Carnival of College Admissions, 2nd Edition

Welcome to the second edition of the Carnival of College Admission.  The Carnival is a biweekly round-up of interesting blog posts related to the transition from high school to college.


I’ve had many folks contact me asking what a blog carnival is, and why they should consider submitting posts to each edition.  My friend, Peter Baron over at AdmissionsQuest, called me up last week to ask me to describe what we’re doing.  He recorded our video conversation, and I’d like to kick off our Second Edition by sharing it with you.


College Admission Carnival / A conversation with the Carnival’s founder, Mark Montgomery from Peter Baron on Vimeo.



So, now, on with the October 8, 2008 edition of Carnival of College Admission.  Enjoy the ride!


Admission

Andrew Burns, the Director of Admission at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, presents insight on how to get the most of attending a college fair.  He provides great advice to the high school senior about how to get good information, and at the same time make a good impression on admissions officers.  


Adam Epstein, an admissions counselor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), presents a post entitled, “So What’s In A High School Visit?” in which he explains why admissions folks visit high schools, and what students can expect from an encounter with people like him. Check out Adam’s blog at Adamissions.


Brad J. Ward, an admissions officer at Butler University and a technology guru in the higher education field, shares a hilarious post from his blog Squared Peg about the importance of responding to emails from admissions officers.  Why?  Because they like it!


Todd Johnson presents Legacy admissions. The best way to gain admissions to selective colleges? posted at College Admissions Counseling Blog.  Todd is another prolific blogger, and he provides all sorts of useful information to families of college-bound students.


Yours truly, Mark Montgomery, is happy to direct you toward his post that gives an insider’s view on admission to schools of art and design.  I was able to make a video of a portfolio review of a young woman hoping to be admitted to the Art Institute of Boston.  If you want to check out my blog, well, you’re already here.



Boarding School
Peter Baron at AdmissionsQuest, a resource for boarding school admission in the US, shares a post from a new guest blogger on his site: a parent. Her first post a welcome to her boarding school admission journal.  Thanks again to Peter for putting together the short video introducing the Carnival!

Sean Costello at VideoJug posted his organization’s video channel related to school admission in the UK. 



Test Prep

Mark Truman presents Someone Finally Stops Inviting the SAT and ACT to the College Party posted at Omniac Attack!.  In this amusing post, Mark highlights the report from the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) that encourages colleges and universities to reconsider their use of the SAT and ACT tests as important criteria in the admissions decision.  Perhaps more and more colleges will be going test optional here soon.


Todd Johnson shares another post in which he explains how many colleges “superscore” the ACT and SAT tests.  Students who worry excessively about the fact that a college  may see both low and high scores on the same test can rest assured that colleges have every incentive to give you the benefit of the doubt. Find Todd’s blog at College Admissions Partners.



College Life

Shae presents, “Hey Roommate–Stop Stealing My Food!”  Shae has a lot of fun stuff to share about how important food can be in college life.  And I remember those days when I had to label the food in the communal fridge to keep the crew team from swiping my comestibles.  Check out Shae’s blog at The Collegiate Gourmet.


Ali Hale, who blogs as Alpha Student, presents a post entitled “Feeling Shy?” in which she provides tips for getting to know people on campus. As Ali says, “If you’re feeling shy and a bit nervous of approaching new people at college – don’t worry, you’re not alone.”


Linda P. Taylor has submitted Part 2 of her series on the limits of political speech on campuses.  She examines the new regulation at the University of Illinois that bans faculty from wearing political buttons or participating in political rallies on campus.  Linda blogs at AskLindaPTaylor.com, and of course, you can also find Part 1 of her series there!


Barbara Nixon is an educator and technology fan.  She offers 10 Tips for Success on Assignments. Check out Barbara’s blog, Making Connections.


My friend Andrew Burns is really getting into the spirit of the Carnival.  He submitted another interesting post describing Fort Lewis College’s community book program, which this year featured Greg Mortenson and his book Three Cups of Tea.  More an more colleges are adopting these community book programs, especially for first year students, to help ease the transition to college.  Check out the rest of Andy’s blog posts.


Many of us in the college admissions field recognize that more students with autism and Aspberger’s are applying to college–and getting accepted.  Michelle McFarland-McDaniels presents resources and information on Preparing Students with Autism for a Successful College Experience.  Michelle blogs at Autism Assistance.



Financial Aid

Julie Stewart over at Virtual College Fairs, presents a post that explains how to determine your EFC, or Expected Family Contribution.  This all-important number is an indicator of a family’s financial need.  Check out Julie’s blog, too.


Everyone has seen their portfolios shrink in recent weeks.  Students and their families are among the most nervous about the credit crunch.  John presents Student Loan Crunch Getting Tighter posted at Free College.


