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I just wrapped up a call with admissions leaders and counselors where we asked them to take a look at two essays, one that was a part of a successful application to a top university and one that was written by ChatGPT . . .
. . . more than 50% of the participants--which included seasoned admissions leaders from prominent universities and college counselors with years of experience--thought the response written by ChatGPT was written by a student . . .
. . . I had thought that most would be able to still pick the one written by the student (evidently because I knew the authorship, I was able to convince myself that I could identify the "authentic voice") . . .
Read 7 tweets
Over a year ago, @YouTube changed its ToS and began showing ads on #HigherEd videos.

That means two things.

/Thread
1. Smaller schools can't opt out. To opt out, one needs 1,000 subscribers and 40K hours watched.

So small schools get ads on their "why you should choose X school"
2. It seems like the school is making money off of kids and families watching videos on why attend.

I know they are not. You know they are not, but not everyone knows they are not.

Making money on an admitted student day video? How small that seems.
Read 7 tweets
Applicants applying Early Action or Early Decision through @CommonApp in 2020-21 came from substantially higher-income neighborhoods, relative to other admission plans on average. Our latest report: s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ca.research.pu… #emchat #highered #collegeadmissions 1/
We’re also seeing substantially fewer #FirstGen & URM students represented in the early admissions applicant pools. It is widely known that early admission plans put these students at a disadvantage, relative to their White, more affluent, non-first generation peers. 2/
It is worth remembering: most @CommonApp members (63%) offered rolling admission plans in 2020-21, up from 61% in 2018-19, offering students the flexibility to weigh financial aid options and reduce stress while applying. 3/
Read 4 tweets
My latest article explores the history of and why it's time to end the of the 51 year SAT/ACT "experiment" at the University of California. lnkd.in/grvz7apt
A few interesting tidbits I didn't add to the article.

1950s - the University was confronting serious problems associated with growth. The GI Bill had increased enrollments significantly and the baby boom generation had entered the school system. The goal was 12.5% eligibility
1960 - BOARS concluded that the study did not indicate any additional predictive power associated with the SAT. A subsequent study of showed a better correlation with FGPA, but not enough to convince the Academic Assembly of the value of adopting an admissions test requirement
Read 21 tweets
Let me explain what I think students need for test-optional to be effective

1. Announce test optional
2. Tell students they won’t be penalized
3. Then tell students HOW applications are reviewed with scores and without

1/
4. Then tell students reviewing with and without certain scores is normal- some schools have test others don’t, some people have AP, others IB, others have standardize scores
5. Tell students some students have some classes others don’t, some students have opportunities

2/
6. Essentially explain there is not this “if all things are equal” and “a student who has the higher score will get the slot”
7. Explain how test were used and how that’s change
8. Explain this is not out of pity for certain students

3/
Read 41 tweets
#nowreading “Over the past decade,” Ruth S. Barrett writes, “the for-profit ecosystem that has sprouted up around athletic recruiting at top-rung universities has grown so excessively ornate, so circular in its logic, that it’s become self-defeating.” theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
Even before i dig into the article let me add a few images
Keep in mind that CT is one of the richest states in the union
Read 46 tweets
@CollegeBoard @AP_Trevor
I have multiple examples of inconsistencies & tech problems with your online AP tests, the inequity of conditions & lack of tech support some students have at home! #APExams
Ex 1: A friend & colleague, actually an AP art teacher, told me his daughter was not able to submit her physics AP test, that the button didn’t work. She even left plenty of time at the end, with no luck.
Ex 2: What solutions do you have for one of my students who’s WiFi was so spotty at home, yes we gave her hotspot, that she plans to have her mother drive her up to a school parking lot to access their WiFi to take her AP exam while sitting in the car?
Read 8 tweets
@BrockTibert used the word “unprecedented” today and I’m inclined to agree. It’s been a VERY busy month here @PlatformQedu ... here are some stats to show the impact #covid19 has had on institutions and students leveraging virtual events (thread)
442% increase in number of students and parents engaging with live/simulated live/on demand content produced by colleges in April (Note: April is far from over). In fact, we’ve already seen more engagements in 2020 than all of 2019 ... and 2019 wasn’t small! ...
There will be over 1,000,000 minutes of video content consumed on Conduit before the end of this month. That’s likely over 2 years of content in one month. Of college admitte student days ...
Read 9 tweets
College admissions and enrollment management woes:"the doubling and trebling of students who are frenziedly competing to get into about 35 to 50 of the most selective [schools]." Forecasts of nationwide enrollment crises to come.

