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Undergraduate Admissions Uncensored

Admissions data visualized

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Once again, self-described “tableau dabbler,” Jon Boeckenstedt, associate vice president for enrollment management at DePaul University, has come up with easy-to-use tools for visualizing basic college admissions data.

Drawing from information compiled in Peterson’s Undergraduate database and the Peterson’s Undergraduate Financial Aid database, both copyright 2016 by Peterson’s-Nelnet, Boeckenstedt has created a series of ten “views” or charts showing test scores, male and female admit rates, early decision vs. regular admit rates, need data as well as some general international student information to be used with caution.

And the colorful “optics” can be very revealing as well as educational for anyone putting together a college list.

For example, by looking at “SAT Math distributions,” it’s very easy to see that an applicant to Caltech with less than a 700 Math SAT has nearly no chance of admission as 98.9 percent of the freshman class entering fall 2015* (the teal-color bar) had math scores over 700 (exact numbers can be found by hovering your mouse over the bar).  Judging from ACT Composite distributions, the student with less than a 30 Composite ACT score had no chance of admission to Caltech.

Using the same database, Boeckenstedt lays out 25th and 75th percentiles for SAT CR and Math scores as well as ACT Composites. Looking at the ACT view, for Stanford University, the 25th percentile of the distribution was 31 and the 75th percentile was 35—not too promising for a student with an ACT Composite below 31.

“While test scores are not the primary factor in admissions decisions, these charts can give you a good sense of where you might stand in the applicant pool,” explained Boeckenstedt. “And while you might not eliminate yourself from consideration if your scores are close to the border between one range and another, it’s clear that high scores are an important consideration at many of these institutions.”

Admit rate data, or the percentage of applicants offered admission, is equally interesting.  The chart illustrating the difference between admit rates for men and women shows exactly how wide the margin can be. For example, in fall 2015, the admit rate for men at Vassar College was 35.4 percent and for women was 21.5 percent—a significant difference easily visualized by the distance between the purple and orange dots. At Harvey Mudd College, the admit rate for men was 9.4 percent while the admit rate for women was 21.4 percent—the dots are reversed!

But it’s the chart documenting the early decision (ED) and overall admit rates and their difference that could possibly suggest application strategies.  In fall 2015, the admit rate for ED candidates at Tufts University was 39.2 percent, but the overall admit rate was only 16.1 percent, suggesting a huge advantage for ED applicants. This is confirmed in the light blue bar to the right of the chart showing the difference between the two rates.

Boeckenstedt warns that it’s important to be realistic about admit rates. “A 15% admission rate does not mean that your chances are one in seven; your chances may be better or worse based on any one of many factors in your file.”And, “if you’re a top student in the applicant pool, your chances are probably better; if not, and if there is nothing else to get your application noticed, your chances are almost certainly worse.”

He goes on to add, “…it’s clear that Early Decision makes the choice about where to apply, and under what plans, even harder.”

All of Boeckenstedt’s charts may be filtered by state. And to navigate the various views, simply click the gray boxes or arrows along the top. Use the scroll bar to move down the view, and hover over any data point to show details.

For the record, all the score information is given in terms of the “old” SAT and not the “new” SAT.

*3/17/17 Correction

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The Common Data Set Part 2: Colleges by the numbers

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Connecting with the Common Data Set (CDS) for a particular college or university will provide you with a wealth of information to kick-start your college search.

And, the information found on these pages may be more current and complete than what’s posted on college search websites or that contained in college guides.

Check this out: the 2017 College Board College Handbook was printed in June, 2016 and is based on data provided to the CDS for 2015-16. The 2018 edition with 2016-17 data won’t come out for months.

But many colleges have already posted their 2016-17 CDS survey responses, with more up-to-date information. So why not get a jump on the 2018 handbook and go directly to “source documents” found on institutional research pages?

