If you had the power to change college admissions...

Applying to College
21

<p>Increase the weight placed on GPA.</p>

<p>This would have hurt me, and is easy to say in retrospect, however I recieved opportunities that my peers did not, even though I merely worked hard for a few weeks when writing my essays/filling out my applications, as opposed to four years of constant hard work.</p>

<p>In addition to the emphasis on GPA, I feel that each grade should be accompanied by a paragraph reflecting on the student and their role in class. This allows for a broader look unto the character of the student in the classroom setting, and their growth as an individual not seen on the rest of the application.</p>

22

<p>truly "holistic" admissions...</p>

23

<p>I would give out more scholarships. College costs too much money. I'd also try and get a limit on how many schools each person can apply to. </p>

<p>Also, I would tell them exactly when everything will be released and have a blog that is updated sort of like Providence College has.</p>

24

<p>Limited number of applications for a student (my school has this, and I think it's a good policy. 8 is plenty).</p>

<p>Change affirmative action so that it places less emphasis on race itself and more on socioeconomic class.</p>

25

<p>Ah! Good one with the socioeconomic.... as i am unfortunately a person who lives with a family that has an annual income of mid 20k for a family of 5</p>

26

<p>I would get rid of AP classes. It is unclear whether the test scores actually matter in admissions. The tests are expensive and your score depends on your teacher. I don't think that your goal for your senior year should be to eliminate credit hours in college.</p>

27

<p>importance of ECs.</p>

<p>it doesn't make sense at all.</p>

<p>many people have a hard time balancing academics and ECs. it doesn't make a student any less "well rounded" to be involved in fewer ECs, it just shows that the student puts a lot more time into school work.</p>

28

<p>I don't think there is one and only one thing that would work. Take any one of the items given above and it would not change things that much over all. You would have to do a large number of things, which would be difficult under current circumstances.</p>

29

<p>No affirmative action. </p>

<p>You cannot apply to more than 8 colleges. </p>

<p>Drastically reduce college tuition.</p>

<p>GPA is not taken into account, as long as you have at least a 3.0 or somethin.</p>

30

<p>Make all high schools conform to one single GPA system. No 6.0 crap.</p>

<p>Get rid of legacies, affirmative action, and athletic recruitment (unless those students have scores on par with the other admitted non-recruits.)</p>

31

<p>I would get rid of legacy and affirmative action since they aren't exactly fair for those who work hard to get in top colleges. Specifically, I'm talking about the pwnage rejections I see against spectacular Asians -_-</p>

32

<p>Remove the section on the applications (and everywhere else) that ask "what other colleges did you apply to". Make it so that schools cannot find out where else you applied.</p>

33

<p>what the... colleges ask you to mention other colleges you are applying to? what if you dont?</p>

34

<p>Hilarious that so many uninformed people still think that only spectacular <em>Asians</em> are affected by certain admissions policies. Little do they know how many spectacular non-Asians are rejected by 'top colleges' routinely every year.</p>

35

<p>I'm not sure how to feel about transparency in the admissions process. On the one hand, I feel that if schools told applicants what they wanted, the applicants would falsely portray themselves on their apps. On the other hand, it would be nice to know if it makes sense to apply somewhere or not. For example, I really like to think Columbia and I fit each other well, but if I had objective evidence (directly from Columbia's prospective students page) for the contrary, I'd be happy to send my early app to Penn or Yale instead.</p>

<p>Also, I think we should take a page out of Britain's book and send only SAT I/ACT scores, SAT II/AP scores, and writing samples from all classes taken. </p>

<p>Also, I think that the interviewing process should be less randomized and hold more weight in the admissions decision. If a school that accepted 10% of all students had 15%-30% of its most desirable applicants interview with an actually faculty member or admissions person, they could a better sense of a whole applicant.</p>

36

<p>Hmmm</p>

<p>Have fewer types of applications/get more colleges to accept the Common Ap.</p>

37

<p>instead of focusing on the best student gets the best school(which does lead to a hugely random outcome), have colleges share applicants. </p>

<p>ie Harvard forwarding X's application to Columbia because X would be accepted there. i read that this used to be the practice in the UK or something. SO. colleges get the kids that they want to admit, and kids get colleges that they should get admitted to. </p>

<p>and level the playing field! no princeton review preps, GCs with <em>connections</em>...</p>

38

<p>noobcake (post 20) and jerushs (post 37): looks as if we have a triumvirate of agreement on what I call a "match" system linked to a cooperative viewing of applicants among similarly aligned institutions. That was the idea discussed on CC a couple of years ago, and did get some traction. It actually advantages the candidate more than many families realize. </p>

<p>In addition, it seems that there's a theme on this thread of a ceiling on number of apps possible. (Not unanimous, but a chorus anyway)</p>

<p>wmmk, the problem with your suggestion is that there's a reason for the differences between the British system and ours: their undergrad colleges are less broadly "societal," if you will, than ours are. Their institutions, particularly the top ones, are more serious, more narrowly academic, more specialized, less exploratory. Have to declare a specialty even for admission. it is not as expected that such high percentages of high school graduates will go to college. There are respectable trade school alternatives for those choosing to forego & postpone college, and their secondary schools provide a better education than most of ours do. Hence, the more narrow focus on the academic product of the student, including the submission of high school work. (One of my suggestions for about 3 yrs. on CC :) -- submission of high school work, sent from the high school, and to include in-class work as a check against plagiarized or parent-edited papers from home.)</p>

<p>I do agree with whoever mentioned more emphasis on the interview. That is the one aspect of Oxford/Cambridge that I think we could adopt, although many on CC over the years have disagreed with me on this. It wouldn't be interviewing 10,000 candidates. It would a "second round" phase, like phase 2 of a job interview (or phase 3). If you look superb on paper, you would get an interview offer. If distance were a problem, there would be a middle-ground meeting place, as well as funds offered for those who are f.a. candidates. Those interviews should only be conducted by those whom the college hand-picks, who know what the college is looking for, are good interviewers & are current with the college's mission, programs, culture, etc. Cambridge sends reps to Vancouver, for example, for applicants on the West Coast. When my D couldn't travel to UPenn for her interview (& there were no interviewers in our area), Penn flew someone out to interview her.</p>

<p>An interview can help a college to determine, from their perspective, if the candidate "fits" in more ways than just candidate desire.</p>

39

<p>I would have Common Application as the only paperwork to fill out, whic would get rid of all those ridiculous 'supplements,' that every college has. Better yet, I would have all applicants fill out the Common Application online and have it sent to the colleges they want to apply to. The teachers and counselors could fill out all the forms online and upload the transcript as well. Think of all the time and trees this would save.</p>

<p>I would also eliminate the 'fluffy,' ECs that applicants add, like spending summer at some Government-education program, which is simply a way to burn 2000 bucks and take pictures.</p>

40

<p>Get rid of feeder schools that have counselors with connections to admin offices.</p>

<p>Get rid of affirmative action!!!!!! I hate affirmative action.</p>