Should admissions be more transparent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember about 10 years ago there was a big kerfluffle when UC students found out they could see their application file. Universities fought this in court but lost due to Ferpa. In subsequent years universities stopped keeping the notes.

A bunch of kids reported being shocked and relieved they got in because the readers misrepresented their GPA, labeled top things average etc. many also noticed the time stamps. 8 minutes on the first reader, 2 minutes on the second etc. The lack of time spent on the application was eye opening as well as the errors. These were kids that were accepted.

It made me wonder whether the UCs care at all and that the whole holistic review is performative theater. The UCs only cares that an admit meets a bar that will graduate, sprinkle in a few shining stars and the rest is solely demographic , financial and geographic.

8 minutes is an average timespan for reviewing an admissions file. 2 minutes could be completely fine if there's certain things they need to look at (e.g. a gap in coursework). They get 100,000 applications, they can't spend an infinite amount of time reviewing the file.

They have algorithms and point systems that is also shown in the Harvard case.
As you said they get 50K-100K apps, there's no other way.
Tax paying public should have the information.

Maybe the tax paying public should bug off. They're currently stripping funding from a lot of these institutions and making life in academia miserable, because they want to fund their culture projects on the southern border. Maybe universities should start monetizing their healthcare and community services. Good luck with your next disease when the universities decide to charge you up the a$$ for using their services.

The American public is filled with absolute idiots.

+1, a generation of selfish brats. Your tax dollars hardly go to universities.

LOL what a contradiction

"stripping funding from a lot of these institutions and making life in academia miserable"

vs

"Your tax dollars hardly go to universities"

Take your pick idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember about 10 years ago there was a big kerfluffle when UC students found out they could see their application file. Universities fought this in court but lost due to Ferpa. In subsequent years universities stopped keeping the notes.

A bunch of kids reported being shocked and relieved they got in because the readers misrepresented their GPA, labeled top things average etc. many also noticed the time stamps. 8 minutes on the first reader, 2 minutes on the second etc. The lack of time spent on the application was eye opening as well as the errors. These were kids that were accepted.

It made me wonder whether the UCs care at all and that the whole holistic review is performative theater. The UCs only cares that an admit meets a bar that will graduate, sprinkle in a few shining stars and the rest is solely demographic , financial and geographic.

8 minutes is an average timespan for reviewing an admissions file. 2 minutes could be completely fine if there's certain things they need to look at (e.g. a gap in coursework). They get 100,000 applications, they can't spend an infinite amount of time reviewing the file.

They have algorithms and point systems that is also shown in the Harvard case.
As you said they get 50K-100K apps, there's no other way.
Tax paying public should have the information.

Maybe the tax paying public should bug off. They're currently stripping funding from a lot of these institutions and making life in academia miserable, because they want to fund their culture projects on the southern border. Maybe universities should start monetizing their healthcare and community services. Good luck with your next disease when the universities decide to charge you up the a$$ for using their services.

The American public is filled with absolute idiots.

+1, a generation of selfish brats. Your tax dollars hardly go to universities.

LOL what a contradiction

"stripping funding from a lot of these institutions and making life in academia miserable"

vs

"Your tax dollars hardly go to universities"

Take your pick idiot.

No, you just lack reading comprehension. Very few of your dollars go to education, at all.
How much money do you think we have? Why do you think we have the money for a golden space defense dome, a border wall, and immigration services? We're rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember about 10 years ago there was a big kerfluffle when UC students found out they could see their application file. Universities fought this in court but lost due to Ferpa. In subsequent years universities stopped keeping the notes.

A bunch of kids reported being shocked and relieved they got in because the readers misrepresented their GPA, labeled top things average etc. many also noticed the time stamps. 8 minutes on the first reader, 2 minutes on the second etc. The lack of time spent on the application was eye opening as well as the errors. These were kids that were accepted.

It made me wonder whether the UCs care at all and that the whole holistic review is performative theater. The UCs only cares that an admit meets a bar that will graduate, sprinkle in a few shining stars and the rest is solely demographic , financial and geographic.

8 minutes is an average timespan for reviewing an admissions file. 2 minutes could be completely fine if there's certain things they need to look at (e.g. a gap in coursework). They get 100,000 applications, they can't spend an infinite amount of time reviewing the file.