In your research, you’ll find that not every website or guide uses all the information available through the Common Data Set. Not all will provide details on wait lists or transfers. But once you get familiar with CDS questions and format, you’ll discover these details are usually there and very accessible.

In addition, you can research trends by looking at CDS data over a series of years. That’s a plus when looking at retention or graduation rates, where you always want to see improvement. The College of William and Mary is extraordinarily helpful in this way, posting full Common Data Sets from as far back as 1997-98.

Keep in mind that the CDS is a voluntary project in which colleges “self-report” information with little or no centralized technical support or oversight.  In other words, the data can be inaccurate or slanted in ways that favor the institution.

Note that you can always cross reference the CDS with College Navigator. But even then, the data is only as good as that which colleges may be willing or able to provide, and it sometimes lags the most recent CDS posting.

In the way of an introduction, here is a tour of the basic Common Data Set:

  1. Enrollment. Questions B1 and B2 provide the size of the institution as well as provide you with a breakdown of what the campus community looks like in terms of race and ethnicity.
  2. Graduation Rates. Questions B4 through B11 address “persistence” or what percent of students graduated within a specified time frame. You can easily compute 4-year graduation rates by dividing B7 (completions within four years) by B6 (the total class size). For example, the University of Virginia graduated 87.8 percent of the class beginning in 2010, within four years. Question B11 simply states the 6-year graduation rate of 94.1percent.
  3. Freshman Retention. Question B22 provides the freshman retention rate based on the date an institution calculates its “official” enrollment—a number subject to some manipulation depending on who is counting and on what day.
  4. Admissions. Using the answers to C1, you can get male/female as well as overall admit rates (selectivity) by dividing the number of admitted students by the number of applicants. This can extremely interesting when trying to determine the level of admissions difficulty for men vs. women or your basic odds of getting in. For example, in the fall of 2016, the College of William & Mary admitted 43 percent of its male applicants but only 32 percent of the females who applied.
  5. Yield. Once again using the responses to C1, yield may be computed by dividing the total number of enrolled students by the number admitted. Because of the sensitivity and importance of this number in college rankings, the definitions of “admitted” and “enrolled” can be different at different institutions.
  6. Wait list. The answers to C2 speak to the use of the wait list and the likelihood of admission from the wait list. In the spring of 2016, Dartmouth College offered 2064 students places on the wait list for a class eventually totaling 1121. Of those, 1194 accepted spots on the list. From that group, 16 were admitted.
  7. Other Admissions Factors. C7 outlines the relative importance of academic and nonacademic factors in admissions decisions. This may be a good place to see if interviews are available and how important they may be. Wake Forest University and Carnegie Mellon University consider the interview “important,” while Johns Hopkins and William & Mary simply note that the interview is “considered.”
  8. GPA. C12 provides the average high school GPA of enrolled freshmen. Because it’s hard to know if the number is weighted, unweighted or recomputed, the GPA response is left out of many college guides. It’s also a question that’s frequently left blank by colleges.
  9. Early Decision Advantage. Question C21 covers early decision and early action plans. This is where you can discover how much of an advantage it might be to apply to an institution early decision. For example, for fall 2016, the College of William and Mary received 1003 early decision applications and admitted 519 or 52 percent. Going back to question C1, a quick computation shows the overall admit rate to be much lower—37 percent. At Dartmouth, 26 percent of the early decision candidates were admitted according to Question C21, while only 11 percent were admitted overall.
  10. Transfers. D2 indicates how many transfer applications were received, how many students were admitted, and how many eventually enrolled. Other basic information on the transfer process includes the terms during which transfers may enroll (D3), minimum credit units required for transfer (D4), the need for an interview (D5), and a minimum college grade point average a college wishes to see for a transfer (D7).
  11. Residency. Under the “Student Life” section (F1), you can see the percent (and number) of out-of-state students (excluding international students) enrolled. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill enrolled 16 percent out-of-state students in fall 2016, while the College of William and Mary enrolled 34 percent.
  12. Annual Expenses. Questions G0 through G6 lay out undergraduate tuition, fees and room and board. More current data for the coming year would probably be found on an individual school website and if you’re interested, G0 gives a direct link to an institution’s net price calculator.
  13. Financial Aid. The H section is devoted to financial aid, including scholarships/grants and “self-help” awards. Question H2A provides information on non-need-based scholarships and grants, including athletes. And for international students, H6 answers the question of whether or not institutional aid is available to “nonresident aliens.”
  14. Percent of Need. Question H2i provides the percent of need a college claims was met for students awarded any need-based aid. For the 2016-17 reporting period, Temple University met 69 percent of need for incoming full time freshmen. Towson University met 54.8 percent and Bucknell University met 91 percent of need, while Stanford University and UVa claimed to meet 100 percent of need (keep in mind the “need” is a pretty subjective term).
  15. Faculty and Class Size. Questions I1 through I3 cover the range of territory relating to student-to-faculty ratio and average undergraduate class size. This is a complicated area full of definitional issues, but since colleges make a point of bragging about how small their classes are, you may want to take a look.

