UC Sleuths Seek Proof for Glorious Claims on Admission Applications

Mercury News
January 31,2010

Did you donate the profits from your violin recital to support a homeless shelter? Were you part of a deer rescue squad during a major forest fire? Was that you who donated gallons of blood to the Red Cross?
Well, if you said so on your UC application, you better be ready to prove it.
Like no other higher education system in the nation, the University of California has a quiet team of vigilant auditors that review the accuracy of randomly selected applications — and may yank ones shined up by too much balderdash, big-talk or bull.
"We expect integrity," said Han Mi Yoon-Wu, admissions coordinator for the 10-campus university system. Although falsification is not a major problem, she said, "students need to know that they might be selected, and they should make sure that everything on the application is accurate."
Run out of a modest office park in Concord, the UC investigation team aims to prevent an arms race of fictional accomplishments among those seeking a seat at the most competitive UC campuses, such as Berkeley and Los Angeles. The vast majority of applicants will escape challenge; only 1 percent of its 134,000 applicants are pulled for review. But those who bump up the baloney in claims on their application forms do so at their own peril.
While all American universities seek official verification of grades and test scores, most others rely on the honor system for more personal assertions. "The system in California is quite unique," said David Hawkins of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. "Colleges have always kept an eye out for suspicious-looking essays that might have been plagiarized, but few bother to actually check."

Array of evidence
This month UC sent letters to 1,000 applicants for the 2010 freshman class asking them for evidence to support claims made in their "personal statements" and lists of accomplishments. The application cops do not target suspects; rather they employ a vast, random but high-stakes process designed to keep students honest. Their biggest weapon: the fear factor they may pick yours.
So with a deadline on Monday for students to mail back proof, the office gets daily deliveries of a wide and colorful array of evidence from those who have been challenged. There are photos, certificates and DVDs, theater playbills, pay stubs and newspaper articles.
"One young man sent a wood and brass plaque," proving he did indeed win an athletic award, said sleuth Mary Jacobson, a soft-spoken and meticulous woman who leads the four-member team.
Someone sent in a diploma as proof — written in Chinese. A French translator verified another student's claim that he graduated from a Toulouse-based language immersion school.

Not too personal
The verification program was created in 2003 after UC's shift to a so-called "comprehensive review" of students' applications — in which students are measured not just by academic success but out-of-the-classroom accomplishments.
California's top students offer stunning accomplishments, and the vast majority are honest, said Yoon-Wu. "But there was concern that some kids would start to pad their applications to make themselves look better," she said. "Students feared that there are others not telling the truth."
They look for only provable claims. For instance, they don't question insights or inspirations — but they may ask for evidence of participation in the Rose Bowl Parade.
They don't dig into more private disclosures, such as sexual orientation, abuse, pregnancy or parental divorce.
If "prove-it" requests are returned as undeliverable, the UC team tries to find the students before canceling their chances to attend school.
"One student became homeless after submitting his application," said Jacobson. "We eventually contacted his counselor and made the school his temporary address. He was able to verify his accomplishments."
Students acknowledge that applications are embellished, but many insist that outright falsehoods are rare.
"People rarely outright make things up, but lines are definitely blurred," said Kriti Garg, a junior at Cupertino's Monta Vista High School. For instance, the title of "club president" could mean running a prizing-winning organization or hanging out with a handful of friends, she said. "However, at my school, even though there is a strong competition to get into top-tier universities, people try to stay as technically correct as possible — they don't really want to risk anything."

Few outright fibs
For those who err, there is worry. On the popular College Confidential Web site, one anxious student wrote: "I've made a pretty serious mistake on my app. Instead of 2 hours/week I wrote 12 hours/week. Now UC sent me a letter asking to verify. ... It would really suk if I get my app withdrawn."
The lucky ones are given the benefit of the doubt, often after prolonged negotiations.
"A young woman sent a DVD of 200 dancers on stage, and indicated she was one of them. We believed her," said Jacobson. "Another said she worked for her mother, who had recently died. She asked if we wanted a death certificate. Of course, we said no." UC investigators say they find few instances of outright fibbing. More common are instances of vanished course work — typically, a failed class that was later repeated. Some applicants — about 15 each year — fail to respond to repeated requests for proof. For those who are caught, there's always next year and a possible second chance. But the indiscretion is noted in permanent records, said Yoon-Wu. "We keep a record."

by: Lisa M. Krieger

A Bumper Year for Applications to Top Colleges

The Philadelphia Inquirer
January 31, 2010

Getting into the University of Pennsylvania and other elite private schools in the area could be harder this fall, with applications coming in at record increases.

Some of the rise is because of eye-popping increases in applications from California, where budget cuts have sent shock waves through the state system.

