Admissions criteria ranked

Parents Forum
1

<p>On a thread over at the U Penn forum, there's a discussion going on how much interviews are weighed. A Penn person opined that these factors, in order of importance, were what Penn looks at when making an admissions decision:</p>

<p>Secondary school record
Class rank
Recommendations
Standardized test scores
Essays
Extracurricular activities
Talent / ability
Character / personal qualities
Interview</p>

<p>What do you think or know? Is this order of criteria general across schools?
Does an interview count more anywhere?</p>

2

<p>"Character / personal qualities" according to " The Chosen" that phrase means you either are or you are not our sort of person!</p>

<p>What a farce!</p>

3

<p>And the "real" criteria:</p>

<ul>
<li> Legacy status</li>
<li> Athlete/URM</li>
<li> Family Development Potential (i.e. one or two bulidings?)</li>
<li> What prep school?</li>
</ul>

<p>After these, I think the list the Penn person proposed was pretty accurate...</p>

<p>Seriously, I don't know of a college in the country that is particularly honest or forthcoming regarding how they make their decisions. I think this is because (1) some of their reasons won't play well with the public, particularly the advantage given to certain groups like alums and prep schools and (2) the process hardly fits into a nice formula where one can rank factors. The honest ones will tell you it all matters.</p>

<p>It is also interesting to note that the criteria at the top are the ones that are more quantitative or objective.</p>

4

<p>Gender and race are also on that invisible list.</p>

5

<p>cheers, how right you are about gender, seriously.</p>

<p>One of the little discussed nasty parts of this business is how our daughters are held to a higher standard than our sons, just because more girls go to college and they have better HS records than the boys do.</p>

6

<p>It's going to vary by school.</p>

7

<p>


</p>

<p>This is an oversimplification. Daughters are given preferential consideration when applying to traditionally male fields such as engineering and the sciences, and I would believe that males are given an extra boost applying to traditionally female programs. </p>

<p>Back on topic: absent special considerations such as wealth, fame, or athletic ability, I believe the criteria for the typical college is:</p>

<p>Grades/class rank in context of the secondary school reputation
Standardized test scores
All that other stuff</p>