If this kind of analysis gives you a headache, feel free to use comprehensive college search websites and guide books that aggregate and re-work the data into more user-friendly formats.

But if you can’t wait until mid-summer and like the idea of going directly to the source, visit the CDS webpages for colleges you are researching.

This is the second in a two-part series on the Common Data Set. For sample links to CDS webpages, go back to Part 1.

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The Common Data Set Part 1: Where the pros get their numbers

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Did you ever wonder where some college guidebooks and online search engines get their information?  Are you curious about how publications like US News & World Report collect data for rankings?  Would you like to go directly to the source?

If so, let me introduce you to the Common Data Set, an amazing resource anyone can access—if you know how.

The backstory is simple.  The Common Data Set (CDS) was created as a way to satisfy the public’s insatiable appetite for college knowledge and statistics.

According to the CDS website, the Common Data Set initiative is “a collaborative effort among data providers in the higher education community and publishers as represented by the College Board, Peterson’s, and U.S. News & World Report. The combined goal of this collaboration is to improve the quality and accuracy of information provided to all involved in a student’s transition into higher education, as well as to reduce the reporting burden on data providers.”

So rather than answer a zillion questions from many different publishers and websites, colleges fill out a lengthy standardized form each year. Data is collected and compiled and doled out to publishers which use it for everything from college rankings to online college search tools.

And many colleges are kind enough to publish their CDS surveys on their websites so anyone can have access to the information. And if you get familiar with the various data fields, it’s a goldmine covering everything from admissions statistics to financial aid.

Typically, you can find CDS responses by going to a college’s Institutional Research Office webpage or by using the website search function and entering “Common Data Set.” You can also Google “Common Data Set” and institution name. If the information is posted, it will appear as a link.

But not all schools post the CDS and URL’s change frequently, so don’t be alarmed if after several attempts nothing comes up. A number of colleges simply don’t want the public to have easy access to what may be unflattering statistics or information they feel could be misinterpreted.

Frankly, I’m always a little suspicious of colleges that refuse to post CDS information, but Columbia University and the University of Chicago probably don’t care what I think.

And keep in mind that the folks who administer the CDS don’t audit the information for accuracy.  They rely on colleges and universities to provide accurate and truthful information, which isn’t always the case as we’ve learned from the repeated scandals involving US News.

Also, it’s fair to say that colleges sometimes differ about terms and definitions.  For example, the CDS provides little guidance on what is required for grade point average information—weighted, unweighted, or recomputed.  As a result, the reports on GPA are sometimes one and other times another.  And often, the question (C12) simply isn’t answered.

Finally, don’t confuse the Common Data Set with the federal government’s College Navigator. They involve two different reporting systems and produce two different reports in different formats.

But for hardcore data junkies, the Common Data Set is hard to beat. Depending on the time of year, it’s more current than what you’re likely to find in any print guide or website.

