Day two began with a session of college admissions personnel who gave me the "behind-the-scenes" look at holistic admissions practices. Holistic admission process seeks to look at the whole student, not just the GPA, test scores, and rigor of schedule. Of course, these three are still a part of the consideration, but other factors- essays, recommendations, resume, and demonstrated interest that the student has shown the college, are also taken into the equation. I am including two slides from this presentation that will allow you to get a glimpse of what colleges across the whole nation consider important when they are evaluating a whole application.
What Factors Weigh in Most Heavily on a College Application
Trends In What Colleges Deem Important In Admissions Decisions
The most resounding thing that was shared at this presentation is the power of authentic, relevant essays. "Application essays are the virtual handshake of introduction to who you are to an admissions professional at a college." This point was well made by an admissions counselor from University of Southern California, Rakin Hall. He also went on to say that many students short-change the essay and place way too much faith in their resume. Often the resume contains more than it needs to. The resume should focus on those activities that are meaningful. Essays should be written out of life experiences that the student has had. Struggles, triumphs, hopes, learning experiences all make for compelling reading that allows students to reveal their nature and character to the person who will evaluate their application. In holistic admissions, this is vital for helping the college to determine if there seems to be a good fit between who the student is and what the college is looking for.
One of the terms in the slides above, "demonstrated interest," refers to the amount of interest the student has shown in the college. It can range from a very basic act of simply reading through the college's website all the way to a campus visit. These are called "touches." There are many touches that a student can make in between as well- emailing the admissions counselor who handles our state or region, a phone call that the STUDENT makes to the admission counselor, or a visit at a local college fair. One of the best ways that a student can demonstrate interest is by understanding the nuances of what the college specializes in, how it works with students, or what they deem important in an incoming freshman and incorporating this understanding into the essays where meaningful discussion of how he or she fits into what the college espouses as important. Suffice it to say that the student should, at the very least, read and become familiar with the school's admissions website.
Holistic admissions is hard work. I had the opportunity to pretend to be an admissions counselor today and was given three mock applications to evaluate to determine if the applicant was denied, wait-listed or accepted. These applications represented three very different students. Some of them had very good academic credentials, and others had characteristics like being a first-generation college student with an amazing work ethic or a very compelling story to tell in the essays. I had to work with a group, and we had to vote. I was astounded to see the difference of opinions from our group and how difficult it was for us to agree on which one to accept, which one to wait-list and which one to deny. Holistic admissions demands a great deal of documentation that the student has to put together, but it is used to help determine the best fit between student and college.
The last session I attended was on new movements in financial aid. The Federal Government is "inviting" colleges and universities to voluntarily adopt a new financial aid letter that will be mailed home by the Office of Financial Aid at the schools your student has applied after the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is completed. To date, over 300 colleges nation-wide have accepted that invitation. The goal of this is to make the dollar figures of what it will cost your family for your student to attend much more clear. There has been a lot of confusion over the years. Also, colleges have to report the number of students who complete a bachelors degree in 6 years or less, the average student debt load of graduates, and the amount of defaults on student loans upon graduating. This information will allow you (as the parent and the student) to know if the college is serious about helping students to complete a degree or if they are interested in holding a student captive to get more and more tuition. As for the average amount of debit, this is important because we want the chances of lower student debt to be more probable with any college experience. This form is going to be called a Shopping List. It will allow a student and parent to actually compare apples to apples when deciding the actual out-of-pocket cost of attendance per year between multiple colleges that the student might be deciding between.
It is late, and I am thankful for another day of learning. I truly believe that this conference is so worthwhile. I will blog again tomorrow, Titan Nation. Have a great day tomorrow.
Mike Kulp
