Should admissions be more transparent?
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Anonymous
And great commentary here from a responder on Reddit (the applicant was Hispanic): "OP - really strong accomplishments & academics. Would be great if you copy this to r/collegeresults so others can find it and use it as a point of reference. This is the modern college admissions game - I suspect you are the oldest in your family, and there was minimal admissions counseling (no hired admissions counselor and high school didn't provide strong guidance counseling). Few specific points of feedback Two instruments + Sports is a really tough path for admissions for a STEM major. They take so much time but don't have high admissions value. My oldest kid also did this (and also guitar + piano) with mixed admissions results (didn't get into top 3 choices, but did end up with two T20 accepts) AOs may actually downgrade you for so many different clubs and being "Spanish Club" officer as it looks like a gimmick (listen to podcasts, they talk about this stuff). AOs would much rather see a crisp theme. Two biggest in-school positions are Student Council President and Newspaper Editor-in-Chief. Harvard really focuses on these according to survey results of the Crimson (like 20-30% of Harvard students were council pres). If you could go back 4 years with 20/20 hindsight, taking that route for demonstrating leadership might have helped. Best resource ever for admissions planning - profiles of previous graduates from your specific high school who were accepted at top colleges. Use linkedin, athlete bios on college websites, Scoir/Naviance, google searches, etc to piece together these profiles. I didn't do this for my oldest kid (again, mixed admissions results) but did utilize it heavily for my youngest kid and I think their profile will be stronger when they apply next year" ---- " Remember this is about playing the college admissions game and choosing higher impact or less common outlets to embrace culture would be advantageous. Mariachi would have been a natural fit (my kids did this and apart from the early morning practice time it was great). Social justice themes also seem to have more traction with AOs" |
Anonymous
CA students have access to tons of data and it solves nothing in the admissions process. The opacity is driven by the ratio of applicants to seats at the schools I presume you are interested in. |
Anonymous
| It’s interesting reading that profile a year out, my unhooked kid was probably a bit in this direction, but actually did have good results. I see now how less could have been more. |
Anonymous
| Nope. You’re not entitled to jack shit in this process. |
Anonymous
| UK universities are quite transparent about why you're rejected. |
Anonymous
| There are, in fact, algorithms. They are proprietary trade secrets of businesses in the enrollment management industry. |
Anonymous
This. They are for profit businesses. You could argue that state institutions need a transparent and purely numeric process akin to Texas offering admissions to top students automatically etc. But that's about it. |
Anonymous
| Colleges just got a lot of funding cutes. Who is going to pay for the extra logistics of all this? Good grief. |
Anonymous
| What will you do after the vaults are opened and it turns out the admissions offices actually followed all the rules? |
Anonymous
| I don’t even think if the vault opened it would help that much, the vault is ever changing based on institutional priorities. |
Anonymous
How about this kid? This is the AI start up kid who was in the news for all his rejections. I too was surprised until I read his personal statement and then it totally made sense. https://x.com/zach_yadegari/status/1906888487292559531?s=46&t=z1v7bHHAEs1ipTUHXBOyQA |
Anonymous
| I don't see the point. It'd be like wanting to see all data from every interview for jobs you didn't get. I'd have no desire. Focus on the positives. You got in somewhere, hopefully somewhere you like! |
Anonymous
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I disagree. The way colleges conduct admissions adversely affects mental health and diminishes high school learning.
Their practices may or may not be legal. Their practices if revealed may hurt their brand. I don’t think these are good reasons to allow them to hide their practices from the public they serve. Colleges are non profit not profit businesses. Colleges receive substantial state and or federal funding which comes from tax payers. They aren’t even self sustaining non profits. Colleges also market widely and collect sizable application fees. |
Anonymous
What was in the personal statement??? |
Anonymous
| Yea, I think parents will be upset if the "vaults" are opened and everyone's personal essays, family finances, etc become public. |