To get started, here are some sample CDS links:

This is the first part of two-part series on the Common Data Set. The second part will drill a little deeper into CDS questions and content.

A unique college fair for prospective veterinarians

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Prospective veterinarians, including high school students or undergrads on a pre-professional veterinary track, should make a point of attending the 2017 Veterinary Medical Career Fair.  Sponsored by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC), the fair is scheduled for Sunday, March 12, from 2:30 to 5 p.m., at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, in downtown Washington, D.C.

This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to meet veterinary medical school admissions officials, get advice on applying to veterinary school, and learn about various veterinary medical careers.  It’s one of very few college fairs in the country targeted to students interested in pursuing careers in veterinary medicine, and families travel long distances to attend.

Already gathered for an annual conference, representatives from national and international colleges of veterinary medicine will be on hand to walk students through the application process while explaining the kinds of credentials necessary to attend any of the AAVMC member institutions.

For example, prospective veterinarians may be surprised to learn that some veterinary medical schools are interested in time spent in animal care related activities as early as high school.  In fact, students considering veterinary careers are well advised to start keeping track of their volunteer hours in activities related to animals or animal care throughout all four years of high school.

And we’re not just talking about cats and dogs!

“This year’s event will feature a session on equine medicine because we know many students have visions of doing this type of work,” explained Dr. Lisa Greenhill, AAVMC senior director for institutional research and diversity. “We will also have a group of veterinary students talking about their experiences in vet school; it’s a session students won’t want to miss.”

By the way, US News lists veterinary medicine among the 100 “best” jobs of 2017, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts the employment of veterinarians to grow nine percent through 2024, faster than average for all occupations.

And for high school students thinking ahead, the choice of undergraduate school could possibly fast track acceptance to veterinary medical colleges as opportunities exist for early admission to DVM programs by bypassing completion of the BS.  For students committed to the field, this could mean significant savings in terms of time and money!

This year’s AAVMC event will offer four information sessions in addition to the career fair:

  • 3:00 p.m.: Applying to Veterinary School (for all attendees)
  • 4:00 p.m.:  Equine Medicine (for all attendees) OR Veterinary Student Panel (for all attendees)

“Students visiting the career fair should consider asking about summer programs and how to get veterinary-related experience while still in high school,” suggested Dr. Greenhill. “Research programs are available with undergraduate ‘feeder’ opportunities at some vet schools.”

And there are prizes!

“Once again, we will have some of our limited edition ‘I’m a Future Vet’ t-shirts.  This year’s shirt features a horse in honor of equine medicine, and for the first time ever, our shirts will be dated!,” said Dr. Greenhill.  “Numerous other items, including some surprises, will be given to students who answer questions throughout our information sessions on Sunday, so get ready to engage with our speakers!”

Although not required, students are asked to register in advance for the fair. Last year’s event was very well attended, and early registration helps conference organizers do a better job.  And note that while hourly parking is available at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, students and their families are strongly encouraged to take the Metro (Red Line exiting at the Woodley Park/Zoo Station).

But if you can’t attend, take the time to check out the AAVMC website for information on how to become a veterinarian.

Colleges Reject Waiters and Accept Actors

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We’re not talking about servers at restaurants or performers on the stage. Instead, we’re focusing this pretty important pep-talk on students who WAIT to be asked to join a group or activity versus students who ACT on their passion without needing an invitation. Get more expert undergraduate admissions advice at http://admissions.blog.

Tips for earning grades colleges will be sure to notice

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At the top of every list of what colleges look for in applicants is a strong academic record. This means both grade point average and strength of academic program. And they go hand-in-hand—you can’t cut corners on either.

For the record, grades always should be trending upward, and although “stuff happens,” grade blips are definitely not desirable.  Two students with identical GPAs will be viewed very differently by admissions offices if one has improving grades and the other is on the decline.

