel Hill
(which I’ll deal with in my next post), and I have been told (but haven’t
confirmed) that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Southern Living</i>
recently declared the rivalry the South’s greatest, beating out Alabama-Auburn,
among others.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I’d
like to think I had a little, very little, to do with that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know both schools well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I graduated from and coached and taught at
Randolph-Macon, and Hampden-Sydney Admissions Dean Anita Garland is my oldest
and closest college admissions friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nearly thirty years ago I wrote an article for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Southern Living</i> about the Randolph-Macon vs. Hampden-Sydney rivalry
as exemplifying “The Game” which is more important than the rest of the
season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the first article I ever
sold at a time when I thought I might pursue a free-lance writing career, and
it was a big deal because <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Southern Living</i>
published one feature article a year in its “All-South Football Section” and that article was usually written by established
writers such as Pat Conroy and Willie Morris.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My
article nearly never saw the light of day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The magazine accepted the article, sent a photographer, paid me, and my
wife told everyone we knew, but on the day the issue hit the newsstands I
rushed out, opened the magazine, and—no article.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I immediately understood how actors feel when
their one scene in a movie is edited out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Are you a published author when you’ve been paid but the article isn’t
published?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
contacted my editor at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Southern Living</i>
and learned that the magazine had lost advertising pages at the last minute,
causing the article to be cut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The good
news was that they still planned to publish it twelve months later and wanted
me to update it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In particular they
wanted me to get some quotes from the then-President of Hampden-Sydney, a
colorful character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I called his
office to set up a phone interview I was told that he was too busy because he
was a finalist for another job and had to keep the phone lines open for the
call from the search committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
completed the article <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sans</i> quotes and
it was ultimately published, and just after submitting the revised version I
saw in the newspaper that the institution he was waiting on had announced its
new President—not him.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times </i>article illustrates the dilemma
faced by those of us who have devoted our lives to counseling young people
about a decision that is an important, even essential, developmental step in
the transition from adolescence to adulthood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On the one hand, it affirms the importance of our work when an article
about college admissions is on the front page of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Times</i>. At the same time, as a professional I find
myself troubled by the messages (usually subtle, occasionally overt) sent to
the public by media coverage of the college admissions process.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
talked twice with reporter Ariel Kaminer, who wrote the article and covers
higher education for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times</i>, and
she is clearly a pro who understands the issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She quoted me fairly and accurately, and I thank
her for not making me look stupid, my biggest fear any time I talk to a
reporter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She chose not to quote what I thought
was my most significant point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told
her that I was not necessarily seeing the trend in my school, but that I
emphasize to students that the increased competition at the top of the college
food chain does not mean that they should apply to more colleges, but that they
should apply more thoughtfully, knowing why each and every school is on their
list. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
second half of the article makes that point and that most college counselors
think filing more than a reasonable number of applications (we can disagree
about what that number is, but it is far lower than 30 or 56 or 86, all actual
numbers from the article) is stupid and counterproductive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem is the first half, which
describes the alarming trend, and particularly the headline (which is written
by someone other than the writer of the article).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A quick skim of the headline and article
could very easily convince already crazed students and parents that applying to
lots and lots of colleges is now the norm.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is easy to bemoan the fact that the media
contribute to college admissions-related hype and anxiety, but I also don’t
know that we should expect the media to promote our agenda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What makes that harder is that I’m not sure
our profession is agreed on what messages we should be sending to students and
parents and the public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is college about
fit or about prestige?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is the admissions
process a journey of self-discovery or a game?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Does the process reward substance or packaging?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There
is too much mythology and too little accurate information about how college admission
works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that bothers us (and it’s not
clear that it does), it might be time for those of us on the front lines at
colleges and on the other side of the desk to think about what the public needs
to know and develop a vision statement for how and why the college search and
admissions processes are essential in the growth of the student and in making
our country better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That kind of
manifesto might just be what the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York
Times</i> considers “news that’s fit to print.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Jim Jumphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11124733787111955197noreply@blogger.com1