The year: 1962. #emchat Image
More college admissions woes: HS transcripts aren't standardized and they're a total mess. School counselor loads are way too big.

The year: 1962 ImageImage
More college admissions woes: is class rank a useful metric or just unfair?

The year: 1962. ImageImage
Read 9 tweets
As a former admissions officer and #HigherEd researcher, the work we have been doing on the environmental context dashboard (ECD) has been very important to me. Of course, selective college admissions is flawed (#AdmissionsGate anyone?). (a thread #emchat #admissions)
The current system uses many data points, most of which are biased in some way (SAT, GPA, rec letters, essays all have flaws). Admissions officers know this & try to adjust their assessment of apps, given inequalities of opportunity & biased metrics, but this is not easy.
Holistic review at its best tries to contextualize students' performance & account for systemic disadvantage in the K12 education system. But some offices do a better job of contextualizing apps than others.
Read 9 tweets
Lots of questions today about my work on the ECD after that WSJ article. I'm really proud of the work and hope I can clarify any misunderstandings. I've been working for a long time on admissions & contexts for low-income students. (thread & AMA below) #emchat #admission
This work was done in collaboration with Nick Bowman (Iowa), @kkglasener @KC_Deane & Jandi Kelly at Michigan. The published papers available here: www-personal.umich.edu/~bastedo/topic…
Holistic admissions has been done for a long time, which means (ideally) reading applications in the context of the opportunities available in high schools and neighborhoods. But admissions officers had much more refined data on applicants than they had on their contexts.
Read 18 tweets
Thread: Here's a little article the Northwestern student newspaper did about a conversation they had with the president. dailynorthwestern.com/2019/04/23/cam…
Some interesting stuff from our neighbors to the north, where they're apparently worried about rising admission rates. There's worry and then there's worry, folks.
It's interesting, I think, that the president of a major research university knows the freshman admit rate to 1/100th of a percentage point. When I'm asked ours, I USUALLY can get it within a point or two off the top of my head. Usually.
Read 16 tweets
Thread: How three organizations can come together with America's colleges to respond to #VarsityBlues to do the right thing, even at their peril.

I'm looking at you, @ACT @CollegeBoaard and @NSClearinghouse
My presumptions: 1) Since Singer was a cooperating witness, he's turned over his client database and/or records of his foundation to see who made "contributions" since its inception.
Presumption 2) Since we know the two testing centers compromised, it would not be horribly difficult to find students who tested there with extended or unlimited time, and who traveled some distance to test, and who scored at or above the 80th percentile, for instance.
Read 9 tweets
The news broke this morning about Iowa Wesleyan University, which is facing a closure. You have to feel bad for the people people who work there, the students who will be displaced, and the people in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where it may be among the largest employers.
Some people will say this is just another brick in the wall, and that higher education is going to see a lot of closures like this. They may be right, although it appears we've been averaging about 8 college closures per year since the 80's.
Little Parsons College, not far from IWU, closed too. And Vennard, also in that part of the state. And Westmar, in the NW corner of Iowa.

What do these places all have in common? Several things: Little money, and locations that are not attractive to students, to name a few.
Read 12 tweets
13-tweet thread: With apologies to @akilbello for hijacking his excellent #HateRead hashtag, I share this article from the @WSJ , which comes close to rivaling the stupidity of the opinion piece in the @chicagotribune a week or so ago wsj.com/articles/the-w…
It doesn't take long for the rich white guys to burst at the seams trying to keep from using the term, "Snowflakes."
Of course, no one is opposed to testing. Just testing that doesn't tell us much and costs the country hundreds of millions of dollars in real and opportunity costs.
Read 13 tweets
Thread:

One of the big things too many people don't understand: It's possible to a) raise discount and b) generate more net revenue per student at the same time. In fact, if you keep raising tuition faster than inflation, its not as hard as you think.
Discount rate used to be meaningful. It was a residue of a year done well (or not). It's an accounting term, and as most people know, accountants live in the past, mostly.
But as Campbell's Law (or Goodhart's Law, depending on your perspective) suggests, the more you use a statistical measure as a target, the more that measure is subject to manipulation via other variables in your equation.
Read 14 tweets

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