But whether you’re just starting off or well along in your academic journey, here are a few tips for earning grades colleges will be sure to notice:

  1. Show up. And not just physically, although that’s a good first step. Attend class with the intent to learn. Avoid distractions such as reading other materials, texting, surreptitiously surfing the internet on your mobile phone, or talking to the student next to you.
  2. Get Organized. Invest in a planner and use it. Keep track of assignments as they are announced, check them off as they are completed and always scan ahead to see what’s on the horizon. You’d be amazed how handy a planner is—log-in club meetings, dentist appointments, or consultations with your school counselor. The more you use a planner, the better organized you will become.
  3. Sit close to the front of the classroom. Students who voluntarily sit in one of the first few rows generally earn better grades than those who sit toward the back. Sorry. It’s just true!
  4. Ask questions. If you don’t “get” something, the chances are excellent that others in the class also don’t understand. Inquisitive students are engaged students.
  5. Join class discussions. Teachers notice who is paying attention through class participation. This can play to your advantage when it comes time to giving out grades. Besides, discussions (and class content) are more likely to be imprinted on your mind if you’ve gotten involved.
  6. Take good class notes. You’ll be taking notes for the rest of your academic career, so learn and practice these skills now. Find a system that works for you and use it. But don’t count on your computer for taking notes. Studies show that technology just doesn’t work as well on this one.
  7. Listen. Listen “between the lines” for subtle messages. Many teachers provide strong clues about the most important elements in a lesson—even suggesting something about a topic’s relevance to the next quiz or test. The best students pick up on these clues.
  8. Ask for help. The key is not to wait until you’ve fallen hopelessly behind. Your front line source of help is your teacher, who should be very invested in your success. Stay after class or make an appointment for after-school help. If this doesn’t work, seek outside support. Try classmates or find a tutor if necessary.
  9. Keep up. Finish assignments before they are due. Actually turning in the work helps too. Work completed in advance of deadlines is often better than that thrown together at the last minute.
  10. Read actively. Active reading involves more than scanning words on a page. For some students, it means underlining, highlighting, or annotating materials. Others develop lists of key words and summarize materials as they read.
  11. Study daily. Successful students commit some time every day to active studying—reading, writing, and reviewing. This may also mean outlining, making flash cards, participating in study groups, or rewriting notes. Students who work steadily on coursework do better than those who study in large chunks, and they definitely outperform students who cram.
  12. Work the extra credit. View “optional” extra credit projects or assignments as required. Even if it’s just a few points added to your grade, the total can add up. Missing an A- by one point can be really painful.
  13. Upgrade writing skills. Learn to proofread, revise and correct written work. At the same time, take steps to increase vocabulary and develop facility with basic grammar. Improved writing skill strengthens critical thinking as well as listening, reading, and speaking abilities. It also pays off outside the classroom with higher standardized test scores.
  14. Limit internet distractions. There is no reason to have any social networking distraction going while doing homework. In fact, it’s likely you can complete most assignments without even turning the computer on. Consider studying somewhere away from the single biggest “attractive nuisance” in the house—your computer.
  15. Avoid overscheduling. Keeping in mind the relative importance of GPA in the college admissions process, be smart about the number of outside commitments interfering with your ability to study and complete assignments on time. Time management will become increasingly important as you go further in your education.
  16. Develop test taking know-how. Successful test taking avoids carelessness and rests on a few simple strategies like following directions, becoming familiar with different kinds of questions, and understanding how the test will be graded.
  17. Use time wisely. Even if you don’t procrastinate and are generally pretty organized, strategic use of time can reduce stress. Tackle harder work first and break large projects into smaller, easy-to-accomplish pieces. Feel free to reward yourself for completing major tasks by taking short breaks.
  18. Get enough sleep. Go to bed at a reasonable time and turn off your cellphone. Better yet, leave the cellphone in the kitchen. No text message is ever that important.

