Intro Ok, I suspect you’re not surprised. Over the past few years, as more colleges do research on the value of standardized tests in college admissions, using their own data and thinking about their own missions against the context of access for students, more of them eliminate the requirement of standardized testing in the admissions […]
Author: Jon Boeckenstedt
I am currently the Vice Provost of Enrollment Management at Oregon State University; what you see here is solely my opinion, and does not necessarily represent the viewpoint of anyone at OSU.
Within minutes of the New York Times breaking report that the Justice Department was going to investigate Affirmative Action in admissions to see if it discriminated against white people (not making this up), seven or eight people posted it in a Facebook group for college admissions people I moderate. I’m not sure whether it was […]
Categories
It’s 1984 Again
I can’t even. On Twitter this morning, I saw this article in the Washington Post. You should read the article to see how many things you think are wrong, but I’ll give you the one I love. If you took logic in college, and if you know anything about how college pricing works, you’ll see […]
A long time ago, some enrollment consultant told me something: Students who visit campus enroll at a higher rate than those who do not. I already knew this, of course, as do most people who do admissions for ten minutes. But then, he came up with this gem: “So the goal of your admissions efforts […]
Categories
Our Annual Entitlement Ritual
It happens every year: First, someone announces that a student, or several students, defied the odds and gained admission into some combination (or all) of the Ivy League universities, plus (sometimes) Stanford or other high profile institutions. Usually, these students are students of color, and/or children of immigrants. Second, the media pick it up. Regular, […]
No, not the original. Last night, as I was scrolling through the news, I saw this article, reporting on the statement by Harvard University on the Immigration Order issued by the president. Using my personal account, I tweeted out this: One RT, and one heart. OK, no one got the joke except a constitutional law […]
A few years ago, I was at a conference, and sat in a room with mostly high school counselors who had some bones to pick with the most selective colleges and the way they do admissions. None of their points were unreasonable, of course: They wanted the colleges and universities to be more responsive when […]
Categories
Hot Takes from ACT on Test-optional
Absurdities seem to come in clumps. While I was on the train reading Twitter earlier this week, I saw this. You may not see the final sentence, so I’ve cut it out for you here: As absurdities go, it’s really hard to top that, but later that day I stumbled upon this document from ACT […]
Categories
Our National Saturday Morning Combines
Next week, the NFL Draft will come to Chicago again. For most of us, it will mean a headache of closed streets, crowded restaurants, bad traffic, and a lot of fuss about a system of connecting players and teams that seems archaic or even anti-American to many. For some people who live and die with sports, […]
Categories
Whence comes this new-found concern?
This has been an interesting couple of weeks for college admissions, following an interesting year. The Harvard Graduate School of Education has issued a report entitled Turning the Tide, that advocates for a major overhaul in the way college admissions is done. I spoke to the author of the document last year as he was pulling support together, […]
