In the last few weeks, I attended and presented at both the NJ and NY Association of College Admission Counseling conferences where I spoke to lots of colleagues and friends about the admissions process. One consistent theme that emerged is that while the inputs from students are similar (classes, grades, sometimes APs and scores, sometimes essays and recommendations), the way colleges consider them is vastly different. Understanding this might be one of the biggest misunderstandings in the national conversation about admissions. We’ve all seen the stories of the student with the seemingly high GPA getting rejected from multiple schools. We’ve probably even clicked the clickbait and empathized with that student. The problem is that this narrative is just wrong.
There is no such thing as “a GPA.”
What is a good college?
We need to have a serious discussion about what we call a “good college.” Having recently gone through the college application process with my oldest child—and now starting it again with my youngest—I’ve been thinking a lot about choosing a college and what makes a good college. We need to reconsider the better define what and who gets to define a best, top, good, or (god-forbid) elite colleges. Who can we trust to tell us which colleges are best? How should a family define what makes a college “best”? Is it the educational experience, rankings, social life, brand/reputation, cost, or something else entirely?
Let’s explore this …
College Sports and College Search
So your kid is great at a sport and wants to play at the next level. Great. That’s awesome! We all want our children to do what they love for as long as they can. Supporting them is the role of the parent and extends beyond all the miles we put on our cars driving to stuff and the money we spend signing them up for stuff. Since the Operation Varsity Blues scandal, I’ve learned more about the interaction of sports and college admission. This blog (and others) should help give you some guidance about navigating that interaction. I’ve also only really paid attention to basketball, so this is focused on that. Other big sports, like football and volleyball, probably have similar patterns and ideas though different specifics. Smaller sports I’m much less sure about, so as you read this, think of it as a rough guide and list of resources not the gospel or unassailable truth.
Continue reading “College Sports and College Search”HBCU vs HRC: The value of culture
This past week I was talking to a family about college admission and we had a brief venture into the never-ending PWI (predominantly white institution) vs HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) debate. I wanted to bring a few thoughts (really one particular comparison point) about that to the blog . . . so here we are. Let’s go . . .
Continue reading “HBCU vs HRC: The value of culture”The NY Times Doesn’t Cover College
What’s Kanye wearing? What’s El*n driving? What’s Besos buying?
If you believe the answers to these questions are relevant to your life then the New York Times might be the best paper for you to learn about the college process. If you pattern your life choices after what a billionaire or celebrity does, if you think that brand is all that matters in college admission, the NYT is for you. If not, then you should probably never bother to read it about college admission or at least read it with a careful and critical eye. This is because I’ve been forced to conclude that the NYT doesn’t write about college, it writes about a few highly rejective colleges. Yes, I said that intentionally…a few.
But let me rant less and demonstrate more.
Ben Simmons and Educational Testing
In a recent interview with Dr. Rawls-Dill, he mentioned Ben Simmons and an example of how what’s measured and who’s evaluating matters in determining success and quality. This really resonated with me and fine-tuned a sports analogy I’ve been making for years. Ben Simmons’s saga is the perfect example of how we’ve let standardized testing define students ability/aptitude/potential.
Continue reading “Ben Simmons and Educational Testing”Are Changes Coming to College Admissions?
We know it doesn’t feel like it, but it’s been less than 6 months since the Justice Department announced the indictments resulting from Operation Varsity Blues, so it’s no surprise that few universities have announced any substantial policy changes in their admissions procedures. If most big institutions move slowly, universities look at them and wonder, “What’s the big rush there?” There are still committees to be convened in order to create sub-committees that can issue memos that can be circulated in order to be approved as official reports by committees who can then move items forward for approval by the faculty and/or Board of Trustees. In other words, don’t expect big changes in how colleges admit students anytime soon.
Continue reading “Are Changes Coming to College Admissions?”
Bellowings 