Remember this scene? (Sorry for the ad before the video. Hang with it.) A while ago, a piece in the Huffington Post kicked off an interesting discussion about the use of data in college admissions. One part in particular seemed to be the focus of much of the attention: A new focus for predicting a […]
I’ve been enjoying the holiday break, one of the nicest parts about working at a university. It’s normally a time to sit back and take stock of the year while looking forward to getting back to work soon after the first of January. As I checked my Twitter feed this morning, I noticed NACAC had […]
There are very few people who understand that Enrollment Management is, at some level, an exercise in managing trade-offs. Even though the old Michelob Light commercial suggests that you can have it all, in fact, you can’t. And in reality, if you could, you wouldn’t be working in higher education. (Those of you who know me […]
The other night my wife and I were sitting on our deck with guests and long-time friends Nancy and Al Maly from Grinnell. Among us we have about 60 years of college admission experience, so naturally the topic tends to come up when we get together. That, and Al’s fascination with the proper way to […]
If you live in Illinois, you should know about the Illinois MAP (Monetary Award Program), which has helped millions of students earn a college degree. And you should know that almost every year, someone suggests that the funding should be removed from private universities, which they apparently think of as bastions of the wealthy. So, […]
I’ve written before about those who have criticized DePaul’s decision to go test-optional in freshman admissions. Much of the criticism is from people who believe that we’re doing this is to artificially increase the freshman average ACT scores we report. So I did some work to see how plausible that approach might be. And from […]
We’re at that time of the year again, when Early Decision and [insert name of application type] admissions, denials, and defers start rolling in. And with the dawn of the new calendar year comes the resultant and predictable questions: How could they turn my kid down, with her GPA and her test scores? What does it […]
Now that we’ve begun to receive applications for 2012, a few interesting things cross my mind: First, so far, only about five percent of our applicants are choosing to apply test optional. That’s lower than I thought it would be, but perhaps it shows that people know we’ve always emphasized GPA more than test scores, […]
In the weeks since DePaul announced that we were going “test optional” for freshman admission, I’ve received quite a few phone calls and emails with questions. Fortunately, most of them have been very positive, and many of the questions have been thoughtful and engaging. As is often the case with Internet discussions, the ones who jumped into the […]
I’m pleased to announce today that DePaul University is going “test-optional” for students who apply as freshmen for the fall term of 2012. The only thing that will change on the application is the requirement that you submit an ACT or SAT; if you choose not to do so, you’ll be asked to submit responses […]
Jon Boeckenstedt's Admissions Weblog 