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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis O'Bell who wrote (77089)	3/6/2000 11:45:00 PM
From: Dave Feldman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

I'm far from an expert on admissions, but based on my first-person observations at a highly selective college, the admissions officers take their job extremely seriously. And I think they tend to trust their subjective impressions. A complete admissions package tends to tell a story, and ultimately the question is: Do we want to spend four years with this student? One college that I attended counted the character of the applicant as an important element of the process. Did the student perform any public service in school? Did the interviewer think the applicant was a nice person? If asked to prove how they arrived at such conclusions, admissions officers might be hard-pressed to do so. Perhaps this is no different from the chemistry between two potential romantic partners. You can meet a woman who possesses all the characteristics you THINK you want. And then you find yourself attracted to her friend, who is all "wrong." I think it makes a lot of sense to weight the essay heavily. If given a choice between hiring someone who got a 700 on the SAT verbal test or someone who has written a terrific essay, I'd trust the latter. Undoubtedly, someone who performs well on the Lego test is likely to be clever. Combined with the other hoops that the Lego champ has to run through (most of which focus on verbal and leadership skills), I wouldn't be surprised if they did well in college. Is it fair, though, to punish the kid who might not be a genius but worked hard and got good grades in high school? This is a tougher question.