Also fueling the boom are more aggressive recruiting by colleges in the economic downturn, a jump in applications from minority students, and a boost in the number of students filing more applications to find the best financial-aid offers, officials say.

Penn's applications have risen 17 percent, to 26,800 for 2,400 spots - one of its largest jumps ever after two relatively flat years.

"We're going to be more selective, if not the most selective Penn has ever been," admissions dean Eric Furda said.

Admission to other private schools in the region also will be more competitive. Princeton University reports a 19 percent increase in applications, Drexel University 19 percent, Villanova University 10 percent, and Swarthmore College 8 percent.

While many students need look only across the classroom to see competition for coveted freshman slots, increasingly their rivals are hailing from farther away - the left coast in particular.

Penn got 3,350 applications from California, a 22 percent hike. Swarthmore was up 16 percent, Villanova 34 percent, and the University of Delaware 36 percent.

"An increase like we saw in California doesn't just happen," Furda said. "Families in California must be looking at the strain the state system is under and are starting to take a look at some other options outside the state."

California's well-regarded public system has lowered enrollments as money gets tighter and the number of high school graduates peaks.


Applications to private schools are showing some record increases nationally as well, including an unheard of 42 percent at the University of Chicago, said Barmak Nassirian of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers.

"You would have thought that economic conditions in the country would make higher-priced institutions a lot less interesting to families," he said, but "they understand that the recession, no matter how severe it may be, will end fairly soon, whereas the benefits of a college education are spread out over a lifetime."

Princeton plans to increase its financial-aid budget to $113 million next school year, up from $103 million.

"It appears our financial-aid message of affordability is reaching more students than in the past," dean of admissions Janet Rapelye said in a statement.

More applications from minority students also are fueling the spurt in applications locally, college officials said.

The numbers of black and Hispanic applicants to Penn are up 33 percent and 29 percent.

Applications from Asians rose 61 percent at Delaware, along with jumps in black and Hispanic applicants.

Villanova drew 3,200 applications from minority students, its highest total. And Pennsylvania State University had an 8 percent climb.

The increases are coming even as the number of U.S. high school graduates has begun to decline (despite continuing gains in the West and Southwest).

Villanova's applications rose even though its draw from Pennsylvania fell 4 percent.

Several area schools, including Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges, did not respond to requests for application numbers.

Officials also speculated that students were continuing to apply to more schools. In 1990, 9 percent of students applied to seven or more colleges. In 2006, 18 percent did so.

"They perhaps want to be able to have more financial-aid packages to sort through to see where they might be getting the most help," said Claudia Gard, a counselor at Masterman High School, a Philadelphia magnet school.

Masterman counselors recommend that students apply to state schools, if only as a backup to more selective colleges.

Senior Danielle Williams, 18, applied to two Ivies, Penn and Cornell University; two state-related schools, Penn State and Temple University; and East Stroudsburg University, part of the state system.

An honor-roll student with advanced math ability, she recently was named the Philadelphia School District's student of the month. Even so, she knows she faces stiff competition for top schools, and much of her decision will depend on financial aid.

"We kind of go in with the mind-set that we're not going to get in," Williams said of her Ivy applications. "So if we do get in, it's good news. . . . And even if I don't get in, I have really good backups."

Many state and state-related schools also saw application increases.

Rutgers University, New Jersey's flagship, is tracking 5 percent higher, which it attributed in part to the opening of its new visitors center.

Penn State was up 4 percent as of mid-January.

Delaware is ahead 7 percent, bringing in 25,247 applications. At the same time, it will offer admission to a smaller class.

"It's going to be an especially tough year," admissions director Louis Hirsh said.

But at Temple, applications dropped 11 percent, to 15,673, from a year ago. The school's deadline is March 1.

Applications from out-of-state students, who have to pay higher tuition, account for half the decline, said William Black, senior vice provost for enrollment management.

Also, counselors at feeder high schools in Philadelphia, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties told Temple that more students were planning to attend community college their first two years to save money, he said.

Temple figures it still may get applications from students who applied to private schools under early decision and early action and were turned down.

Despite the decline, Black said Temple had a strong candidate pool and expected it would bring in a better class than last year. Four percent more students have submitted deposits, indicating commitment to attend, he added.

"The SAT scores in this year's pool are up significantly - 18 points higher," he said.

At Penn, Furda - like officials at some other schools - also credited more aggressive recruiting. He said Penn's education campaign about its aid must be working, too.

But Furda said the size of the jump in applications surprised him.

"I was thinking a 10 percent increase would have been good," he said.

by: Susan Snyder

Running Tally on Some Colleges’ Early Admission Figures

December 16, 2009

During the week of Dec. 14, The Choice http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/tally/ is keeping a running tally of some colleges’ figures on early applications, and acceptances, under binding early decision programs and non-binding early action. They are updating this list as they receive information on more institutions.

