At the end of a very interesting first semester of college, there are many parts of school to reflect upon. The social night life, cafeteria food and being away from home are all changes that students must get used to. However, all those aspects of college revolve around the main reason students attend a college or university after high school. Your education and the college degree that comes with it is the most important tool to success for anyone in the real world. To help new students take advantage of these opportunities and privileges of college, Andrew Roberts in his book, The Thinking Student’s Guide to College: 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education, discusses his top seventy-five tips that a undergraduate in college should think about throughout their college experience. He covers topics that discuss the ideas of choosing challenging courses, managing your time and interacting with foreign students. However, I believe one of his most influential pieces of advice is something simpler than some of his other tips. He recommends students to “write emails judiciously and to answer them promptly”. The tip he mentions applies well to the way students interact and the way in which the world works today. E-mail allows students and faculty alike to respond at the most convenient times in their schedules.
The most vital point of Robert’s tip is the second part of his advice; responding promptly. He states, “If you receive an e-mail from a professor, it is best to answer immediately. Not only might you forget about it as it drops down your e-mail queue, but you are potentially annoying a professor who has taken the time to think of you personally” (Roberts, 120). Responding to e-mails quickly and in a professional manner depicts your character as both a person and student. Nowadays, students send e-mails with grammar mistakes and abbreviated vocabulary in their messages. In the world after college, these characteristics of an e-mail portray a lack of professionalism. They are changes that have to be made to demonstrate that you both care and can be taken seriously.
An additional reason why I respect this tip so much is because it fits into a vague piece of advice that I would encourage many incoming students to think about. I would suggest students to follow through. Although short and basic, it entails a great amount of experience. Like responding or writing e-mails, people depend on you to get things done in an efficient and professional way. As a student athlete at Trinity College, I so often find myself affiliated with the word commitment. Whether it is maintaining good grades, meeting students and teachers for scheduled appointments or being on time, others expect you to have the maturity to follow through.
I recall the first time I had scheduled an appointment with a teacher to seek additional help for a class I was struggling in at the time. Beyond the flexible office hours and tutoring sessions set up by the teacher’s assistant, my schedule did not match up to allow me to find extra help. However, because of a commitment to teaching and to providing all students to get help, my professor designated more time slots to fulfill my personal need to learn outside of class. To make this additional session useful, I was assigned a lengthy packet of material to review before my meeting. This packet was intended to help myself realize the problems I was having with the material and to provide extra exercises outside of the homework. Regrettably, the packet remained untouched while I focused on other work and hanging out with friends. When the time came to meet with my professor and fix the problems I had been having on exams, I had no understanding of what I had to accomplish. I failed to hold my end of the deal up. Rather than following through on my responsibilities, I wasted not only my time but the time of someone who made an effort to assist me personally.
I can tell you the obvious lessons from my mistake but the general point is college itself places more responsibility on students than they are used to in the past. Being able to take account for your own actions and behavior is critical throughout your four years at a university. Without the constant supervision of a parent or long time friends, responsibility to get things accomplished and to stay out of trouble becomes a one person job. Simple tasks such as completing you part of a project or making a phone call on the behalf of someone else are minor scenarios you will find yourself in all the time. Following through not only does you a favor, but it helps others as well. One of the best qualities in a young individual is the ability to be depended upon. Follow through.
Bibliography:
Roberts, Andrew Lawrence. The Thinking Student’s Guide to College. ; 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2010. Print.
About the author: Casey Tanner is a first-year student in the Color and Money Seminar. He is from Wellesley, Ma and has created this work to help the incoming class of 2012 have a smooth transition into the college lifestyle.
The admissions process is complicated and extraneous to all students. The difficult decision of choosing where to spend the next four invaluable years of school is based solely on the way people can display themselves. Criterion such as grades, standardized test scores and community service all have an impact on the decision process when looking at applications. However, many colleges and universities place a heavy amount of the decision on the conditions that many cannot control. Factors like financial status, alumni connection and racial background play a vital role in who is accepted and who is denied. As we have seen in readings and simulations in class, it is often those with advantages in these areas that are accepted over the real qualified students. Trinity College should revise its application process to enhance the consistency of applicants by evaluating students on their future potential rather than assessing them on their past. Privileged individuals do have an advantage in the admissions process. This system should be set in place to both minimize the influence that these privileges have in the final decision and evaluate the students based on their success given certain advantages. Although it may seem impossible to make a perfect system to determine who is accepted and who isn’t, there should be revisions to the current process to provide more consistency. The qualifications of an applicant should be evaluated in terms of the factors that can be controlled by students; factors that compare the success of students up until college based upon both their educational and socioeconomic background.
