Selfish Colleges

At the recent Wake Forest conference on "Rethinking Admissions", the Director of Admission from Duke, Christoph Guttentag, made a statement that colleges, especially selective ones, are "selfish" in making their admission decisions and that the process is not really meritocratic. http://rethinkingadmissions.blogs.wfu.edu/2009/04/15/its-about-us-not-you/ He noted that colleges are not transparent that these decisions are really made with the mission, needs, and the self-interest of the institution in mind, not in "rewarding" students for their achievement.

This statement might be confusing for students who are striving to reach the highest level in grades, test scores, and extracurricular attainment in order to be rewarded with admission to a highly selective college. If taken at face value, the comment might add anxiety to an already high pressured process. In reality though, it can be liberating for students by allowing them to focus more on becoming true to themselves (remember the virtue of "unto thyself be true"?) rather than focusing on extreme course loads, extensive and expensive test prep strategies, and overloaded extracurricular schedules that erode "studenthood" -- the intellectual and personal vitality and interest that should be the basis for positive student growth. Numerous books and studies have been written about the fact that most of the "name" institutions in this country have strong institutional biases when making admission decisions and that those biases lean towards higher socio-economic groups, athletes, and other "name" individuals who will attract money, attention, etc. to the institution.

What is even more valuable about accepting this perspective is that individuals who are being true to themselves are happier, better adjusted, and more successful in the long run, including in the college search and application process.

Students should strive to grow and develop themselves to the fullest extent rather -- "being" rather than "doing" just to gain acceptance to a specific college or colleges. This change in perspective can help students have a more valuable and rewarding high school experience. It should not diminish the pursuit of excellence and growth, but the change in focus should provide a healtheir motivation for students.

In addition, as students select colleges, the focus should be on which ones will support progress towards becoming who they are and reaching their potential.

Rethinking Admission

Wake Forest has just concluded its first national conference on "Rethinking Admissions" (http://www.wfu.edu/provost/rethinkingadmissions/) and the presentations by a wide range of admissions experts presented some thought-provoking research and comments. The discussion ranged from the use of the SATs to preferential admission to how to define college "success" to the use and impact of college rankings.

While there was clear agreement that there were problems with the current process, there were differing viewpoints on the nature of the problem and how best to improve it. A conference blog (http://rethinkingadmissions.blogs.wfu.edu/) provides some insights into the topics and points that were made.

Over the coming weeks, I will be commenting on specific aspects of the conference.

Admissions from the Other Side

Many seniors are assessing their admission responses -- some students are elated, some are dejected, and many are wondering "Why?" the decision went one way or the other. This op-ed piece from the LA Times gives a unique perspective to the process, and is valuable not only for seniors but for all high school students and their parents in understanding how decisions may be made and affected at selective colleges. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-perez3-2009apr03,0,4003619.story.

The greater understanding and learning that comes from this piece is that this process can be and is a very personal one, and the more that a student can become and be the true person he or she truly is, the better the chances of admission to a college or colleges that will "match" that student and provide the best experience for his or her growth.

Seeking Good College Values

Juniors are now moving into the college research and selection part of the college admission process. There are many factors to consider, but clearly an important one is cost. Sometimes this gets overlooked by students as they seek “name” colleges; and at other times it becomes a limiting factor because students (and parents) think anything but state institutions are out of range.

It is not unusual for me to meet with a student and his or her parents after college applications have been sent to a list of selective and expensive colleges – seemingly picked from someone’s list of “best of” – and hear of their anxiety about being able to afford any of the choices, even if accepted.

The first thing to keep in mind is that though all colleges are different, and contrary to what the “rankings” pretend to reflect, there is little difference in educational quality among most colleges, and much greater difference in approach and environment.

Another scenario that comes through my office is the student (and family) that clearly would benefit from a small liberal arts environment but has limited his or her choices to large state institutions because of cost.

The second important consideration in seeking god college value is to know that many private colleges have endowments designated to help attract students through merit scholarships. Even in these uncertain economic times, many colleges plan to maintain or increase these funds in order to sustain enrollment. This “half a loaf is better than none at all” mentality will mean that good students will still find themselves being awarded merit scholarships.

Keep in mind that scholarships are used to attract, and keep, good students, and that those (selective and well-ranked) colleges that get many more applications from strong students than can be admitted do not give many awards. But, because there is not a huge quality difference between those colleges and those that want more of those strong applicants, students should be looking to those “lesser known” colleges to provide opportunities for affordability.

