Distinctive

By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D.

There’s a new arms race, and you’re caught in the middle. It’s obviously no longer the Cold War. Instead, it’s the college admissions war.

Nearly all colleges are vying for a top spot in the rankings, and part of rising up involves getting as many students to apply as possible. Do you remember my previous piece on the dropping acceptance rates at colleges all around the country? They’re not purely a function of some colleges suddenly getting their act together to offer nationally-competitive programs, although that definitely plays a role. They’re also a function of very deliberate (and often secretive) decisions made by college presidents with their admissions deans to entice more students to apply.

So what are some of the tricks that colleges use to rise in the rankings? There are many, and they often involve dissimulation, half-truths, and even outright lies.

Dissimulation

During an encounter with a Brown University admissions representative a few years ago, I asked if a student of mine, who had a 3.5 unweighted GPA, but who was a double legacy (meaning both of her parents went to Brown), had a chance of getting in. The man smiled at me, stumbled over a few “Well, ums” and then put on a big smile before suggesting that she try. Whether or not he wanted to say it, it was clear that my student had no chance. I encountered a similar situation last year, when I called American University for a student to ask about her chances of getting in, when she had a 1.87 GPA. I’m not sure if the representative on the other side of the phone could tell, but I heard her gasp in shock, before she explained to me that, while 1.87 was lower than what they generally accepted in their applicant pool, my student should still submit her application.

In both cases, the admissions representatives made it clear to me both through by avoiding to answer my question directly and through their expressions of surprise that my students had no chance of getting into either school. So why did they still try to convince me of something else? The answer is simple: to get as many students as possible to apply. The more students they can reject, the more selective they appear.

You can also argue that their choice to dissemble stems from a desire to maintain the positive reputation of the school. They certainly don’t want their frontline sales force (aka admissions officers and tour guides) saying anything negative to you! But it all eventually boils down to the same fact – their smiling encouragements aren’t meant to help you, they’re meant to help the school.

Half-Truths

Now, let’s move onto some half-truths, particularly as they pertain to the terms “optional” and “recommended.” I can’t tell you how frustrating it is that colleges sow confusion by using these terms. They appear in several places throughout the admissions process, but particularly with reference to interviews, essays, test scores, or portfolios. As anyone who works in the college admissions field can tell you, however, “optional” and “recommended” almost universally mean “required” unless you physically or financially can’t do it. One notable exception is if you absolutely cannot answer the request, such as submitting a music portfolio when you don’t play an instrument, or answering Duke’s LGBTQ+ question, if you’re not part of that group.

So why do colleges frame “optional” and “recommended” the way they do, rather than make the rules clear? The answer is the same as before: to get as many students as possible to apply. After all, it’s in their best interest to make it easy for you to apply (but keep it hard for you to get in). The more selective a college looks, the more appealing it becomes to even more applicants.

Outright Lies

Now onto the outright lies. This past spring, I went on several campus visits, including to Princeton University. Having worked as a college consultant for several years now, I have become quite familiar with this school’s application process and keep my ear to the ground for any little bits of helpful information that slip through the cracks. I must admit, however, that I was taken aback when the admissions representative giving the information session assured everyone that the Princeton application has really easy essay questions that no one should worry about. Unless I’m mistaken, this long question is not easy:

Using one of the themes below as a starting point, write about a person, event or experience that helped you define one of your values or in some way changed how you approach the world. Please do not repeat, in full or in part, the essay you wrote for the Coalition Application, the Common Application or Universal College Application.

• Tell us about a person who has influenced you in a significant way.

• “One of the great challenges of our time is that the disparities we face today have more complex causes and point less straightforwardly to solutions.”
  Omar Wasow, assistant professor of politics, Princeton University. This quote is taken from Professor Wasow’s January 2014 speech at the Martin Luther King Day celebration at Princeton University.

• “Culture is what presents us with the kinds of valuable things that can fill a life. And insofar as we can recognize the value in those things and make them part of our lives, our lives are meaningful.”
  Gideon Rosen, Stuart Professor of Philosophy and chair,  Department of Philosophy, Princeton University.

• Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a starting point, tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. Please write the quotation, title and author at the beginning of your essay.

In my experience, every student struggles to come up with a strong response to this question and we spend several sessions just brainstorming for it. Combine that with the three other questions asked of most applicants (or four if you’re applying to engineering), and suddenly the Princeton application doesn’t seem quite so easy.

So why has Princeton misrepresented its application? The answer is simple: to get as many students as possible to apply. As one of the most famous universities in the country, and currently U.S. News and World Report’s #1 National University, it has to maintain its mystique by maintaining its selectivity. You may think that Princeton doesn’t have to worry about such things with its name recognition and reputation, but let’s remember that Rome was once the caput mundi – now look at it!

Princeton, of course, is not the only college to misrepresent its admissions process. I’ve heard similar lies from U. Penn., Georgetown, and Harvard, regarding which internal school (i.e. Engineering vs. Arts & Sciences vs. Business) is easier to get into, which SAT Subject Tests should be submitted, and whether or not the Academic Index exists, just to name a few instances. The important thing to remember when you’re applying to college, and especially “elite” ones, is that they have a lot to lose if they don’t remain so selective. So take most of what they say with a grain of salt, and understand that the only time that you can know that they aren’t lying is when they tell you something that you don’t want to hear.  

What This Means for You

It would be amazing if we lived in a world where everyone just spoke their minds and told the unadulterated truth, especially when the stakes are high like in college admissions. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a utopia. This is the real world where we deal with real people and their messy, complex motivations. So if I were you, I would build a college list based on criteria that are important to you, and block out the noise of all the voices out there – including those of admissions reps. Use hard data and ask a professional for advice when you’re in doubt. He or she can either answer the question directly or at least tap into his or her professional network to get you an answer. I also highly suggest that you do anything that is listed as “optional” or “recommended.” If you don’t, you will come across as uncompetitive. Last but not least, be cautious of anything that seems too good to be true, because as the old adage goes, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”