Brown (binding): 2,847 early applications, compared to 2360 last year, +487; 567 acceptances, compared to 570 last year, -3; total anticipated class size: about 1,485.

University of Chicago (non-binding): 5,883 early applications, compared to 3,774 last year, +2,109; 1,676 acceptances, compared to 1,128, +548; total anticipated class size: about 1,350.

Johns Hopkins (binding): 1,155 applicants, compared to 1,049 last year, +106; 493 acceptances, compared to 504 last year, -11; total anticipated class size: about 1,235

Yale (non-binding): 5,262 applications, compared to 5,556 last year, -294; 730 offers of admission, compared to 742, -12; total anticipated class size: about 1,310

Stanford (non-binding): 5,556 applications, compared to 5,363 last year, +183; 753 accepted, compared to 689 last year, +64; total anticipated class size: about 1675
Update | December 15, 2009, 7:56 p.m.

Pomona (binding; results that follow reflect only the first of two rounds): 516 applications, compared to 513 last year, +3; 98 acceptances (including from the Posse and QuestBridge Match programs), compared to 95 last year, +3; total anticipated class size: about 385.

Occidental (binding): 157 applications, compared to 113 a year earlier, +44; 60 acceptances, compared to 51, +9; total anticipated class size: 500

The College of Saint Rose (non-binding): 3,117 applications, compared to 2,409 last year, +608; 1,182 offers of admission, compared to 1,127, +55; total anticipated class size: about 600

Mount St. Mary’s University, Maryland (non-binding): 3,218 applications, compared to 2,784 last year, +514; 1,620 offers of admission, compared to 1,062, +558; total anticipated class size: about 440.

Swarthmore (binding, first of two rounds): 292 applications, compared to 302 last year, -10; 129 acceptances, compared to 126, +3; total anticipated class size: about 385

Hamilton (binding, first of two rounds): 356 applications to date (including some for round 2), compared to 377 on this date last year, -21; 150 acceptances (round 1), compared to 167 last year, -17; total anticipated class size: about 480

Emory (binding, first of two rounds): 709 applications, roughly same as last year; 350 early acceptances (including from the QuestBridge Match program), compared to 331 last year, +19; total anticipated class size: to be determined, but last year’s class was about 1,285

Cornell (binding): 3,579 early applications, compared to 3,443 last year, +136; 1,167 acceptances, compared to 1,264 last year, -103; total anticipated class size: about 3,150.

Dartmouth (binding): 1,600 early applications, compared to 1,549 last year, +51; 461 acceptances, compared to 401, +60; total anticipated class size: 1,100 to 1,150 (current freshman class is about 1,100, but college is considering increasing next year’s class to 1,150.)

Columbia (binding, figures for Columbia College and School of Engineering): 2,995 early applications, compared to 2,942 last year, +53; 631 acceptances, compared to 639, -8; total anticipated class size not specified.

Grinnell (binding, first of two rounds): 176 early applications, compared to 175 last year, +1; 90 acceptances, compared to 107, -17; total anticipated class size: 390,

Amherst (binding): 438 early applications, compared to 444 last year, -6; 147 acceptances compared to 138, +9; total anticipated class size: about 465

Duke (binding): 2,012 early applications, compared to 1,535 last year, +477; 602 acceptances compared to 583, +19; total anticipated class size: about 1,700.

Middlebury (binding, first of two rounds): 653 early applications, compared to 648 last year, +5; 262 acceptances (including some for fall 2010, and others for winter 2011) , compared to 274 last year, -12. total anticipated class size: about 700, including students matriculating in fall and winter

Northwestern (binding): 1,776 early applications, compared to 1,595 last year, +181; 618 acceptances compared to 590, +28; total anticipated class size: about 2,025

Wesleyan (binding, first of two rounds): about 500 early applications, roughly the same as last year; 237 acceptances, compared to 239 last year, -2; total anticipated class size: about 745.

Williams (binding): 541 early applications, compared to 614 last year, -73; 212 acceptances compared to 232 last year, -20;
Emma J. Fidel contributed reporting.

When Less Is More

Inside Higher Ed
September 23, 2009
For years now, applicants to highly competitive colleges have complained that they feel that they must do more and more to demonstrate why they should be admitted.

This year, following a pattern that had already taken hold among less competitive institutions (for different reasons), some institutions are asking a little less of applicants, at least when it comes to how much they have to write. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is replacing a longer essay (500 words) with several short questions of about 200 words. The University of Pennsylvania has decided to combine two essay questions about the student's fit into the institution into one, saving students maybe 200 words.

