Oooh, congrats, my kid also got the acceptance email to Southwestern - we are so far away, so I would love your impressions of the school after Preview Day!
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Will report back next month!
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Apparently, the schools that are test optional are finding it hard to be fair in admissions
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I found this quote early on to perhaps be relevant:
If the majority of application assessors are highly similar in several ways, it stands to reason they would, as a group, value certain qualities in applications that greatly reflect the assessorsā shared backgrounds, over other qualities that are less reflected in their group.
I think this revelation, if it holds true upon a larger sample size, might indicate the next step toward ensuring equity in college admissions would be to diversify the departments responsible for reviewing applications. Reviewers with disparate backgrounds might be able to better assess a wider range of applicants, and give appropriate weight and respect to the ECs and educational achievements of all applicants.
It would be a shame if the knee-jerk reaction to the realization that diversity and equity are not magically made easier with test-optional policies, is to reinstate test-mandatory applications. Instead, letās continue to do the hard work of making equity an achievable goal by asking the hard questions and making the sometimes difficult decisions.
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But I think something that adds to the problem is time. Thinking of even a mid size school with size able applicants, there is generally not enough man power to go through the application and have different people weigh in with their perspective on the application. Test scores- for better or worse helps to cut some of the time they have to waddle through. Itās a complex issue and I wish there is some way to make admissions fair but also standardized.
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I have a colleague who used to be an AO at two schools (both in the top 20). He said almost everyone he worked with had a non-STEM background, and reflecting back on his time there - admitted that it was much easier for them to appreciate and relate to ECs and passions of the non-STEM applicants.
I imagine therefore, that an applicant speaking passionately about his/her STEM interests and activities has a higher likelihood of being viewed as āroboticā or āone-dimensionalā and getting placed quickly in the āmaybeā pile, vs another applicant who speaks equally passionately about another activity the AO/reader can personally relate to.
Yes, I know AOs go through training to try and eliminate unconscious biases, etc. but weāre all human and unintentionally slip up. Especially when working under pressure and time constraints to process as many applications as possible.
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I am not, and have never been, an admissions officer. I have been an educator for a number of years and also an evaluator for regional and state student of the year awards. My areas of expertise are not in STEM, but that has not kept me from recommending STEM-heavy students for advancement. It really depends on how the student relates the information. When a student shares their personal excitement/interest (not just that X is interesting, but I find that X is interesting becauseā¦), it doesnāt matter what the topic is, be it mold growth, some arcane programming language, or writing the great American novel, it makes me more engaged in their message as an evaluator.
What may impact some STEM applicants is if they donāt have as much facility with sharing their personal thoughts and reactions. If an applicant is only reporting what they have done, or a sequence of events (whether itās about how they figured out some new principle, improved their sports skills, or competed in a music competition), then the reader (evaluator/AO) feels less engaged with the applicant. Those who lack that type of writing skill may be adversely impacted in the admissions process, regardless of their academic interests.
As there are STEM applicants who do have that type of writing skill, those are the ones that are more likely to be favored by an evaluator over an applicant that is relatively evenly matched otherwise.
The ability to express how something impacts one personally does not mean, however, that one needs to sound like a professional, published author or that the essay could be nominated for various writing awards. It should sound authentic, and most 17-year olds do not sound (or write) like Pulitzer Prize winners.
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Iām sure in the next few years theyāll be an AI/ML app to analyze past applicants look at their outcome and then apply it to current applicants to get a nice ranked list of likely success and theyāll barely have to think in their job.
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Iām sure such projects are already underway in some places. AI will replace many of the functions that AOs currently perform with a lot fewer idiosyncratic biases. However, there will still be complaints from some who donāt fare well under the new system that systematic biases still exist.
Iām not a fan of test optional. It certainly isnāt a perfect metric by any stretch, but I think it can be a valuable data point for evaluating candidates. If many other parts of competing applications are similar I think it can at least help break ties. From my perspective Iād rather evaluations be based upon some measure of academic aptitude than trying to infer something from economic status, extra curricular activities list, race/gender, or the many other factors that come to light from reading an application.
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The best predictor of first-year college GPA still remains HS GPA, not standardized tests. (And itās not even a close contest for first place.)
Of note: There really arenāt any good HS stats-based predictors (and in stats-based I include things like quantitative measures of extracurricular involvement alongside the obvious ones) of overall college GPA.
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Agree that GPA is certainly better because you can compare who is taking rigorous courses and excelling. In addition, for AP classes you have the added benefit of the AP test score as a measure of validation.
Except that many LD students are high performing academically (including my D23) but perform sub optimally on standardized tests, so itās not really an accurate measure of academic aptitude for all
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Not a fan of evaluating students based on AP scores, they are extremely subjective. Not every student gets the same test, the questions are all different, making it near impossible to evaluate based on a single standard. I have also found teachers and how well they prepare kids for the test is the number 1 factor in how well a student does. If you spend the school year practicing DBQs on a clock, you will score higher. It doesnāt mean you mastered the subject. My DD scored a 5 on the APUSH and in her words said she lucked out because she received a similar question to what they were practicing in class just the week before. She knows if she got the same question as some of her friends, she would not have done as well. How fair is that to evaluate students for admissions on that?
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This^ I had a 3.7 student in HS with a brain processing speed of 5%. After 6 tests and lots of practice and review courses, she could not get her score to where she needed it for an auto-admit into her architecture program of choice. We went the demonstrated interest route, visited the school several times, met with the associate Dean, and took classes. After a secondary review of her application with the Arch. the school she was admitted to, and guess what, graduating with a 3.7 GPA this spring.
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My S23 finally submitted 2 applications last night - Temple and Drexel for EA. Been waiting on him to finish his CA Essay for a month. Heāll definitely apply to UPenn RD and maybe to Villanova and Haverford. He really doesnāt want to leave the city.
He doesnāt have the meatiest application in the world but it is very cohesive and tells a good story of who he is and where he would fit on campus which is key for the more selective colleges.
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Add UDEL to the list
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@Dolemite - You might as well add in St Joes and La Salle then you have the whole Big5 covered 
- Congrats on breaking the seal!
My S23 - Got a few of his EAs in this week (including Nova). He has 2 more that heās hoping to submit this weekend.
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Kid is now 6 for 6, with another safety acceptance yesterday. I have been sweating deadlines but just took another look and heās really OK until honors college apps, all due around 12/1.
South Carolina honors college is due 12/15 but like I said earlier, we both agreed that he could let that one slide and not do it if he wanted.
Heās got the school musical Nov. 5. And exams right before Thanksgiving break. But I think thereās time to knuckle down and get essays done after that.
Me, however - I have the CSS Profile to complete, for the first time in five years of kid college, in what Iām sure is a futile endeavor ā¦ sigh.
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Thatās great you live in a city with such a wide range of college choices. A friend said their private school recommends people visit Philly colleges because they can get a sense of all kinds of schools in a single geographic area.
Coop and not
Religious and not
Ivy and not
All female and not
SLAC and not
Itās just amazing what your city and state offer!
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