"Agony of Admissions" ...article on St Olaf admissions process

[Papa_Chicken]

<p><a href=“http://www.startribune.com/1592/story/1022855.html[/url]”>http://www.startribune.com/1592/story/1022855.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>teaser…</p>

<p>

“I’ve met this kid,” said Pope, the admissions director for St. Olaf College. "He’s incredible and would make a great ‘Ole.’ " The boy was an athlete, a volunteer and a musician. He had scored high on his ACT college entrance exam.</p>

<p>But his grades were only average. One of Pope’s colleagues shook her head. "I say we ‘waitlist’ until we see his first-semester grades.“If we waitlist, we’re going to lose him,” Pope said.</p>

<p>Michael Kyle, St. Olaf’s vice president and dean of enrollment, scanned the boy’s transcript. “I think it’s dangerous to be taking C students,” he said, and then looked more closely. "He had a D!“I didn’t see that,” Pope said, and paused. “His dad is CEO of Google; does that help?” And he winked.</p>

<p>The boy was waitlisted.

</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>I saw this article in my hometown newspaper. Thanks for sharing the link.</p>

[NJres]

<p>Was that bit about google a joke? If not, that is one heck of a violation of privacy. If it’s a joke, I don’t get it. Oh well, I guess I have to read the article.</p>

<p>ok, I get it… ha ha… ha.</p>

[Tarhunt]

<p>Excellent article! This kind of stuff lets kids see exactly how these decisions are made. The admissions officers are guessing. They have to guess. And it’s not surprising that they make many, many mistakes.</p>