I just finished my first day back at work
on the East Coast after five wonderful days with 7500 of my closest friends in
San Diego. Here are some updates and
observations from the NACAC Conference:
---The
big issue in San Diego was last Monday’s announcement of the creation of the
Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success consisting of 83 elite private
and public colleges and universities.
The Coalition will introduce a new application platform next year as an
alternative to the Common Application, and there are a lot of questions and
concerns about how it will impact college admissions. When I landed in San Diego last Tuesday and
turned on my phone, the first e-mail I saw was from a loyal reader of this
blog. He forwarded me part of an e-mail
discussion on the NACAC Exchange, and commented that “someone (you?) needs to
ask some questions.” I plan to comment
on the Coalition and the issues it raises, but need time to process and to
catch up on all the work that piled up at school while I was away.
2 ---Another
friend of this blog, Bill Dingledine, received the Gayle Wilson Award for
extraordinary service to the profession during the conference opening
session. Bill was the first person to
post a comment when ECA started three years ago.
---On
Saturday the NACAC Assembly amended the Statement of Principles of Good
Practice to prohibit colleges from asking applicants or secondary schools to
list or rank order their college or university preferences. I have written about this issue, both with
regard to the Common App adding a question and the Federal Government proposing
ending the listing of other colleges on the FAFSA. Not everyone on the college side is happy
with the change, and in fact I saw a college admissions dean walking around the
exhibit hall with a home-made sandwich board urging delegates to vote against
the proposal. I understand that having
rank order information is helpful to colleges, but its misuse, even if only by
a few schools, is wrong. I applaud Todd
Rinehart and the Admission Practices committee for their willingness to take on
this issue. Todd has been a great AP
Chair, and I hope there might be more NACAC leadership in his future. His AP shoes won’t be easy to fill, but the
new Chair, Lou Hirsh, is a superb choice as Todd’s successor.
----The
current issue of The Chronicle of Higher
Education contains an interesting article by Eric Hoover and Beckie Supiano
examining the concept of fairness in college admissions. It’s a thoughtful and well-written treatment
of a challenging topic (I am quoted in the article so may not be totally
objective). I plan to write a follow-up
post on the subject, and may even reprint a 1988 essay I wrote for the Chronicle arguing that random selection
is the only fair way for elite colleges to admit students. It was the first article I ever wrote about
college admissions, and it was also an idea whose had not (and has not) come.
---Finally,
the previous post was featured by Inside
Higher Ed in its “Around the Web” section last Tuesday, the 7th
time that has happened.
Last week was enjoyable, even if I’ll pay
for it the rest of the month. Thanks to
everyone who went out of your way to mention that you read and/or appreciate
ECA. The interest and support means a
lot.