For book-writing academics, 200 words here or there may seem irrelevant. But the admissions officers behind the decisions say that they are asking for less out of the view that they may learn more about applicants by not overwhelming them with so many questions. They also said that it may be time for admissions deans to balance more carefully what they would like to know about applicants -- and the demands on applicants' time.

"At one level, within the admissions office, we constantly ask ourselves what information we would like to receive to get to know a student better.... But at another level, we need to try to put ourselves in the student's shoes, and think about how we can get the information in the most efficient manner, about being judicious with the number of questions," said Eric J. Furda, dean of admissions at Penn.

Penn made the changes in its supplement to the Common Application, Furda noted, so applicants have already answered questions there before turning to Penn's university-specific questions. He also noted that Penn has an optional student autobiographical essay, so those who want to say more have the ability to do so. But he said it was important to consider the benefits of asking for less.

For instance, he said that he believes he may learn more about applicants from very short questions than from longer essays, which many admissions officers in recent years have feared are becoming opportunities for coaching if not ghost writing.

Going short with requirements "in some ways makes it less filtered for students," Furda said. "As you are approaching the longer essay, there is this sense of creating the masterpiece, as opposed to 'they are asking me a straightforward question, let me answer it.' "

At MIT, applicants are now given short prompts (such as describing how they have used their creativity) that might have once been the basis for longer essays.

Stu Schmill, dean of admissions at MIT, said that the reason for the switch is that those reviewing applicant files found they were learning more from shorter responses than longer ones. "We have for a long time had two shorter essays on the application, and from those we got very direct, clear answers to our questions," he said.

The MIT application instructions also stress that students should not view the short prompts as setting up writing exams. "Remember that this is not a writing test. These are the places in the application where we look for your voice -- who you are, what drives you, what's important to you, what makes you tick. Be honest, be open, be real -- this is your opportunity to connect with us," it says.

A column in The Tech, MIT's student paper, backed the change, but also noted some reservations. Ethan Solomon writes that he thought the longer essay gave him a chance to truly "tell a story about myself." But he also believes that the shorter questions are less stressful.

He notes the "significantly more relaxed tone of the short essays ('Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.… This isn’t a trick question.'). From an applicant’s perspective, these kinds of questions aren’t as worrisome and probably result in much less polished responses than a long, 'Common Application' style essay. They force the student to respond directly and, at least from my experience, tend to elicit more honesty -- which is great from an admissions perspective."

In fact, the Common Application doesn't push on length. Rob Killion, executive director, said that until three years ago, the essay was described as having a maximum length of 500 words, and that it was then changed to set a minimum of 250 words. "The intent wasn't to get longer essays, but rather to clarify a minimum, and drop a maximum that most kids ignored anyway," he said.

Of the 268 Common Application members that require supplements from applicants, more require short answer questions (152) than full essays (111).

Kevin Crockett, president and CEO of Noel-Levitz, a company that consults with colleges on admissions and enrollment issues, said he's not surprised by Penn's and MIT's changes, given that many colleges that are not competitive in admissions have already cut back or even eliminated essay requirements.

With colleges that admit most students, he said, many admissions offices found that they weren't using the essays at all, or were considering them only for a minority of applicants. These colleges find value, he said, in a streamlined application that doesn't ask for more than the admissions office needs and doesn't add to the burdens of applicants.

"What you don't want to do is put requirements on everybody that you'll use only in a minority of cases," he said. Crockett noted that if colleges cut back on essay length, and then find that they want more writing from a particular applicant, they can always ask.

Despite that trend, plenty of competitive colleges aren't shortening their essay requirements. Pomona College has optional essays that it encourages applicants to consider in its supplement to the Common Application.

Bruce Poch, vice president and dean of admissions at Pomona, said that the writing the college receives from the Common Application is "more polished" than the samples in response to the college's more informal questions, such as "Although it may appear to the contrary, we do know that people have a life beyond what they do to get into college. Tell us about an experience you've had outside of your formal classroom and extracurricular activities that was just plain fun and why."

Poch said that question "has proven to be a great 'reveal' because it clearly was written more informally and likely with some haste nearer the deadlines."

Pomona receives "periodic complaints from counselors that we are asking for too much work and should just stick to the Common App, but I still see the Common App as a common core and that each college may want something more particular to their community or mission," Poch said.

And he said there can be value in asking for more. "I'd personally rather ask for a bit more and get completed applications from those who were serious enough to follow through," he said.

— Scott Jaschik

Quintessential Questions: Wake Forest’s Admission Director Gives Insight into the Interview Process

August 18, 2009

During the winter months in the Admissions Office, Fridays are dedicated to “Committee.” We gather with stacks of applications, discuss them, argue about them, eat lunch over them, plead for them, and then eventually vote as to whether or not they should be offered invitations to join our academic community.