UIUC is Impressive and Endearing

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a college that doesn’t get nearly the attention that it should from out-of-state students, but with amazing programs across disciplines and a happy campus culture in the middle of rural Illinois, we have a feeling that is about to change. At least we hope so, as living and learning at UIUC exemplifies what many would deem to be the classic American college experience portrayed in popular culture. In fact, being on campus a this Midwestern public university has a retro feel about it that makes it pretty darn charming.

Essay Hell’s ‘crash course’ on how to write a totally awesome college admissions essay

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Fans of Janine Robinson and her enormously popular Essay Hell blog will love the latest in her series of practical primers on college essay writing, Essay Hell’s 50 Most Commonly Asked Questions—a crash course on how to write a totally awesome college admissions essay.

In this short—it takes under an hour to read—ebook guide, Robinson has compiled 50 of the questions she’s encountered most frequently in workshops and working individually with students and others on college essay writing. Readers can easily learn the basics of everything from form to content in thumbnail responses provided in the narrative and then expand their knowledge by clicking on links to related posts on the Essay Hell blog.  Standing alone, the guide is an easy and direct introduction to college essays.  But the combination with more specific and detailed advice in the blog gives a powerful overview of what admissions readers look for and appreciate in essays submitted with college applications.

The guide is broken into five chapters featuring questions on how to find essay topics, the best way to structure essays and how to strike the right tone for the right topics. Sample questions include

Who reads these essays?
What are admissions experts looking for?
Do I need an impressive topic?
Can I write about mental illness, sex, religion, politics, etc.”
Does a college application essay need a title?
How much of a role can parents play in brainstorming and writing the essay?

Robinson’s pioneering approach to college essays is one now shared by many essay coaches. She teaches students how to “tap their real-life stories to illustrate their unique qualities and characteristics, and distinguish themselves from other applicants.” And she is quick to point out that the style and content of these kinds of essays is not for English teachers or grades—they are less formal in nature.

As a bonus, the guide includes a link to six sample essays in the introduction from Robinson’s collection of college application essays, called Heavenly Essays. It also includes a free book offer for readers.

Between now and February 17, Essay Hell’s 50 Most Commonly Asked Questions will be available on Amazon for download free of charge. After that, a free digital copy may be obtained by emailing Janine Robinson at [email protected]. The second offer ends March 1.

It pays to be a college president

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Wilmington University

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, a total of 39 leaders of private colleges earned more than $1 million during the 2014 calendar year—up from 32 the year before. And on the public side, five college presidents crossed the million dollar threshold during fiscal year 2015.

Despite whatever pressure may exist on campuses to keep costs down, compensation of college presidents continues to rise. For private college leaders who served full years in both 2013 and 2014, average pay increased 8.6 percent to $512,987. The most recent analysis of public college leaders who served the full year found average pay to be $467,533 in fiscal year 2015—6.1 percent higher than the year before.

Nice work if you can get it.

For the record, eight college presidents received more than $2 million in 2014. Jack P. Varsalona, of Wilmington University in Delaware, led the pack earning $5,449,405, of which $427,345 was base pay, $381,040 was bonus and $4,631,035 came from a “deferred-compensation plan.”

Deferred-compensation plans frequently explain the apparent “windfalls” received by top college administrators. They are now considered essential recruitment and retention tools. Under these plans, the university sets aside money, tax-free, each year in a designated fund for the college president, who may not touch the money until an agreed-upon date and must perform according to standards specified in their contract. Unless the president resigns or otherwise leaves early, he or she stands to make a considerable amount of money above base pay in the year the plan comes due.

Mr. Varsalona’s deferred-compensation ranked second-highest in the history of The Chronicle’s executive compensation reports, exceeded only by one paid to Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Renssselaer Polytechnic Institute, which totaled nearly $5.9 million, in 2012.

