Reply to Reflections from 2025 HYPSM admit(s)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a professor and the idea of strategic position is so nauseating to me that I feel like writing a letter to our admissions office to let them know about what I read in this forum and others.

To be clear, I am not attacking the OP. She did what she felt she had to do to benefit her child. However, favoring students with unusual niche interests is clearly not the best way to find the most authentic students. Maybe this approach was more authentic 10 years ago before college admissions officers and parents pushed it en masse, but clearly this is no longer the way. [/quote]

I always wonder how professors view their admissions offices and admission priorities.

Our child was told that activism was the essential key to admission to selective colleges. He followed a different path and somehow ended up at HYSPM.

He has met many classmates who were primarily involved in activism and impact-oriented activities. Sadly, he has seen those classmates struggle with the material to the confusion of their professors. I wonder if professors understand what the admissions offices are doing.[/quote]

Professors admit graduate students, and since we work directly with the students we admit, we get obvious feedback on our selection methods. We see some students succeed, and others falter. Admissions officers don't have this benefit, because they will never teach the students they select.  
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This is why it surprises me that admission officers don’t get feedback/input from professors in making admissions priorities. The professors know who succeeds. Don’t admissions offices care about students’ success? [/quote]

DP professors most definitely give feedback to the admissions office. An AO's #1 audience is the board of trustees, who are in turns motivated by college rankings, donations, alums, endowment, gov funding and the media. AO's #2 audience is the faculty. In multiple podcasts on YCBK, AOs have said "the last thing you want is for the faculty to call and complain about the students you admitted." This is why when a HS sends a borderline kid to a rigorous school, it could hurt applicants for the next 2 years. This is literally happening at DC's school right now: a very well connected kid/recruited athlete is failing Caltech in his freshman year (he told all his old HS buddies and is trying to transfer out); now everyone is saying no one will get in from our school this year. Another example is Carnegie Mellon: More incoming freshmen have been failing Calculus since TO. They are bringing back test requirements but also adding a Pre-Cal course for the first time next year. They wouldn't be doing that if there weren't complaints from professors. [/quote]

I think test optional cohorts from the top schools are seeing lower reputational benefits in recruitment.
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