Summer Fridays are different. With the incoming class already set and next year’s applications yet to arrive (except for the most zealous of the early decision) we have time to plan, to look ahead and to discuss the activity which consumes the bulk of our summer days—interviewing. We share insights, interview questions that have proven effective and yes, I admit, stories that are shared with us by interviewees about alien abductions the ability to communicate with animals, or details of the plot of the Transformer movie.

Since the decision to make SAT scores optional at Wake Forest, we have strongly encouraged our applicants to interview with us, either on campus, via webcam through Skype or if all else fails, through an on-line interview format. The interviews have proven invaluable as we evaluate applicants and have sometimes been so revealing that we have questioned how we ever made admissions decisions before the interview!

It’s important to note that the Admissions Officers who conduct interviews are not all the same. Some of us are fresh from the commencement line while others have just sent our own children away to college. We are musicians, historians, science geeks and bibliophiles. Some of us are the first in our families to have graduated from college. Others have descended from generations of academics. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, our faces resemble those of the community around us. It is our happy task to spend thirty minutes with prospective students and in that time to draw from them information to help us decide whether or no they are a “fit” for our institution.

Do we have a common set of questions that can be rehearsed and prepared for? No. Do we often delve into areas of current events, high school classes, reading, or extra-curricular talents? Yes. Are there expected responses that we hope each question will elicit? Absolutely not. We like to be surprised. What we hope for most of all with the interview is insight into who the applicant really is at age 17, what ideas interest her, what experiences have shaped him, what are her hopes for the future and his concerns about the present. How open is her mind, how curious is his spirit? Is there kindness and humanity somewhere in there?

We seek a class of debaters and dancers, African drummers, mathematicians, zoologists and poets. The questions that we ask of our prospective students are thus broad and provocative. “Who are you?” asked with a warm smile is often how I begin my interview. ‘How do you hope your college years will be different from high school?” “What’s the best class you’ve ever taken?” “If you had a ‘do over button’ when would you have used it?”” Do you think your life will be easier than your parents’?” “Tell me about a book that everyone should read.” “If you had a day all to yourself, how would you spend it?” “Where do you get your news and what news has been most concerning to you of late?” Depending on the student the conversation can drift into European politics, techno music, sustainability, or conflicted teenage vampires. I love the drift. Just in case I have missed something critical I always conclude with, “Is there something which you hoped I would ask you that I have not?” Well, yes, there was the alien abduction.

We are admissions officers because we love college , we love college aged people and we love conversation. We don’t expect interviewees to be professional conversationalists, or mini-50 year olds, we want to talk with fresh, edgy, interesting teenagers. Theirs is the energy that makes a college campus a crucible of ideas. Come as you are to the interview and be ready to share. That’s how the match is made.