The Chronicle’s analysis of private college leaders is based on the latest available federal tax filings and includes compensation for 516 presidents serving 499 institutions for all or part of the 2014 calendar year. For public college leaders, The Chronicle conducts a separate survey and notes that the “figures for public colleges are not directly comparable to data reported for private colleges because they reflect slightly different categories of pay and different periods of time.”

Highest paid private college leaders in 2014:

Jack P. Varsalona, Wilmington University, $5,449,405
Mark S. Wrighton, Washington University, $4,185,866
Gerald Turner, SMU, $3,354,128
Amy Gutman, University of Pennsylvania, $2,962,708
Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia University, $2,447,032
Morton O. Schapiro, Northwestern University, $2,352.578
Robert Fisher, Belmont University, $2,120,091
Robert J. Zimmer, University of Chicago, $2,051,089
James F. Jones, Trinity College (CT), $1,661,794*
David J. Skorton, Cornell University, $1,618,328
Donna E. Shalala, University of Miami, $1,570,761
C.L. Max Nikias, University of Southern California, $1,525,297
Ronald R. Thomas, University of Puget Sound, $1,509,650
Arthur F. Kirk, Jr., Saint Leo University, $1,509,342
Lewis M. Duncan, Rollins College, $1,497,248*

Highest paid public college leaders in 2014-15:

Renu Khator, University of Houston, $1,300,000
Michael R. Gottfredson, University of Oregon, $1,215,142 *
Michael K. Young, Texas A&M University College Station, $1,133,333*
William H. McRaven, University of Texas system, $1,090,909*
Mark P. Becker, Georgia State University, $1,051,204
Lou Anna K. Simon, Michigan State University, $850,000
Patrick T. Harker, University of Delaware, $841,187
Steven Leath, Iowa State University, $820,461
Elson S. Floyd, Washington State University, $805,880*
David R. Hopkins, Wright State University, $803,320
Eric J. Barron, Pennsylvania State University, $800,000
Michael V. Drake, Ohio State University, $800,000
James P. Clements, Clemson University, $775,160
Mark S. Schlissel, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, $772,500
Robert E. Witt, University of Alabama system, $765,000

*Partial-year compensation

The Common App brings back ‘topic of your choice’ for 2017-18

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With feedback provided by 108 member colleges and more than 5,000 other “constituents,” the Common Application has announced essay prompts for 2017-2018.  And the big news is that the Common App brought back ‘topic of your choice’ from a three-year hiatus during which both the Universal College Application and the new Coalition application allowed students the flexibility to write on topics of their own choosing.

This is no small concession, as the Common App invested significant energy defending their decision to do away with the ‘topic of your choice.’ According to the blog post announcing the new prompts, the Common App was “gratified to learn that 91% of members and 90% of constituents agree or strongly agree that the current prompts are effective.” And five of the seven prompts are either unchanged or edited versions of the 2016-17 questions.

Of the two new prompts, one asks students to “share examples of their intellectual curiosity.” The other allows students to be more creative by using an essay they’ve already written or one that responds to a different prompt or one that they design—in other words, for this prompt you may write what you want but keep it to within 650 words.

Beginning with the 2016-17 application cycle, Common App members had the choice of whether or not to require a personal statement as part of the application for admission. And out of nearly 700 members, 195, or about a third, elected to drop the standardized writing requirement as not particularly useful in the college admissions process. Others secretly confess that they either scan or totally skip the personal statement in their evaluations.

But still, the cottage industry that has sprung up around these essays continues to grow and flourish.

All that aside, here are the seven questions from which applicants using the Common App will be asked to choose to form the basis of a personal statement (new language appears in italics):

  1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
  2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
  3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
  4. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
  5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
  6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
  7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

The announcement of essay prompts inevitably signals the start of a new year. College-bound juniors along with those who advise them can look forward to the challenge of coming up with personal statements that add dimension to other information provided in the body of the application.

And they have months to think it over before the Common App comes on line.

Note that the Coalition application announced 2017-18 prompts a couple of weeks ago.