They have algorithms and point systems that is also shown in the Harvard case.
As you said they get 50K-100K apps, there's no other way.
Tax paying public should have the information.

Maybe the tax paying public should bug off. They're currently stripping funding from a lot of these institutions and making life in academia miserable, because they want to fund their culture projects on the southern border. Maybe universities should start monetizing their healthcare and community services. Good luck with your next disease when the universities decide to charge you up the a$$ for using their services.

The American public is filled with absolute idiots.

WTF college admission should be secrecy.
There are 3000+ 4 year colleges in the US.
Fund can go to the good schools.

If you you choose to keep your secrecy, then do that with your own funding.

We spend tax money giving your corporation PPE loans and various subsidies. We should be able to monitor your computer and have access to all your data, thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember about 10 years ago there was a big kerfluffle when UC students found out they could see their application file. Universities fought this in court but lost due to Ferpa. In subsequent years universities stopped keeping the notes.

A bunch of kids reported being shocked and relieved they got in because the readers misrepresented their GPA, labeled top things average etc. many also noticed the time stamps. 8 minutes on the first reader, 2 minutes on the second etc. The lack of time spent on the application was eye opening as well as the errors. These were kids that were accepted.

It made me wonder whether the UCs care at all and that the whole holistic review is performative theater. The UCs only cares that an admit meets a bar that will graduate, sprinkle in a few shining stars and the rest is solely demographic , financial and geographic.

8 minutes is an average timespan for reviewing an admissions file. 2 minutes could be completely fine if there's certain things they need to look at (e.g. a gap in coursework). They get 100,000 applications, they can't spend an infinite amount of time reviewing the file.

They have algorithms and point systems that is also shown in the Harvard case.
As you said they get 50K-100K apps, there's no other way.
Tax paying public should have the information.

Maybe the tax paying public should bug off. They're currently stripping funding from a lot of these institutions and making life in academia miserable, because they want to fund their culture projects on the southern border. Maybe universities should start monetizing their healthcare and community services. Good luck with your next disease when the universities decide to charge you up the a$$ for using their services.

The American public is filled with absolute idiots.

+1, a generation of selfish brats. Your tax dollars hardly go to universities.

LOL what a contradiction

"stripping funding from a lot of these institutions and making life in academia miserable"

vs

"Your tax dollars hardly go to universities"

Take your pick idiot.

DP. I am fine with tax dollars going towards scientific research at universities. You'd have to be an idiot not to prioritize a nation's research arm. Some of you seem to think the only point of colleges is producing undergrad degrees. Undergrad education is very important, but it's a small fraction of the things universities do to benefit society. Of course, the self-absorbed parents who believe their snowflakes deserve entry into selective colleges wouldn't understand this. Sadly, these parents are the ones creating the very ultra-competitive situation that they then despise and blame others for.

[Anonymous]

We tell applicants every year why they get rejected. There’s a lot of other applicants, the applicant pool was strong, and your application wasn’t at the top. Learning to take no for an answer is an important skill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember about 10 years ago there was a big kerfluffle when UC students found out they could see their application file. Universities fought this in court but lost due to Ferpa. In subsequent years universities stopped keeping the notes.

A bunch of kids reported being shocked and relieved they got in because the readers misrepresented their GPA, labeled top things average etc. many also noticed the time stamps. 8 minutes on the first reader, 2 minutes on the second etc. The lack of time spent on the application was eye opening as well as the errors. These were kids that were accepted.

It made me wonder whether the UCs care at all and that the whole holistic review is performative theater. The UCs only cares that an admit meets a bar that will graduate, sprinkle in a few shining stars and the rest is solely demographic , financial and geographic.

8 minutes is an average timespan for reviewing an admissions file. 2 minutes could be completely fine if there's certain things they need to look at (e.g. a gap in coursework). They get 100,000 applications, they can't spend an infinite amount of time reviewing the file.

They have algorithms and point systems that is also shown in the Harvard case.
As you said they get 50K-100K apps, there's no other way.
Tax paying public should have the information.

Maybe the tax paying public should bug off. They're currently stripping funding from a lot of these institutions and making life in academia miserable, because they want to fund their culture projects on the southern border. Maybe universities should start monetizing their healthcare and community services. Good luck with your next disease when the universities decide to charge you up the a$$ for using their services.