Similar to most colleges and universities, Trinity College searches through thousands of applications to find the most qualified and well-rounded students. To make the difficult task of determining which students should be chosen from the thousands that apply, Trinity depends on many sources of information to “try to balance the following factors when evaluating candidates for admission” (Trinity College). Trinity College states that it takes into consideration factors such as 1.) Your transcript 2.) Course selection 3.) The quality of your course loads and prefers to see that you have challenged yourself with the strongest program that you can handle 4.) Standardized test scores 5.) One (1) college or guidance counselor recommendation, as well as two (2) teacher recommendations 6.) Grades and 7.) Extracurricular activities etc (Trinity College). Despite the information given, it is unpractical for a college to look at just these factors alone, for there are other attributes that should be acknowledged. Yet, it is important to pay attention to the influence certain factors play in determining who gets admitted and what additional attributes should be viewed to make such a decision.
The Trinity College Admissions Office
In discussions over the current admissions process, one controversial issue has been the validity in the admissions structure. On the one hand, some argue that the current application process provides the best indication of a student’s full potential in college. Others maintain that the current process is flawed. The general argument made by Bryan Nance in his work For a Fairer Admissions Process, Read Between the Lines, is that the current admissions process is unsound because of the indicators it uses to determine the best applicants. More specifically he argues that the system is flawed because of the heavy amount of weight placed upon the quantitative information received by schools. He states, “Although these are extremely important [grades and standardized test scores], the historic numbers-trump-all model has become increasingly outdated in its ability to assess an applicant’s true potential, especially among low-income, first-generation, and minority students”(Nance). Here, Nance suggests that the current system is inaccurate because of its inability to properly determine the future success of students. Furthermore, he mentions that, colleges and universities that use this system find more difficulties in evaluating the future potential of students that fall in the racial or economical minority. Today’s system is structured to favor the wealthier white majority that applies to higher education schools such as Trinity. Numerical evaluators will generally be higher within communities with more superior school systems and resources. Systematic changes must be made to discontinue the unequal “playing field” for applicants coming from advantageous backgrounds.
Instead of referring to standardized tests scores and high school GPA’s, the college admissions team should look at more effective indicators of a student’s potential. Teacher recommendations and the decisions for students to choose harder level courses in high school should be looked at more closely. The choice to challenge oneself portrays the work ethic needed to succeed both in college and afterwards. Connections between Trinity and all high schools should be strengthened to help build relationships between the admissions staff and the teachers of those schools. The recommendations are one of the few times in an application where students get use the opinions of other adults to describe the real identity of an applicant. These are just a few of the indicators that should be looked at more closely, over the heavily weighted numerical indicators.
The CommonApp System, used by most colleges and universities to accept applications
Some may say that the college admissions decision is based on all contributing factors to an application. Although this may be true to a certain extent, the most important factors in an application are based on aspects that the applicant cannot control. Factors such as social status, race, legacy and early decision advantages play a huge determining role in the final decision. Applying early decision or early action to a college is a huge advantage for the student coming from a higher economic background. However, this advantage is not practical for all applicants given their financial status. In the article, The Troubling Rise in Early Admissions, Richard Kahlenberg discusses why and for whom the early decision process helps and in some cases hurts students in the admission process. Kahlenberg states, “Early decision programs are particularly unfair to low-income applicants because the binding commitment to attend a particular college eliminates the ability to bargain between colleges for the most advantageous financial aid packages” (Kahlenberg). In this statement he explains how the admissions process is unfair to students of lower socioeconomic status, while wealthier students have it easier because of early decision possibility.
At Trinity itself, the admissions staff takes into consideration these attributes when deciding who to admit and who to deny. These problems are not only here at Trinity but are occurring nationwide. At Texas A&M, the admissions staff was experiencing some of the same problems. Yet, they have made improvements by choosing to abolish the admission of legacies that have fewer qualifications in comparison to non-legacy students (Schmidt). Furthermore, factors that have to do with connections and background should be weighed less. A student’s admittance should be based on their own performance in and out of school.
The admissions process at Trinity College needs to recognize the success of students in relation to the background they come from, rather than in comparison to all the applicants in the admissions pool. Many would agree there exists a major gap between the types of educations amongst various communities. Wealthier and more affluent communities tend to yield students with greater résumés while impoverished neighborhood struggle to send a higher percentage of students to school after high school. In Derek Bok’s article Closing the Nagging Gap in Minority Achievement, he acknowledges that the problem is, “closing the gap in academic achievement and standardized test scores separating black students from their white and Asian-American counterparts. The gap is nationwide, it is substantial, and it has not diminished in the last 15 years. The task is all the more difficult because most experts attribute the gap to racial differences in child-rearing, preschool preparation, and opportunities for a quality public-school education” (Bok). Here, there is a recognized disparity between students who are raised in drastically different environments that often goes unaccounted for in the admissions process. Students are undoubtedly tested to overcome greater disadvantages when not given the proper resources to succeed like their wealthier counterparts. To level the playing field, students at Trinity College need to be evaluated based on the success of where they come from rather than in comparison to the group as a whole.
