<p>The admissions director says they will just have to trust that kids do their own work. I wonder how many will hire someone to write the essays? Still, it's an interesting concept.</p>
<p>It’s an interesting idea but I doubt that many will use it. It takes too much time away from other applications. Someone applying to Bard is not going to be applying to ONLY Bard. </p>
<p>It might gain more traction if three of those could be papers written in high school, though those typically won’t be 2500 words AND actually any good unless it was a very rigorous high school.</p>
<p>I agree that only a small number of students will probably apply using this approach, at least for now - but there are students for whom high school has not served them well nor allowed them to show their true abilities vis a vis grades and test scores. Those students who are truly looking for an engaged intellectual college experience, but have been discouraged from applying to the more rigorous schools because of either problems with high school grades or standarized testing could find this a very attractive admissions process - as well as giving them a new idea of what college may truly be all about.</p>
<p>That’s fair. I guess there isn’t wide appeal but there doesn’t need to be, nor was there intended to be, wide appeal.</p>
<p>All the students have to do is check out schools that don’t require the SAT, as Bard does not. [SAT/ACT</a> Optional 4-Year Universities | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional]SAT/ACT”>ACT/SAT Optional List - Fairtest)</p>
<p>I think it’s fair. Private colleges should be free to use whatever they want for admissions. The common app makes it easier for kids, but admissions officials still need to read the app whether it’s there own or the common app or some derivation such as essays.</p>
<p>But…but…that would involve…thinking…and … learning …</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I’d be concerned about cheating. Got lousy grades and scores in high school? Cheated your way through your classes and were caught repeatedly? Don’t worry, have your parents hire a couple of graduate students to write your entrance papers for you and call it a day.</p>
<p>I don’t imagine that most applicants will take this route, but having to sign an honor pledge saying the work is yours isn’t going to deter those who were going to cheat to begin with.</p>
<p>It’s not just the SAT that won’t be required. Neither will grades nor teacher recommendations. Or EC’s. All they’re requiring are the four papers - and, if admitted, a character reference.</p>
<p>I pity the poor professors stuck with reading these efforts. And I see an interesting business opportunity in writing papers for applicants, since the subjects and research sources are available to anyone. But I find it simply impossible to believe that a student who can write four quality research papers is not also capable of achieving high grades and strong recommendations. The only value I can see in this method is as a way for some non-traditional students with weak backgrounds to prove their worth. Bard is a pretty quirky enough place as it is. Maybe Leon Botsein needs to stop innovating for a while.</p>