The American public is filled with absolute idiots.

+1, a generation of selfish brats. Your tax dollars hardly go to universities.

LOL what a contradiction

"stripping funding from a lot of these institutions and making life in academia miserable"

vs

"Your tax dollars hardly go to universities"

Take your pick idiot.

DP. I am fine with tax dollars going towards scientific research at universities. You'd have to be an idiot not to prioritize a nation's research arm. Some of you seem to think the only point of colleges is producing undergrad degrees. Undergrad education is very important, but it's a small fraction of the things universities do to benefit society. Of course, the self-absorbed parents who believe their snowflakes deserve entry into selective colleges wouldn't understand this. Sadly, these parents are the ones creating the very ultra-competitive situation that they then despise and blame others for.

There are 3000+ schools. Colleges get to have freedom to choose. If you they want to do whatever they want with their own funding, then that's fine. Education system is the backbone of the society, it should start with fairness and transparency.
There has been history of discriminaiton Jews, Asisna, etc. It's not too much to ask at all unless you have some kind of Slavery mentality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We tell applicants every year why they get rejected. There’s a lot of other applicants, the applicant pool was strong, and your application wasn’t at the top. Learning to take no for an answer is an important skill.

This.
Sorry mom, your kid isn’t that special.
Special is what gets you in.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, in my area this year the top schools pulled from private school. My kid and her friends from public all go to state flagship after deferred. Private school still has movement from waiting list with “change of plans” announcements. These kids are not smarter but better pedigree. It is what it is.

[Anonymous]

The info is out there is you want to look for it. Someone compiled the scoring rubrics for certain colleges and put them here last year.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1224166.page

[Anonymous]

My kid IS special and unique. To me. In our house. Not in the context of the big world out there. Not even in the context of our larger extended family. There are lots and lots of smart, accomplished kids out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, in my area this year the top schools pulled from private school. My kid and her friends from public all go to state flagship after deferred. Private school still has movement from waiting list with “change of plans” announcements. These kids are not smarter but better pedigree. It is what it is.

If you’d learned, you would know the privates ALWAYS get the WL calls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We tell applicants every year why they get rejected. There’s a lot of other applicants, the applicant pool was strong, and your application wasn’t at the top. Learning to take no for an answer is an important skill.

That doesn’t help current juniors choose which schools to put on their college list. The “advice” seems to be, “apply to as many schools as humanly possible, because you have no right to get into any, no matter how well you did in high school! And there’s no way to predict in advance which might accept you!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

May I recommend moving to China? College admissions there are dependent on the Gaokao exam, which is an objective alternative to holistic admissions. But you'll have to deal the extreme stress of a single make-or-break examination and a pedagogy that focuses solely on test preparation.

There a hundreds of excellent universities and colleges in America accessible to all students. Nobody has any right to admission to the 50 or so most selective ones. I happen to work for public R-1 university that has straight-forward admissions--if you graduate with a certain GPA, you're in. We're ranked in the top 200 and provide a great education for a good value. There are several other universities just like us. But the issue isn't simply getting a good education, it's that people feel entitled to go to the most selective schools. The crux of the problem is that they complain about the the very selectivity that they simultaneously crave.

This is the most sensible and insightful post. It describes the agitator of this thread perfectly. We have such a great range of schools here in the US, some with by the numbers admissions, some with more holistic admissions, and a vast range of selectivity. All of this avoids the test-grind pedagogy that some other countries suffer from, and as a consequence I would argue that while no admissions system is perfect, our college and graduate education system works better at promoting innovation, which is why international students want to study here. Or at least they used to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We tell applicants every year why they get rejected. There’s a lot of other applicants, the applicant pool was strong, and your application wasn’t at the top. Learning to take no for an answer is an important skill.

That doesn’t help current juniors choose which schools to put on their college list. The “advice” seems to be, “apply to as many schools as humanly possible, because you have no right to get into any, no matter how well you did in high school! And there’s no way to predict in advance which might accept you!”

The advice is to apply to 2 or so safety schools, mostly apply to schools your stats align with, and have a couple reach schools. Any "pressure" to get into a top college is self inflicted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The info is out there is you want to look for it. Someone compiled the scoring rubrics for certain colleges and put them here last year.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1224166.page

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