Weeding When There Are Only Flowers

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar given by Jim Miller, the Dean of Admissions for Brown University. The purpose of his talk was to educate volunteer alumni interviewers about the admissions process so that the alumni interview reports will be of maximum benefit to the admissions committee.

More interesting, certainly, would be the deep secrets of admissions he revealed. And of course, there were none. He did, however, debunk some myths.

Myth #1: Community Service is required to get into college. Pretty much not so, now that most high schools have community service requirements. Forced altruism is not as impressive as good works done because of a pure desire to do good.

Myth #2: College admissions is made or lost depending on summer enrichment programs. Not so much. Apparently the admissions folks are impressed when kids actually have jobs, since it is such a rarity. He quipped that students who have bona fide work experience are as rare as the handful of US high school students who have not been on an enrichment trip to Costa Rica. Brown does have a summer program for high school students, and attending it has no impact on admissions.

Myth #3: Admissions officers count the number of AP classes a student takes. Schools look at a high school profile and they look at your transcript. Yes, you should take the most demanding curriculum you can at which you will do well. In answer to the question, "should I take an AP class and get a B or an honors class and get an A?" the answer was you should take the AP class and get an A because yes, admissions is that competitive.

Myth #4: Applying Early Decision increases your chance for acceptance. Looking at the figures, the admit rate for early decision candidates last year was 24%, and the admit rate in the regular admissions pool was 11%. However, the early decision admit rate includes recruited athletes for the school's thirty-seven Division I varsity teams, and one they are removed from the calculation, the admissions rate is nearly equal for both groups. Yes, it is good to let admissions know that your interest is high and sincere, and if you can make the commitment it's great. But there are also other ways of getting interest across, and applying ED may not be the best approach for a student needing financial aid, and they get that.

What is not a myth, according to Dean Miller, is the fact that college going rates among men are not going well. Read nearly any description of a college in any college guide, and the ratio of women to men is not balanced. While there are not demographic changes in birth rates, there are nearly six applications for women for every four applications from men seeking to attend Brown. It is not a new trend, and the ratios cited have held steady for about ten years. He decried the impact that this issue will have upon our nation in the years to come.

He also gave everyone a chance to participate in a mock admissions committee discussion, using admissions files from years past. We were divided into groups, and each group had to read their candidate's file and pitch the student to the other groups. It was interesting to read a full admissions file, because as alumni interviewers we are given no information on the candidates, in hopes that our reports will validate or point out inconsistencies in students' files. So while it is easy to rattle off an accomplished student's GPA, test scores, significant activities and honors and wonder why that student was denied admission, when all the data, recommendations and essays are considered, often you can see why admissions officers might believe that a student would be better served at another school. Undoubtedly, decisions are made on the thinnest margin of nuance. But Dean Miller felt strongly that the process, which begins with the careful reading of all files, followed by committee discussions, debates and votes really does work.