By Martha Allman

Adding Personality to the College Admissions Mix

Wall Street Journal
August 19, 2009
For years, colleges have asked applicants for their grade-point averages and standardized test scores.
Now, schools like Boston College, DePaul University and Tufts University also want to measure prospective students' personalities.
Using recently developed evaluation systems, these schools and others are aiming to quantify so-called noncognitive traits such as leadership, resilience and creativity. Colleges say such assessments are boosting the admissions chances for some students who might not have qualified based solely on grades and traditional test scores. The noncognitive assessments also are being used to screen out students believed to be at a higher risk of dropping out, and to identify newly admitted students who might need extra tutoring.
Big nonprofits that administer standardized admissions tests, including the College Board, the Educational Testing Service and ACT Inc., are also getting in on the trend. ETS, for instance, which administers the Graduate Record Examination, or GRE, recently unveiled a "personal potential index" designed for schools that want to replace traditional letters of recommendation for prospective grad students with a standardized rating.
"There is quite a bit of demand for these [noncognitive] instruments," says David Hawkins, director of public policy for the National Association of College Admissions Counseling. Educators say the use of such assessments is likely to grow as some schools search for new tools to recruit more minority and low-income students. At the same time, budget pressures are forcing public institutions in states like California and Florida to find new tools for selecting incoming students.
Critics contend that efforts to quantify noncognitive traits are often unreliable. And, they say, as the new systems of evaluation become widespread, prospective students will figure out how to game the answers to their advantage. Some legal advocates also say the assessments could stir affirmative-action controversy if they are used solely to give a boost to minorities' admissions chances.
Many colleges have asked personality-related questions for years as part of the admissions process, but the results were seldom scored in a standardized, numerical way, says William Sedlacek, a retired University of Maryland education professor whose "noncognitive questionnaire" has been used by various colleges and by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to award scholarships. He says such assessments are reliable and that if students and counselors figure out how to manipulate them they will have to be revised. "Right now, these things are useful," Dr. Sedlacek says.
Boston's Torch Scolars
Boston's Northeastern University uses noncognitive assessment for its Torch Scholars Program, which is designed to identify applicants who show leadership potential or have overcome adversity but probably wouldn't qualify for the university based solely on their high-school grades and test scores.
Torch scholars have average SAT scores about 200 points below the typical Northeastern student, says Philomena Mantella, senior vice president of enrollment management. Still, about 90% of them stay on from their freshman to sophomore years, roughly akin to the university-wide average of 92%. Nationwide, the so-called persistence rate for freshman at four-year schools is just under 70%.
Simona Vareikaite, 20, a Northeastern junior majoring in criminal justice, said her high-school grades were good but she didn't do well on the SAT. Although she found her college's personality assessment to be "weird," it gave her a boost in the competition for the Torch scholarship. "The whole process kind of opened a new opportunity for me," says Ms. Vareikaite, who after immigrating from Lithuania started cleaning offices as an 11-year-old to help support her family.
DePaul University, in Chicago, made one noncognitive assessment part of its application process for the first time for this fall's freshman class. Jon Boeckenstedt, associate vice president of enrollment management, says it was mainly used to make decisions about students who were just over or just under DePaul's typical admission requirements.
Of the 8,500 freshman expected this year, he estimates about 150 got in because of how they answered four personality-assessment questions. But "lackadaisical responses" resulted in the rejection of about 50 applicants who were being considered for admission. Among the questions, to be answered in about 100 words each: "Describe a goal you have set for yourself and how you plan to accomplish it. How would you compare your educational interests and goals with other students in your high school?"
At Oregon State University, every would-be undergraduate must now provide 100-word answers to six questions that are part of what the school calls its "Insight Resume." One question, designed to measure applicants' capacity to deal with adversity, asks them to describe the most significant challenge they have faced and the steps they took to address it. Another asks them to describe their experiences facing or witnessing discrimination and how they responded. Every answer is reviewed by two admissions officers and scored on a 1-to-3-point scale.
Michele Sandlin, OSU's admissions director, says the university implemented the assessment in 2004 in part to help it attract and keep minority, low-income and other applicants who don't quite have the grades and test scores OSU generally looks for. Low scores on the Insight Resume aren't used to disqualify students with adequate grades and test scores, she says.
Nonprofits also are developing noncognitive evaluation systems. A "student readiness inventory" created by ACT is being used by Northern Arizona University, Chicago's Wilbur Wright College and more than two dozen other schools to identify admitted students with traits that might make them dropout risks, which could result in their getting extra help. The students are asked to respond to 108 statements and are rated by their level of agreement with items such as "I turn in my assignments on time," and "I'm a patient person."
The "personal potential index" recently unveiled by ETS has been piloted over the past three years in an Arizona State University effort to get more minority students to take the GRE and attend graduate school. Applicants are asked to identify past professors, supervisors and other recommenders. These people are sent a form asking them to rank applicants from "below average" to "truly exceptional" on items such as whether they support the efforts of others or accept feedback without getting defensive.
And the College Board, which administers the SAT, is working with researchers at Michigan State University to develop a questionnaire designed to measure applicants' judgment and behavior by asking them how they would respond to various situations, such as a group research project where one student doesn't contribute. A College Board spokeswoman says the company has not yet decided how the questionnaire would be administered or to whom.
Gaming the System
Not everyone thinks such assessments are a good idea. Relying on applicants' writing about themselves won't always result in reliable information, says Howard Gardner, a Harvard education professor and author who has studied human intelligence. "There is a real danger in [applicants] gaming questions like that," he says.
And legal-advocacy groups that have fought racial preferences in college admissions say the new assessment systems could face court challenges if white and minority students are measured differently. "They can't apply them in a discriminatory fashion or adopt them solely for the purpose of increasing minorities in their classes," says Michael Rosman, general counsel for the Center for Individual Rights. The group represented plaintiffs before the Supreme Court, which in a pair of 2003 decisions upheld the use of minority status to boost the chances of an applicant in college admissions decisions, but ruled against points-based admissions formulas and said applicants should be considered case-by-case.
By ROBERT TOMSHO

For Colleges Needing Cash, Summer’s No Longer a Quiet Season

New York Times
June 21, 2009

Time was you could hurl a Frisbee clear across a college green in summer and be assured that you would not bop anyone on the head. If not exactly a ghost town, the typical campus was strangely still from June to August, offering administrators an opportunity to regroup and recharge.

