Little Things That Make a Big Difference
Inside the Black Box
How selective colleges make admissions decisions
Some college admissions watchers use the phrase "black box" when discussing the selection process: applications go into this black box, something happens inside the box, and decisions come out the other side. I’d like to open the lid on the proverbial black box because understanding how the process works can help people — students and parents — have a more successful and less stressful experience with the college search process.
Understanding Competition
In general, students who apply to selective schools tend to be very ambitious and come from high-aspiration backgrounds. This fact alone can generate some measure of anxiety. Add to that the fact that selective colleges must make subjective judgments among many academically well-qualified students, and the process is open to differing sorts of interpretations. This is understandable as people seek to make sense of a process that may not be able to be understood in a neat and palatable way.
What We Value
As more attention is being given to the selection process itself, several remarks might be helpful not only as a guide to students and counselors but also as a comment on what colleges are trying to do and what they value.
We know that some applicants feel that the application forms to selective colleges are an exercise in harassment. But the forms are designed to give students an opportunity to discuss their values, their ambitions, their skills, and their priorities. The quality and range of questions are not there to boggle the students’ minds or dampen their spirits but rather to give admissions officers as much information as possible. This becomes more and more important the more selective the school. In fact, in a pool where students are all very good academically, it is precisely the information from the application that the student fills out that helps us make decisions.
Academic & Personal Factors
It often surprises observers of the selective admissions process to see the weighting given to nonacademic factors. Since most of the competitive colleges and universities have many applicants for each available space, and most of these candidates meet the "high minimums" on the academic yardstick, the truly distinguishing characteristics that will help a college choose often are nonacademic or personal qualities.
Of course, there are some students whose academic records indicate a "must admit" on the basis of superb academic achievement, potential, and dedication. The fact is that most students are selected on the basis of their personal presentation, their activities, their background, their ambitions, and their ability to clearly and persuasively discuss the academic and personal match between them and a particular college.
Track Record
If demonstrated ability to be academically successful at a college opens the door to serious consideration for admission, it often is individual style and skill of presentation that can lead to an actual offer of admission.
To those of us in the admissions profession, a primary goal of the entire process is to bring to each college a group of students who will have an educational impact on one another, in and out of class.
The diversity of backgrounds, interests, goals, and accomplishments upon which that ambitious goal is predicated cannot be determined by academic yardsticks alone. It relies, to a large degree, on the inherent personal qualities that can only be expressed by the candidate on the personal application and by the recommendations. We are looking as much for a personal, nonacademic match as we are an academic one.
The Form as a Forum
Students should use the personal application form as their forum to present themselves and to present their sense of the connection between them and the general opportunities offered at the college to which they have applied.
When properly presented, the candidate can lead an admissions officer to the conclusion that a mutually beneficial connection between the applicant and the institution exists, if and when it truly does exist. And that is what lies at the center of the selection process.
Considering the quality of the application pool at competitive colleges, it is something of a disappointment to see how many "super candidates" make their life stories seem a bit lackluster. It is a mistake to treat the applications like a psychological minefield, becoming very mechanical.
Applicants should share enthusiasm as articulately, thoroughly, and reflectively as they can. As an admissions officer, I love to see an essay full of revelations; I would rather read an inspired description of cleaning out a bookbag than an uninspired description of an internship with the head of a large corporation, for example.
Key to Success
The most successful candidates are those who use the application forms to showcase their backgrounds, their ambitions, their style, and values. The goal of the admissions officer at a selective college, necessarily, is to get an understanding of what makes an individual candidate tick, what actually does differentiate him or her from the rest of the pool.
An application presented in one’s natural "voice" and style — be it serious, sober, wry, humorous, or irreverent — helps accomplish that goal much better than an application that has been strictly tailored to fit in the perceived confines of an application form.
In other words, if an essay is 50 words longer or shorter than requested, or if any kind of supplementary materials must be sent to give the whole application more depth, each candidate should feel comfortable adapting the mechanics of the application process to fit his or her individual needs.
Union's View
At Union, we design a form for thousands of candidates to use each year. Our questions are there to prompt students, to encourage them ... not to create distress or stifle creativity.
In the end, many of the "matches" — offers of admission — are made based on the selection committee’s sense of an individual candidate’s unique strengths and qualities. To the extent that academically strong applicants have been able to have some fun with their applications and really put something of themselves into it, those students have enhanced their chances for success.
Good luck!