Admissions Academy Blog

Rankings and College Selection

•  Posted by Sarah Ziegler on April 17th, 2009 in Admissions
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On April 15 and 16, admissions officers and professionals gathered at Wake Forest University for the “Rethinking Admissions” conference to discuss current research and best practices in selective college admissions. One of the most anticipated sessions matched Yale University’s admissions dean Jeffrey Brenzel, an outspoken critic of rankings such as those published by U.S. News, with Robert Morse, director of data research for U.S. News & World Report, and Richard Vedder of Ohio University, a collaborator on Forbes’ college rankings. Jacques Steinberg of the New York Times summarized the discourse well in his blog, and the official conference blog offers updates from its numerous sessions.

Despite their differences in opinion, the three men did find common ground. All indicated that rankings are here to stay, that the inherent complexity of choosing among creates a demand to help simplify the process. Professor Vedder went as far as saying that, “It is anti-American to be anti-rankings.”

Another point of agreement centered around the idea that rankings should be more personalized to each student. One strong complaint to current magazine rankings is that they support the myth that there are a set of “right” or “best” colleges for everyone. Many factors — size, location, academic programs, general education curriculum, diversity, gender balance, and cost, to name a few — influence whether a college is a good fit for a student. While choosing schools from magazine rankings can make the daunting college selection process easier, students should be aware that magazine rankings alone, at least not in the current form, do not provide enough information to determine their college lists.

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Grade Inflation and Student Expectations

•  Posted by Sarah Ziegler on March 17th, 2009 in Academics, Articles of Interest
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Inside Higher Ed recently highlighted new data about grade inflation published by former Duke professor Stuart Rojstaczer, founder of http://www.gradeinflation.com/ and the College Ranking Service. His recent findings, expanded to include an assortment of large and small, public and private, highly selective and less selective institutions across the country, show that average GPA’s have been rising at virtually all of the 70 colleges that were sampled. Private college average GPA’s rose almost 7%, from 3.09 in 1991 to 3.30 in 2006. Public college averages rose almost 6%, from 2.85 to 3.01. At some highly selective institutions, average GPA’s now top 3.5. Mr. Rojstaczer argues that these persistent increases cannot be explained fully by a corresponding increase in the quality of college-bound students, as average SAT or ACT scores have not kept pace with increased grades.

This issue of rising grades, and what grade inflation means to the rigor of higher education, is also connected to changing expectations among college students. The New York Times reported that students increasingly expect to be rewarded for their effort, even if that effort doesn’t produce an average or above-average product. The articles quotes a senior from the University of Maryland as saying, “If you put in all the effort you have and get a C, what is the point”? Some students, accustomed to earning high grades throughout their K-12 classes to gain admission to college, fear that low grades will prevent them from gaining admission to subsequent graduate programs.

See the full data for over 180 colleges’ average GPA’s here, and about Princeton’s efforts to curb grade inflation here.

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University of Chicago’s Dean to Step Down

•  Posted by Sarah Ziegler on March 5th, 2009 in Articles of Interest
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The Chronicle recently reported that the University of Chicago’s admissions dean, Theodore A. O’Neill, will be stepping down in June. O’Neill has been an active figure in college admissions, speaking at national conferences about trends in college admissions, and advocating for holistic, rather than numerically-driven, evaluations of applicants. His essay “You Must Re-Member This” in Lloyd Thacker’s book College Unranked: Affirming Educational Values in College Admissions, and his actions in shaping Chicago’s infamous “Uncommon Application” reflect his work against the artificial packaging of students, and against the “hype” and stress so often associated with selective college admissions.

Read the full article here and an excerpt from Lloyd Thacker’s book here.

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