But in recent years, empty campuses have been recognized as potential cash cows, and colleges have tried to fill those once-sleepy weeks with enrichment workshops, for-credit courses, day camps, conferences, private parties and film shoots. That is especially true this summer, as financially battered schools seek to wring all the value they can from venerable halls and shiny athletic centers.

At the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Pomona, administrators offered discounts of up to 20 percent on tuition for summer courses, advertising heavily in local media. The college also reeled in two new summer camps, a general-interest day camp and a wrestling camp, that will pay for the privilege of using the facilities.

“The overall landscape now is one in which you’ve got to become leaner and meaner and more competitive, and that means trying to find more sources of revenue,” said Tim Kelly, a college spokesman. “Summer is an important piece of the puzzle.”

There is a marketing upside, too, in maintaining a busy campus in summer, administrators say. On campus tours, prospective students and their parents respond better to a vibrant environment. And a high school student who takes, say, a three-week screenwriting workshop might remember that institution when applying to college.

But while colleges may be working harder to derive revenue from campuses this summer, some are running headlong into the weakened economy. For years, Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., has held or run more than 20 athletic, cultural and academic programs and camps in summer. This year, a half-dozen have folded, citing falling enrollments.

In a usual year, Vassar would reap $400,000 to $500,000 from all the summer activity, but this year the yield will range from $300,000 to $350,000. “That’s a reality we’re all facing,” said Susan DeKrey, a college spokeswoman. “Families and individuals are looking at what they can afford to spend on extra things.”

Some colleges are using the economic downturn as a sort of muse, developing summer workshops geared specifically to downsized workers. Hofstra University on Long Island, for instance, created a class on résumé-writing and interviewing skills.

Hofstra also sought to deflect any economic impact on its sports camps by dispatching coaches, armed with brochures, to high school sporting events. “It was much more intensive this year,” Rich Guardino, vice president for business development at Hofstra, said of the marketing campaign. “We had an early-registration discount and offered some payment plans, which we haven’t done in the past.”

Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J., pitched its summer-session graduate courses to those switching fields or bolstering résumés. “We’ve emphasized our summer school a lot more as a way to catch up, get ahead, stay on track,” said Mary Anne Nagy, vice president for student services at Monmouth. “In times of recession, higher education can actually benefit because people are retooling.”

It’s working: enrollment in graduate courses has jumped 20 percent this summer over last. Summer courses are just the tip of the ivory tower at Monmouth, however. This weekend alone, the university leased parts of the campus to a bridal-wear catalog for a photo shoot, a local hospital for an annual carnival and a father-son basketball clinic.

Several outside camps, including one devoted to cheerleading and another to yearbooks, as well as the college’s own sports camps, are returning this summer. Also back is a Police Explorer training program, a boot camp for teenagers, as Ms. Nagy put it. (“The high school students in the police camp also learn that we have a criminal justice program,” she said.)

But the university is most excited about two new revenue sources. An international school nurses conference will bring more than 100 nurses in late July, from as far away as Japan, along with about $30,000 in income. And Fort Monmouth, the nearby Army post, is renting some 30 university-owned apartments for its interns, for an additional $50,000.

All told, the university expects to make $600,000 to $800,000 from outside groups this summer. “If we didn’t have that revenue, then we couldn’t do certain things and we might not be able to keep tuition down,” Ms. Nagy said.

Some colleges have layered on new programs for high school students, tapping into the interest in constructing college résumés. Purchase College in Westchester County already had visual arts and jazz institutes for teenagers, with two- and four-week sessions. It now boasts several more: programs in photography, filmmaking, journalism, theater and Shakespeare.

“Any college worth its salt is constantly looking for new program development,” said Christine L. Persico, dean of the School of Liberal Studies and Continuing Education. “But the need for revenue is greater than ever, so the pressure might be a little bit more.”

Four years ago, Sarah Lawrence College in Westchester received orders from its board of trustees to make more hay of summer. Like Purchase College, it created workshops for high school students. But being residential in nature, the three-week programs have attracted teenagers from around the country for instruction in writing, visual arts and screenwriting.

One, called Summer in the City, involves faculty-led excursions to New York City, with the focus on history one week, scientific research the next and architecture the third. “We’re in the third year of most of them, and from the first year to the second we doubled,” said Micheal W. Rengers, the college’s vice president for operations. “This year we’re holding our own.”

As Sarah Lawrence waits for the economy to rebound, administrators are grateful when something falls from the sky, as happened recently when a new sports camp was looking for a venue. “We’ll make just around $50,000,” Mr. Rengers said of the deal for a six-week session.

The single biggest tenant at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., is a seven-week sports camp that pays more than $300,000. But the other uses — a summer institute for gifted children, an adult theater camp, a music festival and a swim program — add up. It certainly did not hurt that last week HBO shot scenes for a Martin Scorsese series in the college’s signature 1888 building, Reid Castle. (Ka-ching: $25,000.)

