<p>Wouldn’t the students demand to know why they received those scores, though? So if I got a 3000 and the cutoff was 3100, that would tell me nothing – I already know I was rejected. I wouldn’t have learned anything unless they showed me my individual scores for each aspect of my application and gave me the formula for calculation – at which point I could just find out if I’d get in before I even apply.</p>
<p>Edit: Also, if my extracurricular or personal score was low, I think I’d demand to know how that number was created – which activities are favored, what personality is desired, etc. I think it’d open a whole new can of worms, not really clear anything up.</p>
<p>“According to what I have read, applications are usually summarized before a decision is made. Each candidate may be assigned academic, extracurricular, and personal scores, for example. Those scores could be reported in a decision letter in an automated way.”</p>
<p>Dear Applicant:</p>
<p>We are sorry to inform you that your application to Podunk U. has been denied. We had thousands of qualified applicants for the 45 places in our freshman class, 30 of which were assigned to offensive tackles and bassoon players. We had a few who could do both, and had also published their third novels. So we had to turn most of them down. </p>
<p>Compared to most of them, your academic, extracurricular, and personal record of achievement, with a total score of 1.67592, suggests to us that you are an idiot.</p>
<p>Sincerely…</p>
<p>P.S. Next time, I suggest you choose your parents better."</p>
<p>“Some universities, such as Brown, publish admissions rates conditional on test scores and class rank. I think all schools should be this transparent.”</p>
<p>Regarding the disclosure of information about applicants, perhaps schools could disclose information similar to the “Duke Admissions Office Rank” metrics reported in the study below: Achievement, Curriculum, Essays, Personal Qualities, Recommendation Letters, Observations.</p>
<p>GMT, have you ever read how figure skating is actually scored? </p>
<p>Btw, families are litigious enough; why give the kid his score, when there is so much misunderstanding of the process, as evidenced here? (And, what’s the purpose? Like he’s going to improve his next application?) Where I work, you won’t find comments about race in the file review notes. [Nor comments that the kid is an idiot, though there are plenty of times…] The AO’s do not have a formula. There is a rating assigned, yes. By a series of individuals who know what the school wants and likes, what constitutes “worthy” and will let a kid fit and thrive, add to the community. The whole process of multiple reviews allows multiple takes on a kid. The comments are closely read, through the process.</p>
Why are they not white? What does it mean to be white?
UT is trying to increase enrollment of underrepresented minorities in order to provide a diverse campus environment with a critical mass of minority students, where ‘critical mass’ is defined (albeit circularly) as “an adequate representation of minority students to assure educational benefits deriving from diversity”.</p>
<p>And, UT specifically says they want students within each racial group to come from diverse backgrounds. The percentage plan admits minority students largely from segregated, racially-identifiable schools. I would guess that those schools probably have the largest concentration of students with “really tough lives” but that’s not what UT is looking for.</p>
<p>Costs? Those, in your posting history, have not convinced us. You see the result of the predetermined lower IQ in terms of…more numbers. More stratification. When cornered, the “it’s all measurable” folks even turn to the humiliation minorities endure, “knowing” they were only taken for balance. It’s too limited. I don’t care if they change from STEM majors. Or need some academic support or adjustment support. The triumphs are those who grow, who convey more to those around them, in their interactions, their communities, over decades. Impact and some inspiration. Movement forward. The point is not GPA or sticking with a major or etc. </p>
<p>Luisa, give us your take on the humiliation.</p>
<p>^Most colleges have increased their diversity over the past few decades–even the very top ones. So if Beliavsky is correct, we should be seeing ample evidence of the costs resulting from everyone from Harvard on down admitting more women and minorities. So why hasn’t anyone been able to produce even a shred of it?</p>
<p>Hispanic/Latino now make up 18.4% of the UT student body. Is that enough proportional representation to achieve the goal to have “an adequate representation of minority students to assure educational benefits deriving from diversity”? Its higher than the 16.9% proportion it was in 2004 when they decided to consider race in the holistic round.</p>
<p>Well the state is almost 38% Hispanic so that number is low compared to the state…It’s all a matter of what the school is going for. If the school wants to mimic the state demographics, they need more Hispanic students.</p>
<p>Is that why they give preference to legacies? Because the all-wise AOs know what the school wants and likes, what constitutes “worthy” and will let a kid fit and thrive, add to the community.</p>
<p>The UT AOs do indeed have a scoring rubric. They award points to determine an Academic Index AI (GPA + scores) and a Personal Achievement Index PAI (ECs, leadership, comm. service, and race). Then for each major, the AOs plot at scatter chart with AI on one axis and the PAI on the other. Then they draw a cutoff line on the chart to decide whom to admit or reject. They explain all of this in writing in their BRIEF FOR RESPONDENTS, No. 11-435.</p>
<p>The real reason that the school wont disclose applicants PAI score is that the $hit will hit the fan when people find out how they are manipulating the PAI to achieve their diversity within diversity goals and their quota for legacies.</p>
<p>Complete transparency is needed to make sure that the universities and professional schools are following the Supreme Court rulings, particularly if they rule in Fisher’s favor and mandate color blind admissions. As it is now the standard is so mushy that it’s difficult to tell if there are outlawed quotas or just a critical mass.</p>
<p>Are there sufficient number of Hispanic students to achieve UTs goal to avoid blatant racial isolation, now that they comprise 18.4% of the student body?</p>
<p>Is that why they give preference to legacies? Because the all-wise AO’s “know what the school wants and likes, what constitutes “worthy” and will let a kid fit and thrive, add to the community.”<br>
Legacies are not auto admits. But, yes, their history with the school (which should be reflected, somehow, in the app,) is a positive. Broadly, think of it in comparison with the vast number of kids who think it’s enough to say, I have always dreamed of [university.] Or I want the best and you are one of them. Or, those who confuse this school with another. As in: I love Cambridge.</p>
<p>Adding: legacies have to have the academic stuff, too. Some kid of an alum can’t come in with subpar potential, sleepwalk through the app, and assume anything.</p>
<p>More: plenty of them are not wealthy, increasing numbers are minority. None are autos.</p>