This is a great suggestion.
I like this. It also cuts out the paid “support” - a couple of years ago there was an article in the Times about people paying $35k for essay “help”. You can’t erase every monetary advantage, but this would be one way to make sure essays are authentic.
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If I were God… If I were God… 
Understanding that the college admissions process is one of humanity’s richest sources of unintentional comedy, and that I am unable to pass on a thread title so perfectly teed up, here goes.
If I were God:
I’d be perfectly transparent with my applicant scorecard: Grades 40%, essays 10%, rowing 15%, parental anxiety 35%.
I’d ban personal essays about adversity unless the adversity involved actually having to share a bedroom or clean a bathroom.
I’d require admissions officers to explain every rejection honestly as in: We simply preferred someone else’s oboe.
Also, I’d eliminate holistic admissions and replace it with a straightforward miracle requirement. If you can turn your AP schedule into wine, welcome to the Ivy League. Otherwise, I’d send every applicant to the nearest perfectly good state university, signing off on the admissions letter with, “You’ll be fine.”
And, if I were God, every college’s sticker price would be the actual price, rather than the opening bid in a hostage negotiation. Financial aid would consist of one question: How much money do you actually have? And every FA office would be replaced by a cashier who simply looks at you and says, “You seem nice. Ninety percent off.”
Sorry, I can’t resist and will stop here. Please carry on.
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The same basic way they submit recommendations for their actual application file without seeing them. You can have them transmitted through a third party, like Common App. The basic concept here is this is basically like submitting a working application and getting a “pre-read” from the college’s AI.
And in any case teachers will often only do these pretty close to the application deadline.
That could be changed, particularly since I have god-like powers! Generally, if this became a standard part of the college application process, I would think teachers and counselors could adjust procedurally.
The idea is the colleges would be required to train their own AIs. So, the college is only sharing its internal admissions files, including any notes pertaining to supplemental essays, with its own AI. A prospective applicant can ask a third party like Common App to share their working application with the college’s AI. The college’s AI evaluates the working application and gives a screening-type evaluation, which is provided to the prospective applicant. No one outside the college actually sees the internal files used to train the AI.
I’d delay the whole process until after high school graduation. Make senior year count.
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That would certainly cut down on the “will I be rescinded” posts by kids with a bad case of senioritis.
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Gap year for everyone? That would be kind of cool…
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Interesting to see how kids use the time. Working fast food or retail can teach you as much about yourself as the starting a nonprofit or doing a missionary trip to Africa.
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Judging from the teachers at my kid’s school - good luck getting this any time more than a few days at best before the application is due…
Ok so I see what’s in it for the student, but what is the incentive for the college to do this? If their own AI system would weed out anyway all they’d be doing is sharing info and getting lower application fee revenue ?
This would also be more beneficial for late bloomers.
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I would hope it would not turn into a gap year rat race with kids mostly trying to figure out how to impress colleges!
I’m hoping colleges would see through that and value any work activities.
I actually think this would fix a LOT of the current set of problems with college admissions!
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Recommendations introduce considerable “noise” in that access to them and the quality of the recommenders is highly variable in ways outside the student’s control. The extra workload of recommendations is also unevenly distributed among teachers, since teachers teaching junior level college prep courses (particularly honors, AP, IB, etc. versions) will get heavier recommendation writing workload than those teaching frosh level courses.
Colleges that can turn around their admissions decisions between June and August would have an advantage in attracting students who do not want to take a gap year or semester.
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Fully transparent admissions process including detailed feedback on your application and candidacy.
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Eliminate the Common App (so kids apply to fewer schools), need-based funding for visiting, one essay per college at most. More options for high school grads including apprenticeships, internships, certificates. Our state has free community college, an idea that should spread.
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Another vote for residency-style matching. And an accurate merit/FA calculator so applicants could rank knowing the price. Probably not happening!
Well said! College is a great opportunity for many kids, but the trades are also a great opportunity for many kids.
If I were God , , ,
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My priority for admissions would be to admit and to fund students who are committed to solving the climate crisis and the problems with the environment. If we don’t put our best minds to addressing this, nothing else will matter.
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My second priority for admissions would be to admit and to fund students who are committed to advance to positions of power and influence for the purpose of ending war and genocide. Humanity needs to be committed to better ways to solve problems.
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My third priority would be to admit and to fund students who are committed to solving the problems of poverty.
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