The success of students should be judged in comparison to the background in which they come from. The graph above is a model intending to display the new way the admissions staff at Trinity should view its applicants. The linear line (shown in red) is the space on the graph that predicts the average success that a student should have, given a certain opportunity level. The opportunity level is displayed using numbers from zero to one hundred (one hundred symbolizing a background with more opportunities). A higher opportunity level is computed by looking at the resources and guidance that students had throughout middle school and high school. Students that fall below the line are students that did not succeed to the potential the college would expect given the background from where they came from. On the contrary, students that lie above the line are indicators of applicants that surpassed the expected level of success prior to coming to Trinity College. It is important to emphasize the difference of a student surpassing expectations given a lower opportunity level in comparison to a student coming from a wealthier background. Trinity College should look at factors such as these to gain more understanding on the personality and character of each individual.
Our solutions to these problems are meant to fix the current inconsistencies in the admissions process at Trinity. With these solutions, come possible dilemmas such as funding and disagreement in the new evaluation system. However, the goal of these revisions is to create a new way to properly evaluate students in an equal way; to judge students on their capabilities of becoming successful in the future both at college and afterwards. Like any changes in a process, this process may take awhile to ever fully be effective. Yet, with time there can be a new and more efficient way to evaluate the leaders of tomorrow.
About the authors: James DiBlasi and Casey Tanner are two first-year students in the Color and Money Seminar. Both students come from the greater Boston area; James (Winchester, Ma) and Casey (Wellesley, Ma).
Anne West, Hazel Pennell, and Philip Noden, “School Admissions: Increasing Equity, Accountability and Transparency,” British Journal of Educational Studies 46, no. 2 (June 1, 1998): 188-200.
Bartlett ,Tom, “Race Is a Factor in Admissions at a Third of Colleges, Survey Finds,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 10, 2003, Volume 50, Issue 7 edition, sec. Students. Bok, Derek, “Closing the Nagging Gap in Minority Achievement,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 24, 2003, Volume 50, Issue 9 edition, sec. The Chronicle Review.
“Fall Timeline for High School Seniors: November « College Blog by Kris Hintz.” College Blog by Kris Hintz. Web. 05 Dec. 2011.
Fischer, Karin, “Unknown Factor Hampers Minority Students’ Performance in College, Study Finds,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 6, 2003, Volume 49, Issue 39 edition, sec. Students.
Kahlenberg, Richard. “The Troubling Rise in Early Admissions,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Innovations, October 29, 2010, http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-troubling-rise-in-early-admissions/27737.
Nance, Bryan G. “For a Fairer Admissions Process, Read Between the Lines,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 19, 2010, sec. Diversity in Academe, http://chronicle.com/article/For-a-Fairer-Admissions/124444/
Sawallich, Christopher. Trinity College Chapel Hartford, CT AdmissionsBuilding, October 14 2011, http://www.flickr.com/photos/csawallich/6244617023/.<.
Schmidt, Peter, “New Pressure Put on Colleges to End Legacies in Admissions,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 30, 2004, Volume 50, Issue 21 edition, sec. Archives : Government & Politics.
Casey Tanner & James DiBlasi Color and Money November, 2011 Paper Three: The admissions process is complicated and extraneous to all students. The difficult decision of choosing where to spend the next four invaluable years of school is based solely on the way people can display themselves. Criterions such as grades, standardized test scores, community service, etc all have an impact on the decision process of applications. However, many colleges and universities place a heavy amount of the decision based on the conditions many cannot control. Factors like financial status, alumni connection and racial background play a vital role in who is accepted and who is denied. As we have seen in our own simulation in class, it is often those with advantages in these backgrounds that are accepted over the real qualified students. Trinity College should revise its application process to enhance the consistency of applicants by evaluating students on their future potential rather than assessing them on their past. The qualifications of an applicant should be looked in terms of factors that can controlled by students opposed to those aspects that cannot. These sections should compare the success students had up until high school given both their educational and socioeconomic background. Privileged individuals do have an advantage in the admissions process. However, this system should be set in place to minimize the influence these privileges have in the final decision and evaluate them based on their success given certain advantages. Although it may seem impossible to make a perfect system to determine who is accepted and who isn’t, there should be revisions to the current process to provide more consistency.
Annotated Bibliography
1. Bryan G. Nance, “For a Fairer Admissions Process, Read Between the Lines,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 19, 2010, sec. Diversity in Academe, http://chronicle.com/article/For-a-Fairer-Admissions/124444/.
The author discusses the problems with the current way the admissions process is set up. He discusses the need for a more updated process that looks below the surface of standardized test scores, and instead looks for qualities that show future potential.
