Revamping the College Application Process

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Under this process, who gets in wouldn’t have under the current process who gets rejected that wouldn’t have under the current process?

This process is about reducing the total number of applications so that more students are accepted to their top choice schools. It is also about helping public schools better predict their incoming class by getting early commitments, so that they can make more offers to out-of-state students (rather than deferring).

So the answer is “none” which means it helps no one.

How about a system where people apply anywhere they want and colleges admit whoever they want?

[Anonymous]

This seems absolutely convoluted and ridiculously confusing. I agree with the PP ^^.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of us who don't have an in-state option, what do you suggest?

DC does have a "state" option. The University of the District of Columbia.

Whether your student chooses to pursue UDC or not, they should know about the school. It has a history rooted in the struggle against segregation and the pursuit of Home Rule.

https://www.udc.edu/about/history-mission/

Public higher education in the District is rooted in the school for “colored girls” that Myrtilla Miner founded in 1851 in Washington, D.C., which came to be called the Miner Normal School. Washington Normal School, a school for white girls established in 1873, was renamed Wilson Normal School in 1913, after James O. Wilson, Washington’s first superintendent of public schools. In 1929, Congress enacted a statute that converted both normal schools into four-year teachers colleges. For several years, Miner Teachers College and Wilson Teachers College were the only institutions of public higher education in the city. After the landmark U.S. Supreme Court school desegregation decision, Brown v. Board of Education (U.S. 1954), the two colleges merged in 1955 to form the District of Columbia Teachers College. Over the next decade, D.C. residents petitioned for an expansion of higher education that would provide training for careers other than teaching. In 1966, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Public Education Act, which established Federal City College and Washington Technical Institute.

Although these schools were still very new, many Washingtonians continued to advocate for a comprehensive university. The City Council authorized the consolidation of the three schools, and in 1976, began the monumental task of creating a new University of the District of Columbia. In 1977, under President Carter’s leadership, UDC began consolidating its academic programs. These efforts culminated in the establishment of five colleges: Business and Public Management; Education and Human Ecology; Liberal and Fine Arts; Life Sciences; Physical Science, Engineering, and Technology; and University College and Continuing Education.

UDC continues to transform itself over time to meet the changing needs of its students and the community. The University currently offers 81 undergraduate and graduate academic degree programs through the following colleges and schools: College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES); College of Arts and Sciences (CAS); School of Business and Public Administration (SBPA); School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS); the Community College and David A. Clarke School of Law.

[Anonymous]

Op system too confusing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like it but it seems to me that DC residents should be able to pick a state for Stage 1 and be treated like an in-state resident.

For families with taxable annual income below $1,251,660 the DCTAG program pays the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition, up to $10,000 annually at public colleges and up to $2,500 at private colleges in DC and private HBCUs, nationwide.

As a DC resident, I think DCTAG makes more sense than picking a state but then paying out-of-state tuition if you get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry in advance for the long post - I’ve spent too much time thinking about this in the car.

It’s apparent that for many reasons, the college application process has become untenable. There is too much uncertainty for both families and schools, which has led to a spiral of increasing applications, which has in turn increased the uncertainty. I think breaking down the application process into a few more discrete stages with specific constraints on each stage could help streamline the process and get students matched more efficiently to good fit schools.

Stage 1 - In-state Public best-fit offer (Sept 15 apply, Oct 15 notification)
-- By Sept 15, students submit full academic record only: Student Reported Academic Record (SRAR), Test Scores (AP/IB, SAT, ACT) as desired
-- Students indicate academic major/areas of interest
-- Students rank all of the state schools from 1st to last choice, including community colleges.
-- Colleges review students in rounds by order of student preference. The schools see all students who listed them 1st choice and make one of these decisions:
----- Decline (not an academic fit)
----- Defer to Stage 2 (traditional early action with full application)
----- Admit to school, defer to Stage 2 for limited enrollment program
----- Admit to school and major
-- All students who did not receive an “admit to school and major” then go to the next round of 2nd choices, 3rd choices, etc.
-- Applications are automatically withdrawn from all schools ranked lower than “admit to school and major”.
-- Schools can be required to admit a minimum % of target student body this round (e.g. 10%)
-- Students can be incentivized with a tuition discount (e.g. $3000) to commit by Nov 1. (Many kids have an in-state school as their 1st choice. If they get accepted, encourage them to commit to provide certainty for the school as they build the class.)