“If you add up all our summer programs, it’s probably in the $750,000 range,” said Greg Palmer, the college’s vice president of operations. “It’s not an incredible amount of money, and I’m sure a lot of bigger colleges do a lot more. But our endowment has taken a hit like most schools’, and for us it’s very important.”

By LISA W. FODERARO

A New Factor In Making That College: Loving It

Boston Globe
March 15, 2009

Like wary suitors, colleges are searching for signs of commitment from applicants before they extend admissions offers, hoping to find out whether their affection is mutual.
In the increasingly tense courtship of college admissions, more selective schools are smiling upon high school students who show sincere interest in attending, closely tracking such things as whether they visited campus, responded to recruiting messages, or even joined an online chat with an admissions officer.
"You're going to want those students who also want you," said Gil Villanueva, dean of admissions at Brandeis University. "Everything else being equal, between a student you know and a student you don't, you will go with the known commodity."
Villanueva, like many admissions officers, said keen enthusiasm for a school is no guarantee but can sometimes tip the balance in students' favor.
The growing importance of "demonstrated interest" is the product of a number of overlapping factors. High school students are applying to a greater number of colleges to better their odds of acceptance, which has made it harder for colleges to estimate how many actually plan to come. This year, the financial downturn and the credit crunch have further complicated the process, with families expected to base their decisions more on cost.
Amid such unpredictability, students who seem excited at the prospect of arriving on campus in the fall are in high demand, admissions officers say. In an ironic twist, the volatile nature of admissions has given students a measure of control over the process.
In its annual survey of admissions trends, the National Association for College Admission Counseling found that 22 percent of colleges gave interest "considerable importance" in admissions, up from 7 percent in 2003. Another 30 percent of schools rated it as moderately important.
In terms of influence, it outranked such admissions standbys as counselor and teacher recommendations, interviews, and extracurriculars, and was narrowly behind class rank and personal essays.
"We track every single contact we have with students," said Kelly Walter, executive director of the admissions office at Boston University.
Parents and applicants take note: Walter and other college officials said they do not hold it against students who cannot afford to visit campus, particularly in the slumping economy. There are many other ways students can let colleges know they are among their top choices, including attending a college fair or reception in their hometown. Even better, they said, is introducing themselves to an admissions officer and striking up a conversation.
"I remember," Walter said, speaking of such chats.
Admitting more students who truly want to be there, college officials say, creates an energetic and close-knit culture on campus. And by producing loyal alumni with soft spots for their colleges, it also pays long-range dividends in fund-raising.Continued...
Giving preference to students whose interest seems genuine also helps colleges boost their image. By targeting students who are more likely to attend, they can admit a smaller percentage and still fill out their freshman class, making them appear more selective and more desirable.
Families have caught on to the new approach. John Mahoney, director of undergraduate admissions at Boston College, said parents who visit the campus often scan the premises for the sign-up sheet that will let them make their presence known.
"We tell them we're not tracking that," he said. "But they want to make sure they let us know they were there."
Mahoney said BC does not consider student interest and said he suspects some students feign interest to boost their odds.
"Students are being conditioned to express interest, but if they are doing so at 16 Northeastern schools, how good of a barometer is it?"
But some say that students who cultivate relationships with schools - through the delicate art of admissions flirting - gain a much better chance of winning their hearts.
"It's almost like a dating game," said Phil Meisner, founder of CAPS, the College Application Processing Service, in Washington. "No one wants to commit, but everyone's looking for a signal. Why shouldn't students be able to let colleges know they want to go?"
College officials say students rarely go overboard in their self-marketing campaigns, although they fear more will as the practice becomes more prevalent. Others worry that judging students by expressions of interest could unfairly help wealthier students whose parents and counselors know the system's subtleties and how to exploit them.
"We don't want to penalize students who don't know that 14,000 contacts with an admissions officer could tip the balance," said Gail Berson, dean of admission at Wheaton College in Norton.
This spring, a student whom Berson met at a New York City high school has become a "steady pen pal," even sending her copies of his latest short stories. His persistence convinced Berson he would attend, and his writing ability convinced her he should be admitted, despite a so-so academic record.
Alex Michel, a senior from Weston, said she knew that Wheaton was her top choice as soon as she visited the campus, and she immediately made her intentions known. She visited campus several times, including an overnight stay with students, and e-mailed admissions officers with questions. In December, she was accepted, and now she chats on Facebook with her eventual classmates.
"I know colleges are looking for students who are enthusiastic," she said. "When I visited campus, I always made sure the admissions office knew I was there."
By Peter Schworm