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July 26, 2006
Chips, salsa and scholarships
Many of us in the office are big Chipotle fans anyway, but today we had a great reason to celebrate its burrito goodness.
Today, Chipotle is donating 100% of its day’s sales (up to $35,000) to Cleveland Scholarship Programs, Inc., the oldest, largest and most respected college access program in the United States.
So for lunch, a bunch of us from undergraduate admission, along with our friends from the financial aid office, got together for a Chipotle feast. Here's a photo of one of the lunch groups:
It was delicious.
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July 13, 2006
The 'Ol Women in Science Debate
Poor Larry Summers (former Harvard president). Not only was his comment about women having less intrinsic aptitude for science the catylst for a no-confidence vote (and eventual unemployment), but now this old-fashioned notion has been dubbed the "the Larry Summers Hypothesis" in the Wall Street Journal.
On the other hand, there's a lot of talk in the news about women "leaving men in the dust" at the college level. At Case, we still have more men than women (even though a larger percentage on the incoming class is female than ever. Case's historically male student body is often attributed to the fact that our strength in the sciences and engineering tends to attract more male applicants.
One of the things that makes gender issues like these so hard to talk about is that, with gender roles having changed so much in the last few decades, different people have such different personal experiences around them. Cultural factors come into play--for some, it just comes down to what your family believed was an appropriate role for a women. Partly, it's generational. A 50-year-old female science prof was more likely to be treated differently in her day than women today.
To add more uncertaintainty to the equation, social factors are now thought to mold biology:
The biggest recent revolution in neuroscience has been the discovery of the brain's "plasticity," or ability to change structure and function in response to experiences. "It's not hard to believe that differences between the brains of male and female adults have nothing to do with genes or the Y chromosome but may be the biological expression of different social settings," says biologist Joan Roughgarden of Stanford, who completed her own transgender transition in 1998.
What do you think? Students, do you think the tides have turned on this issue? How relevant are the historical perspectives offered by baby boomers to you? What are your experiences regarding this issue?
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July 07, 2006
Tales from Admission
At office luncheons and gatherings, there is little that an admission counselor enjoys more than a raucous round of "you should have met this applicant..." or "you wouldn't have believed this parent..." The longer you work in admission, the more stories you have to share. And apparently we are not alone, as students swap college tour debacles and guidance counselors recall parent/child conflicts, as highlighted in The Chronicle of Higher Education article, "Bribery Attempts, the Unbearable Pushiness of Parents, and Other Admission Tales."
While out walking my dog recently, I met a neighbor who teaches at our Law School and she was fascinated when I told her where I worked. "What is the craziest story you've read in an application?" I asked her if she wanted to hear the craziest essay I've read or the craziest set of circumstances imparted in an application and she practically squealed with excitement, "Both!" I told her that among the thousands I've read, many essays and situations were remarkable in the moment but faded with time, while others are still unbelievably vivid.
The most distressing essay I recall is one which described a cat being run over and killed by a car - all told from the cat's perspective. There were three significant problems with this writing sample. First, I have a background in counseling and it is well documented that an interest in animal suffering is an early indicator of mental illness. Second, I share my home with two cats. Third and most importantly, what was this student trying to impart to us with such an essay? Our application states "The essay should demonstrate your best possible work and offer insight into you as a person." What type of judgment does such an essay demonstrate? Any "insight" this essay offered was not any I wanted to have. What can you do to avoid the "over the top" writing sample?
Lest you think me a hardened and heartless admission counselor, I have to tell you that I contacted this student's guidance counselor to see if he/she could shed some light on the situation. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The counselor was already concerned about this student and supported my denial of admission.
What about those circumstances I mentioned? Under that topic I have too many to mention just one - real life dramas that are more Morgan Spurlock than TLC. Situations where I had to call the guidance counselor to be certain that the application wasn't some big hoax. Like the time I read about a student who lost a sibling at a young age and whose parents decided to raise their surviving child as if the sibling never existed. Apparently all went well until this applicant was a sophomore in high school and another family member felt that the student should be made aware of this deceased sibling. At which point the student understood that the dim memories were not dreams but actual recollections. The relationship between the parents and student spontaneously combusted as the student felt that everything they had lived had been a lie. A tragedy overall and devastating academically, as the student began a challenging junior year of AP courses and SATs.
We've also had the application that was a big hoax - where the applicant had never attended the reported high school and where the teachers and guidance counselors (though real people) did not write the letters of recommendation included. That application prompted dialogue with the Common Application to alert the folks there and share the knowledge with other colleges where this applicant had sent the fictional credentials. How did we catch that one? There were some inconsistencies and the letters of rec were all very similar in tone and style - every statement was superlative to the extreme - this applicant was the "best in my career" for all four people? Doubtful.
So what's the up side? We admission counselors whisper and giggle like kids when we have a famous (or infamous) student or parent on campus. We swap instant messages and emails late in the night when we're at home reading apps. Here is the text from an email I wrote this year:
Subject: How you know that you've gone over the edge?
When you actually type “Eureka!” in an application review because you are SO excited to read a unique, funny, insightful writing sample from a PPSP (that's Pre Professional Scholars Program) applicant.
The topic? The applicant’s proclivity for canker sores.
I wouldn’t kid you.
Posted by kas45 at 02:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 05, 2006
The interviewer's seat
Summer is “high season” for visiting college campuses. Here at Case we offer seniors (and transfers) the opportunity to interview with an admission counselor during visits.
Over the last several weeks I have conducted a good number of interviews. Some students have been prepared, some not and still others that were overly prepared. Here are some observations and thoughts from the admission counselor’s chair…First, I must tell you what I tell everyone I sit down with in the interview room. I think the term “interview” is misleading. This isn’t a job interview. I don’t have a list of questions that I will ask and we don’t make our admission decisions based solely on your answers. Instead of an interview, I see this as a chance for a conversation—a conversation about the student. Their experiences, their challenges, their dreams.
• Be prepared—know what you want to talk about. Have in mind how you want to highlight your activities in and out of the classroom. Let’s talk about things that are deeper than “I took AP Chemistry last year and am taking Honors English next year.” Tell me why you wanted to take AP Chem, tell me about a cool conversation you had in an English course, tell me why you wanted to take Spanish.
• Don’t be OVERLY prepared—don’t have rehearsed statements that you throw at me, but don’t answer the question asked. Remember my earlier point about this being a conversation. Let’s chat. This isn’t the campaign trail with the need for a stump speech.
• Remember that we receive over 7000 applications each year. It’s all black ink on white paper. Sometimes this is all we have as we consider a student’s application, but a twenty minute conversation can add so much color and paint a truer picture of your experiences. An example might be that on the application you list football as an activity, but in our conversation we talk about how football has impacted your growth process because of…….
• Actually tell me something—a pet peeve is when someone throws out that they are an Eagle Scout and expects me to automatically think that he is “a true leader” just because one is an Eagle Scout. That isn’t going to happen. If you are an Eagle Scout tell me about the impact that scouting has had on you. Tell me about what you did with the troop. Tell me about your Eagle Scout project and how that impacted you. The same goes with something like community service—telling me you have done a 100 hours of service is all well and good. Telling me about why you became involved in service and what you learned from the experience is what is important.
Finally, think of this as your chance to get things “on the record.” We can talk about something important to you that might not show up in your application, on your list of activities or in your college essay.
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