Wenchypoo, in a post entitled “The College Conundrum,” explores the “return on investment” that we make in pursuing a college degree. As she points out, financially some degrees just don’t make economic sense. Wenchypoo also submitted a similar post on the same subject, entitled, “The NEW Lessons in Higher Education.” You might want to take a look at her other blog posts: Wenchypoo is a prolific blogger!


The Editors of Financial-Aid-Resource-Center.com present Grants for College, which explains that federal grant programs are designed to assist students with the greatest financial need.  Read this post for a summary of available grants.



Scholarships

Jeremy Zongker presents Free College Education Exists. This post highlights the few colleges that actually offer a complete college education at no cost. Have a look at the entire blog at Destroy Debt.


Michelle McFarland-McDaniels presents another post this week, providing resources on information on sscholarships for college students who have autism.  If autism is a particular interest, make sure to check out Michelle’s blog at Autism Assistance Resources and Information Blog.



Other Cool Stuff

Malia Russell presents Christina is Graduating This Month (May 2008) posted at Homemaking 911.  Malia gives the story of her daughter, who has achieved a lot…through both dedication and heart.


Karin Chenoweth presents We Need Better Teaching posted at Britannica Blog.


Raymond presents Where Is The Safest Place To Save Or Invest Your Money? posted at Money Blue Book Finance Blog.



This wraps up the second edition of the Carnival of College Admission. Please participate on our next edition, which will open on October 22nd right here at Great College Advice. Submit your blog article to the next edition using our handy submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.


See you in two weeks!


Mark Montgomery

Great College Advice



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Baylor Pays Students to Retake the SAT–Proving That Rankings Drive Policy

Just a couple of weeks ago, the National Council for College Admissions Counseling issued a report calling on colleges to reduce the importance of standardized scores in the admissions process.


But as long as public rankings of colleges and universities, such as those issue by US News & World Report, it’s unlikely that colleges will dump their dependence on scores any time soon.


Baylor University is now paying its accepted students to retake the SAT.  The stated aim is to encourage students to improve their scores and thereby be eligible for more scholarship aid.  But the ploy also helps move Baylor’s average SAT score up a notch or two.  And in the world of rankings, a notch or two is significant.


Here’s how it works at Baylor.  Admissions and financial aid folks at Baylor contact accepted students telling them that if they retake the SAT, they will receive a $300 credit the campus bookstore. If students raised their scores by 50 points, they would receive a $1000 scholarship.  Moreover, students who raised their scores above predetermined cut-off points for certain merit scholarships, they would then be eligible or thousands more dollars in scholarships.


The plan worked.  Over 800 students retook the SAT, about 150 received the $1000 scholarship for raising scores by 50 points or more, and 177 boosted their scores over the merit hump and pulled down another $450,000 in scholarships.  And (surprise!) Baylor’s average SAT score went up by 10 points.


You see, when it comes to the use of SAT and ACT scores in the admissions process, we have something of a vicious circle.  Even though virtually everyone agrees that there is no adequate proof that these scores predict college success or measure intelligence or aptitude, we can’t seem to get rid of them.  Why not?


Colleges, especially selective ones, find the short-hand numbers provided by the score a convenient sorting tool.


Reading applications more carefully and devising more personal or holistic admissions procedures takes time–and probably will cost more–if more staff people are required  to actually read every single application more carefully.


While everyone moans about the rankings, every rankings organization uses the scores as one important measure of a college’s selectivity and quality.


Colleges in the middle or bottom of rankings heap tend to be the ones most willing to abandon the scores as an admissions tool.  What is the incentive for Harvard, Yale, or Princeton to stop using the test scores in admissions?  (Besides, with their huge volumes of applications, these are the schools that depend on scores more heavily in assigning each application a number (the “academic index,” based on test scores and class rank).  Still, even schools like Baylor with very average SAT scores, aspire to be considered premier academic institutions.  And this aspiration depends, in part, on becoming more selective–a measure that depends, in large part, on average test scores of admitted students.


So this the problem:  no matter how much we all detest the SAT and ACT scores, it’s devilishly hard to get rid of them.


Rankings organizations will not drop their use of the test scores, because what other “objective” measure of quality could replace them?  At least scores are something easily compared across institutions.  It’s much harder to actually compare more important variables, such as quality of teaching, student learning outcomes, or “return on investment.”


It’s hard to know whether Baylor’s cynical ploy to raise its average SAT scores will become a wave of the future.  Most everyone in the business seems shocked and appalled by their practice of buying better SAT scores.


But it’s not difficult to understand the incentives, and to understand why the admissions and financial aid offices acted the way they did.  To become a highly-ranked, world class university, those average test scores had better be as high as they can be.  In the rankings game, nothing else matters as much as the numbers.


My guess is that while other admissions directors are busy condemning Baylor’s decision, they’re also secretly trying to figure out how to achieve the goal without incurring the wrath of their peers.  I think they probably admire Baylor’s chutzpah more than they would like to admit.