Stage 2 - Early Decision 1 (private)/Early Action 1 (public) (Nov 1 apply, Dec 15 notification)
-- By Nov 1, students complete their full application including ECs and Essays. This goes to the in-state public schools who deferred to stage 2 and the admit school (for review for merit/honors college etc.)
-- In-state schools continue to review and make one of these decisions.
----- Decline
----- Admit to school, not admitted to LEP major
----- Admit to school and major.
-- Students may choose one private school to apply Early Decision 1. (normal process)
-- Students rank out-of-state public schools that they are interested in, up to 5 schools.
-- Out-of-state schools see all applications. They also see who ranked them as 1st choice (but not the rest of the rankings). Possible decisions:
----- Decline
----- Defer to Stage 4 regular decision (with request for mid-year transcript)
----- Admit to school, not admitted to LEP major
----- Admit to school and major.
-- Both out-of-state and in-state schools could incentivize students to commit by Jan 1 with a tuition discount. (e.g. $2000)

Stage 3 - Early Decision 2 (private)/Early Action 2 (public) (Jan 1 apply, Feb 15 notification)
OR Regular Decision (public & private) (Jan 1 apply, notification by school selected date)
-- Repeat the Stage 2 process for students trying ED2 or EA2.
-- Otherwise, students apply regular decision to any public or private school.

Stage 4 - Regular decision (public & private) (Feb 28 application deadline, rolling notification by April 1, beginning by school selected date)
-- This is for students who applied ED2 or EA2 and allows them to still submit applications for regular decision. However, they may be behind other students in review.


The most important change IMO would be to implement Stage 1, which could be done at the state level independently of other states. If students knew early on what their best-fit was in-state, it would set more realistic expectations for the rest of the application process. Obviously, there are a lot of details and tweaks that can be made to this suggestion, but what do you think about the general idea?

Is there an executive summary somewhere?

[Anonymous]

OP, thanks for sharing. Things don't change if we don't start talking about them.

From recent interactions with admissions, the record levels of applications is overwhelming, inefficient, encourages more side doors, and actually works against initiatives to include more FG/LI students.

Single-digit acceptance rates scare off potentially good matches and attracts highly privileged applicants of varying student quality and insincere or desperate applications that clog what used to be a holistic system.

The current system of applying to as many schools as you can thanks to the internet creates artificial demand and forces panic applications.

This is kind of what happened with DC public and charter school lotteries before the coordinated application with rankings.

At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised to see colleges implement a lottery system just to apply.

Something's gotta give.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of us who don't have an in-state option, what do you suggest?

DC does have a "state" option. The University of the District of Columbia.

Whether your student chooses to pursue UDC or not, they should know about the school. It has a history rooted in the struggle against segregation and the pursuit of Home Rule.

https://www.udc.edu/about/history-mission/

Public higher education in the District is rooted in the school for “colored girls” that Myrtilla Miner founded in 1851 in Washington, D.C., which came to be called the Miner Normal School. Washington Normal School, a school for white girls established in 1873, was renamed Wilson Normal School in 1913, after James O. Wilson, Washington’s first superintendent of public schools. In 1929, Congress enacted a statute that converted both normal schools into four-year teachers colleges. For several years, Miner Teachers College and Wilson Teachers College were the only institutions of public higher education in the city. After the landmark U.S. Supreme Court school desegregation decision, Brown v. Board of Education (U.S. 1954), the two colleges merged in 1955 to form the District of Columbia Teachers College. Over the next decade, D.C. residents petitioned for an expansion of higher education that would provide training for careers other than teaching. In 1966, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Public Education Act, which established Federal City College and Washington Technical Institute.

Although these schools were still very new, many Washingtonians continued to advocate for a comprehensive university. The City Council authorized the consolidation of the three schools, and in 1976, began the monumental task of creating a new University of the District of Columbia. In 1977, under President Carter’s leadership, UDC began consolidating its academic programs. These efforts culminated in the establishment of five colleges: Business and Public Management; Education and Human Ecology; Liberal and Fine Arts; Life Sciences; Physical Science, Engineering, and Technology; and University College and Continuing Education.

UDC continues to transform itself over time to meet the changing needs of its students and the community. The University currently offers 81 undergraduate and graduate academic degree programs through the following colleges and schools: College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES); College of Arts and Sciences (CAS); School of Business and Public Administration (SBPA); School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS); the Community College and David A. Clarke School of Law.

UDC has open enrollment, so #1 still doesn’t count in DC. It’s also a commuter school with pretty low graduation rates, and the community college has had accreditation issues. I doubt any state system compares.

[Anonymous]

So kids need to decide on their instate options before they can even apply to private schools?