Admissions Agony

This summer, I am taking Contemporary Issues in Higher Education, my first-ever higher ed course. The class has flown by--since we only meet twice a week, we just have four more class periods left before summer session one ends and my next course begins.

Last Wednesday, our class engaged in an extremely interesting activity that prompted extensive discussion about the college admissions process. Our professor broke the class into four groups, which were designed to represent Emory University, Wesleyan University, the University of Michigan, and Columbia University, respectively. After spending time researching our assigned institution, each group was handed a copy of a list of 15 applicants and asked to determine which students we would admit to our incoming first-year class.

I was part of the Columbia group, and we determined that based on our admit rate, which is roughly six percent, we could only admit one applicant from the 15 on the list. These made-up students hailed from different high schools--public and private, high-performing and low-performing--across the Philadelphia region and differed in class background, race, sex, and more. Some of them boasted impressive grades and test scores and had completed a challenging curriculum, while others were more so-so but had overcome hardship or attended high schools that did not offer AP courses, a factor that was beyond their control. We also took into account the quality of these students' recommendations and the quality of their personal essay, items that were either described as "excellent," "good," or "fair" on the sheet of statistics we received.

My group chose to admit a high-achieving Asian-American student who came from a low-income background and attended a low-performing high school. She was a second-generation immigrant who we believed would contribute to the mission of the college and give back to her community. It took my group awhile to agree on this decision, but knowing we could only admit one candidate prompted us to immediately cross off students who other groups may have lingered on further.

The exercise certainly evoked strong emotions as members of each group described the reasoning behind their decisions. While other groups could admit a greater number of students to their colleges, not all 15 students on the list received acceptances to even one of the universities. In this group of rejects was one outstanding, upper-class student who members of each group believed would succeed anywhere and didn't necessarily need to attend their school--a sentiment that ended up harming her as each college turned her away.

This activity was a great way to discuss the harsh realities of the admissions process and consider the factors that different types of schools take into account when building a class. Candidates who are strong but not quite as strong as someone else are given a rejection letter, while other candidates who are compelling on paper but just don't have that "it" factor are also crossed off the list. Is there actually a "right" answer? Not necessarily. As we discussed, a lot of it depends on who is sitting on the committee, which is why it's important to have admissions committees comprised of a diverse group of individuals. Lots to consider!