Mark Montgomery

College Counselor




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Colleges Discuss the Inherent Weaknesses of ACT and SAT Tests

The big show at last week’s conference of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling was a report by NACAC examining the role of SAT and ACT tests in the college admissions process.  Essentially, the report called upon colleges to look more carefully at the role of these tests, and called into question their true importance in predicting college success.


The New York Times today carries an excellent analysis of the report in an article titled, “Study of Standardized Admissions Tests is Big Draw at College Conference.”


Colleges and universities know that there is not a lot of convincing research-based evidence that SAT or ACT tests measure academic aptitude or act as good predictors of a student’s success during the first year of college.


However, many of the same colleges that question the tests’ true value will continue to use them because they are useful short cuts to comparing one student against the next.


I wrote a while back about a point raised by Dartmouth’s retiring dean of admission:  while the number of applications had skyrocketed in the past decade, his admissions staff had not grown.  Of course, computers have simplified much of what admissions offices used to do by hand.  But my sense it that many college still rely on the SAT and ACT to make it simpler to reject those whose scores are on the lower end of the scale.  And given the conclusion in the Times article, it seems that most of our most selective colleges and universities will continue to use the tests–flawed though they may be.


Mark Montgomery

College Admissions Counselor




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National Counseling Association Considers Value of SAT & ACT

The National Association for College Admissions Counseling is releasing a report this week to coincide with its national convention that questions the importance of standardized testing in the college admissions process.


For the first time, NACAC takes the stance that standardized testing may not, actually, be essential in evaluating candidates for admission, and encourages colleges and universities to more carefully consider how standardized testing is used.


One of my personal pet peeves is the fact that these tests may serve to keep quality minority students from applying to college–and may prevent them from entering more selective ones.  White and Asians score higher, generally, than Blacks and Latinos.


The College Board and ACT insist that any discrepancies in scores among these groups is due to differnences in the quality of education that these different groups receive.  This is the “achievement gap” that we continue to hear so much about in relation to No Child Left Behind.  The College Board and ACT seem to say say that the “achievement gap” is not their problem, and that the tests are still relevant.


Whether or not you buy their argument, the NACAC report calls on colleges and universities to control the conversation more, and not to let it be dominated by the organizations that administer (and profit from) the tests.  Colleges may, for example, desire to enroll more Black and Latino students.  But how will selective colleges do this–especially when using race as an admissions criterion is frowned upon?


I’m happy to hear that colleges are starting to take this issue more seriously.  Clearly the fact that over 700 colleges are now test optional, plus the fact that even some selective schools no longer require the tests (e.g., WPI, Wake Forest) is a sign that perhaps there are other ways to glean enough information about the quality of an applicant–from high school grades, teacher recommendations, essays, graded work, and whatnot) that are at least as good and perhaps more wholistic than the use of standardized tests.


What do you think?


Mark Montgomery
College Counseling





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Socio-Economic and Racial Disparities Reflected in SAT Scores

It it no surprise whatsoever that black and brown students score lower on standardized tests than their white and yellow peers. This fact is one more indicator of the “achievement gap” between minority students and white students in the United States. (For more on this, see the article from Inside Higher Ed).

Some analysts are more careful to draw socioeconomic distinctions, rather than racial ones. The fact is that poorer students generally have fewer educational opportunities, inadequate schools, and are held to lower standards than kids in wealthier areas–where parents raise tens of thousands of dollars each year in silent auctions and other fundraisers–all to ensure that their kids continue to get the best of the best.

The College Board has announced that more young people–including ones from lower socioeconomic backgrounds–are taking the SAT test than ever before. Even so, the average score for each component of the test has remained about the same: critical reading (502), mathematics (515) and writing (494).

This steady average masks some uncomfortable realities. First, even though more poor students are taking the tests (which might bring scores lower, on average), more rich students are also taking the tests–sometimes 2 or 3 times. So just because the average is steady does not mean that scores among students at the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder or performing better.

Further, African American, Native American, and Latino students consistently score well below Anglo and Asian American students. Here are the averages for those groups:

African Americans: Critical reading: 430; Math: 426; Writing: 424

Hispanics: Critical reading: 455; Math: 460; Writing: 447

Native Americans: Critical reading: 485; Math: 491; Writing: 470

Note that scores for each of these groups went DOWN this past year over the previous year, while average scores for Anglos and Asian student went UP.

No wonder more and more colleges are making standardized tests optional in the admissions process, or are finding some other ways to evaluate the potential of minority students. There is no getting around the fact that students from poorer communities score worse on these tests than wealthy students. So how can colleges correct for these tests–legally–and recruit and retain more qualified minorities onto their campuses?


TAKE THE POLL!

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{democracy:2}



Mark Montgomery
College Admission Counselor

Technorati Tags: SAT, ACT, standardized tests, minorities, achievement gap, socio-economic Del.icio.us Tags: SAT, ACT, standardized tests, minorities, achievement gap, socio-economic