James S Murphy Profile picture
Sep 22, 2020 22 tweets 8 min read Read on X
This California State Auditor report on UC admissions is kinda great. Come for the corruption, stay for the comics! auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2… Image
What's the first rule of babysitter's club?!? ImageImage
Are college sports antiracist? Image
"This one is a bit nuanced." 🤔😁😆😅😐🤬 Image
UCLA's admit rate is 12%.
From the report: "From academic years 2017–18 through 2019–20, UCLA’s committee for reviewing student‑athlete applicants admitted about 98 percent of the cases it reviewed." Image
Crucial point on why sports are the avenue for so much of this corruption: the schools want sports, they don't want to fund them (I agree), so coaches have to fundraise. No surprise that some coaches in this situation act unethically. Bad coaches! but also Bad System! Image
I went to grad school at Cal. I love the place. This is miserable. One Cal applicant was admitted after a UC Regent wrote a letter of support. Not clear if that person is still a Regent. Image
OK. Yuck. Image
The report isn't just about the most corrupt cases. It's also about how opaque the admissions process can be. This not bad just because students and families don't trust it (h/t @jselingo) but because it makes the institution vulnerable to illegitimate attacks.
For instance: "In 2019–20, UCLA admitted...~1000 of the applicants whom its application readers rated Recommend for Admission. However, in that same year, UCLA admitted...more than 1,100 applicants whom its application readers rated lower than Recommend for Admission."
Two readers of international applicants for the same region basically failed the test to be readers and were still hired. One gave 80% of applicants the lowest possible rating (there's just 3 at Cal). The other gave 44% the lowest possible. Image
Look out for Reader C! Image
This is just nuts. The second reader at Cal sees the ratings given by the first reader. Image
Thankfully, this practice is ending this fall. Image
The report lays the blame squarely on Janet Napolitano: "The Office of the President’s Inaction Has Allowed Weaknesses in Campus Admissions
Processes to Persist" Image
Napolitano is called out for another major failing. The UC System has a program like Texas, where students in the 9% of a graduating HS class are guaranteed admission. The student's school must participate in the program. More than 600 that could, don't. Image
It gets worse: "Among the nonparticipating high schools, almost 30 percent—about 170 high schools—have student populations that are at least 75 percent socioeconomically disadvantaged. More than 7,700 students graduated from these schools in 2018."
I'll close with this chart of who benefitted from the unfair admissions practices. #unshocking Image
I think this is more of a braid than a thread. Anyway. I think I missed the real point, so I went back on this whole thread.
The regent who wrote a letter for a waitlisted student has been identified. It's got some choice #privilege quotes. mercurynews.com/2020/09/24/uc-…
The UC Regent who is a billionaire, a donor to some UCs, and is married to a US Senator just can't understand why anyone is upset: “This is the first time I’ve heard that maybe I did something that wasn’t right,” Blum said. “I think it’s a bunch of nonsense.” Image
@TeresaWatanabe has a good update on newly released documents showing how the "bright line" between fundraising and admissions got erased at Cal. latimes.com/california/sto…

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More from @James_S_Murphy

Jul 31, 2023
Some pointers for people who work with students on college applications:

1. The @usedgov will be releasing resources to colleges and universities addressing lawful admissions practices by Aug 15.

2. Don't listen to anyone's advice on how to advise students too much until then.
3. Yes, the @CommonApp opens tomorrow, but students can get to work on everything but the essay while we wait to see what ED says.

4. Chances are, little changes for students or their applications due to the SFFA decision.
5. Students should not be afraid of identifying themselves by race & ethnicity anywhere in their application.

6. Students can & should check the race/ethnicity box. It's up to colleges to redact that info if they don't want readers to see it.
Read 8 tweets
Mar 12, 2023
2023
College freshmen no longer know how to read literature.
2013
College freshmen no longer know how to read literature
1999
College freshmen no longer know how to read literature
Read 5 tweets
Mar 10, 2023
What's extraordinary about the @usnews Best Colleges reputation wurvey is that ANYONE FILLS IT OUT AT ALL.

Let's take a look 🧵
The most heavily weighted single factor in the Best Colleges rankings is Undergraduate Academic Reputation, which USN calls "Expert Opinion." Image
Here's the thing: there is absolutely no way the presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions they send the survey to can be qualified to answer the questions, let alone claim expertise. Image
Read 13 tweets
Mar 6, 2023
Let's talk about some dumb stuff people say about test optional admissions. 🧵
This might take a sec, so here's the tl;dr:

TO policies, in and of themselves, are neither a cure-all for what's wrong with American higher ed nor the end of what's good about it, but the evidence points to their doing some good and no harm.
Let's define TO first.

A test-optional policy is one that allows applicants to decide whether they want their test score to be considered. It does not "get rid of tests" or "ban tests."

Almost every 4-yr college in the US is currently test optional.
Read 28 tweets
Mar 4, 2023
When your flex shows just how weak you are. Image
For decades, colleges, med schools, and law schools have all made the point that standardized tests exist to show readiness to succeed in college or grad school.
Rankings were one of the incentives to focus on scores well beyond the readiness threshold and overemphasize tests. That emphasis has excluded lots of people who were highly qualified to become lawyers and doctors.
Read 4 tweets
Oct 1, 2022
While we're waiting for fall IPEDS data, I got curious about how segregated expensive private high schools are relative to public schools. 🧵
I used the 2019–20 Private School Universe Survey to identify schools that belong to the National Association of Independent Schools and go through twelfth grade. I got public school data from the Dept of Ed in each location. nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/pr…
I looked at just a few states. Here's my home state. I thought it looked bad, until I looked at...
Read 14 tweets

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