Thus, since quality need not be as significant a concern as one is led to believe, and since scholarships are available from good quality but lesser known colleges, students need to step outside the bounds of the “known” colleges and look more broadly and deeply for some great options, both educationally and economically. It is not necessarily, and sometimes not monetarily (and educationally), wise to constrict one’s college options because of reputation or sticker price.

Importance of College Visits

As the college admission season wanes for seniors, it begins in full for juniors at this time of year. The endless talk about college acceptances and rejections and the process of making a final choice trickles down to the juniors from above and they begin to think about their potential choices.

The most important aspect for students in making a good choice about which colleges to add to and keep on a list is the college visit. Many facts, and myths, abound about colleges, and students need to keep in mind that they are selecting a college that will suit them for their continuing education. I caution students about making a college choice by “default” – choosing a college just “because” it’s the state university; it has a big-time sports program; it is highly selective; etc. Not that a student will end up in a bad situation resulting from a decision based on these or any other perceived quality, but because the purpose of attending college is an education, a student must dig deeper to find the true characteristics and qualities that will fit him or her and allow the best learning experience. The chance of finding that enriching intellectual and career-preparing four-year collegiate experience is much more likely when there is good research to back up the decision. And because the cost of a college education is expensive, it is worth a student making sure that it is money well-spent.

THE best way to do this is to make a visit to a college and see for oneself what it offers. Just as one wouldn’t marry a person based on reputation, a student should “date” a college some before deciding if it is the right match; and a college visit is a key component of that “dating” experience.

A good visit should be more than just the perfunctory information session and tour. Students and parents need to keep in mind that those are essentially marketing tools for colleges – means to encourage students that the college is a great place to go to school. One must go beyond those general experiences and get a clearer sense of the personality of the college. Here is a link to a wonderful piece on how to “Test Drive” a college – www.educdir.com/Test%20Drive.doc. Doing these ten things will give a student a great sense of how good a match a particular college might be and will empower his or her decision.

For further tools or information about visiting college, please feel free to contact wsdingle@educdir.com.

Mixed Message -- Buyer Beware

As we move into the “decision letter” season, colleges begin to publish statements on how competitive the admission was or will be this year at their institutions. Students and parents need to keep aware that those statistics can be deceiving.

First, colleges are delighted to publish how many students applied for a specific number of freshman spaces. While the numbers are correct, the colleges fail to be transparent about the fact that they usually have to admit three to four times that number in order to get enough students to “yield” that number of enrolled freshmen. This obfuscation makes a college appear more competitive for admission that it really is and thus heightens the anxiety among students and parents about admission. See the following Furman press release, http://furman.edu/press/pressarchive.cfm?story=s_274140_2892120_3029539, that gives the impression that the University’s admission rate is <20% when in reality it is about 50%, as an example.

Another statistic that colleges produce about admission is the “average” or "mean" SAT/ACT score for students. NACAC (National Association for College Admission Counseling) has a policy that colleges should report test scores in ranges covering the middle 50% of the admitted class. A score range is much more realistic for students considering where they might fall in an admission pool because a mean score automatically puts at least half of the qualified students in a “below average” position. Again, reporting only an average or mean makes a college seem more competitive than it is in reality.

Because parents (and students) frequently mistake competitiveness for admission with quality, these practices mentioned above tend to discourage students from feeling “qualified” to attend college. Whether the college is Harvard, Furman, or North Greenville University, it is important that students be aware of what the upcoming announcements truly indicate about the admission climate at that institution.

ACT and SAT -- What to Do

It's now the time when many juniors have just taken or are planning to take the SAT and/or ACT. I find there is still confusion on the part of students and parents about these tests -- when to take them, which ones to take, how many times, and now, what to do about "score choice" from College Board.

Some basic advice I give to all students:

• Take one of each test -- they are different enough that you might a) score better on one than the other, or b) you just plain like one format more than the other -- and then focus on that one test.
  
• Prepare! Do not go into any of these tests now as a junior without some serious preparation!
• Practice, using some of the books from bookstores and the released materials directly from College Board and ACT.
• Take both tests soon enough in your junior year so that you have time to take it again before the junior year is over -- you don't want to be caught wringing your hands hoping for a big score increase in your senior year.
• Take the writing section if you are taking the ACT -- the writing will be counting more in the future.
• Always take the test once more in the senior year.
  

All of this can be tailored to each individual student because some have different preferences and handle standardized tests better than others.