The rules are changing in the college admissions game, leaving students – and parents – to wonder what it’ll take to get into their top-choice universities.
Good grades and solid SAT scores are no guarantee, admissions experts say.
“There are a lot of (factors) that will influence it that go beyond being the bright, motivated high achiever,” said Peter Van Buskirk, a former dean of admissions at a private Pennsylvania college.
Washington’s Higher Education Coordinating Board has a proposal on hold to dump a student-ranking system known as the Admissions Index, which weighs grade point averages and standardized test scores. The board has authority to set minimal admissions standards for the state’s four-year universities.
Some schools continue to use it; others are moving away from it. Critics worry removing the index will open the door to preferential treatment, but universities say it will give them a more thorough assessment of whom they are accepting.
The University of Washington already has dropped the traditional admissions index, which it used to select half its incoming freshmen each year. The other half were judged on a comprehensive list of factors.
“Some students would avoid rigorous classes to get their admissions index numbers up, and that is not good for preparing for college,” said Philip Balinger, the UW admissions director. “It’s not just all grades.”
Balinger said the UW now uses a “holistic review process” that continues to assess academic performance and intellectual promise, but also looks at activities, achievements and the personal stories of all 16000 UW applicants.
Other factors include educational and economic disadvantages, overcoming personal adversity and “significant cultural awareness and contributions.”
In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled universities can’t give minority applicants extra points because of their race, but they can assess each applicant’s background and potential.
Tim Eyman of Mukilteo, co-sponsor of Initiative 200, which made using race in admissions illegal in Washington, said the shift from the admissions index is a move from objective to subjective standards.
Eyman argues that the change “is a total smoke screen” to be able to return to pre-I-200 days.
“It’s all this soft, gauzy word-salad explanations to say, ‘We have the final say of who gets in,’” he said. “…You are moving away from merit and you are moving toward salesmanship.”
Balinger said he doesn’t expect academic performance will slide with the new process.
The UW has become increasingly competitive to get into in recent years.
The average incoming UW freshman had a 3.69 grade point average and an SAT score of 1198, up from 1183 the year before. The national average was 1020 and state average 1062.
Admissions index or not, salesmanship is a reality for students trying to get into their top-choice college, said Van Buskirk, an executive with Thomson Peterson’s, a New Jersey company that provides advice on college admissions.
“Students are marketing themselves much more aggressively to college,” he said.
Other universities have growing freshman applicant pools with glowing transcripts.
At Western Washington University in Bellingham, the average high school grade point average for incoming freshmen was 3.6 and the average SAT score was 1140.
At Washington State University in Pullman, the average grade point average for incoming freshmen is 3.45. The average SAT score was 1109, up from 1072.
Karen Copetas, WWU’s admissions director, reels off a long list of other factors, such as leadership, activities, contributions to school or community, individual strengths, experience with diversity, a special talent and personal circumstances.
Western’s definition of academic achievement includes cumulative grade point average, the nature and difficulty of courses, grade trends, a student’s willingness to take advantage of academic opportunities and, to a lesser degree, standardized test scores.
“In essence, the weaker one’s overall academic history, the more thoroughly the staff reviews additional factors in order to assess a student’s potential to thrive at Western,” Copetas said.
“Thus, while many of our incoming students were star academic achievers in high school, many others rose to the top for countless other reasons.”
Eric Stevick is a writer for The Herald in Everett.
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