2. Richard Kahlenberg, “The Troubling Rise in Early Admissions,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Innovations, October 29, 2010, http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-troubling-rise-in-early-admissions/27737.
This article discusses the advantages of legacies and those that apply early in the admissions process. The privileges of coming from a higher economic background serve as another benefit in comparison to those who cannot apply either early decision because of the binding aspect with the college.
3. Tom Bartlett and Karin Fischer, “Race Is a Factor in Admissions at a Third of Colleges, Survey Finds,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 10, 2003, Volume 50, Issue 7 edition, sec. Students.
This article talks about the recent Supreme Court ruling to allow colleges to be awareness of race. However, despite governmental changes, this ruling did not alter the admissions process in colleges showing that race had already contributed in the process.
4. Tom Bartlett and Karin Fischer, “Unknown Factor Hampers Minority Students’ Performance in College, Study Finds,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 6, 2003, Volume 49, Issue 39 edition, sec. Students.
Studies have found that minority students are less likely to succeed in college because of the structural and cultural make up of college universities. The configuration of college institutions is “geared primarily to white culture”; making the transition for first generation college students more difficult.
5. Anne West, Hazel Pennell, and Philip Noden, “School Admissions: Increasing Equity, Accountability and Transparency,” British Journal of Educational Studies 46, no. 2 (June 1, 1998): 188-200.
This paper goes into depth about the needed reforms to the college admissions process as well as its impact on in universities. In order to provide consistency and equality amongst all applicants, changes need to be made by looking at an ideal admissions process and making it applicable to today’s process.
Casey Tanner Color and Money November, 2011 Paper Three Paragraphs: The admissions process is complicated and extraneous to all students. The difficult decision of choosing where to spend the next four invaluable years of school is based solely on the way people can display themselves. Criterions such as grades, standardized test scores, community service, etc all have an impact on the decision process of applications. However, many colleges and universities place a heavy amount of the decision based on the conditions many cannot control. Factors like financial status, alumni connection and racial background play a vital role in who is accepted and who is denied. As we have seen in our own simulation in class, it is often those with advantages in these backgrounds that are accepted over the real qualified students. Trinity College should revise its application process to enhance the consistency of applicants who get accepted and those who do not. The qualifications of an applicant should be looked so that the sections of an application that can be determined by the students are weighted more than those areas that cannot be determined. Privileged individuals do have an advantage in the admissions process. However, there should be a system set in place to minimize the influence these privileges have in the final decision. Although it may seem impossible to make a perfect system to determine who is accepted and who isn’t, there should be revisions to the current process to provide more consistency. To find a more efficient way to structure the admissions process, we will need additional information to help revise our current process. Factual evidence taken from our personal admissions process is a definitely necessity to see how our admissions staff makes decisions. The books we have read in class like Creating a Class and readings regarding admissions policies will also be critical to look at during this paper. With this information, we can design a stronger and more consistent way to accept students to Trinity College.
Li Ming Strengths: – From Shanghai, China (foreign) – 93rd percentile in his class. – High SAT 1 total: 1970 – Extracurricular activities – Overall is in good academic standing. – Great impression as a model citizen and person to a professor at the school (Mark Lantry). – Works/Employed
Weaknesses: – C+ in a senior year course – Short (but positive) guidance counselor recommendation; due to the trouble of finding someone to write a recommendation from someone studying abroad – Economic troubles paying for school. Would need a tuition – Personal essay was not so much about him as it was about an environmental problem with the world. – No AP/BC Courses listed – NO alumni connection
In comparison: – One of the highest GPAs out of the 15 students – Only one from outside the United States of America – Looking between the 3-5 people seating on the list.
Summary: Li Ming is a strong applicant for The College. As a student from Shanghai, China, Li Ming is the only international applicant The College is currently reviewing. He is a bilingual, very environmentally devoted young adult with an intended major of Environmental Science. Academically, Mr. Li has an accumulative high school grade average of 93 %, finishing also in the top 93rd percentile of his class. He scored a 1970 on his SAT I, making him the applicant with the fourth highest SAT I score out of all the applicants who included their standardized test scores. In his résumé, there are no listings of any AP classes or exams taken. Furthermore, Mr. Li has a “C+” in his senior year politics course. Although it is the only “C” he has received throughout high school, it did not come at a great time. Mr. Li has been mentioned to have “everything we here at The College desire in a student: drive, creativity, talent, and the desire to use those things to make these world better” from our own Associate Professor of Environmental Science here at The College. He shows productivity participating in various school groups when he is not working at the Hongkou District Electronics Waste Management Service. With that said, if we were to admit Mr. Li for admissions come next year, most of his tuition must be paid for by the school because of the economic strain it would cost to his family. With all this said, Li Ming is between the 3rd and 5th positions in our applicant pool.
