Still active. If they don’t admit by major, it’s not that intended STEM majors are held to a higher standard, it’s that there are different expectations for their HS course selection (which might be a stardard to you). In other words, lots more math and science. Where I did see students held to a different standard often was men in the humanities. It’s a numbers game – they need more of them.
That’s true for everyone. They want to see consistent grades or an upward trend. A downward trend or spikey is a red flag.
B in AP class versus A in honors class? For example, a stem kid who struggles with humanities. Is it worth getting a B in AP-US History or should the student not hurt their GPA and go for the A in the honors class. Rigor vs GPA?
Thanks so much!! Can’t wait to get my book. I have read everything I can online!
3 - Whoa! Who knew!!!? I guess a boy with a high GPA has a decent advantage then.
@JeffSelingo did you see AOs compare students from the same high school? Colleges swear that they don’t have limits on how many kids they take from a high school but did you see any evidence that they do?
Also, how did you see the AOs talk about demonstrated interest at Emory and Davidson? Did it come up a lot? Did you hear talk about whether a certain student is likely to enroll and then did it affect the decision?
At colleges that do not formally admit by major, do admissions readers distinguish between different STEM majors when doing this kind of consideration (standards about course selection, gender balance in intended major)?
For example, many STEM majors are heavily male, but biology is mostly female.
Isn’t the answer always “A in the harder class”?
@jeffselingo
I know your book could only touch on Covid and all the potential impacts - but what is your thought about the “optional” Covid essay. So much debate and anxiety around it. It seems clear to me if you didn’t have a life hardship to leave it blank - but then there is more and more chatter to use the space for reflection. So confused 
AO’s I talk with would rather you leave it blank unless there was a real impact (death, lost of job, etc).
@ucbalumnus @jeffselingo
The higher grade is always the answer. My question is more nuanced…should a student risk his/her GPA on an AP in a class that is not his/her strength? What is more important rigor or GPA? Does admissions reflect at all on those kids that take risks outside of their “comfort zones”?
They don’t have limits during the initial review, but when they get to committee or the final shaping of the class they are often looking at admits by school group. That’s when comparisons might come up because they’ll justify shaping someone out by saying where he sits among his classmates.
Demonstrated interest didn’t come up at Emory. It did come up a lot at Davidson.
Someone already answered this below – go for the harder class and try to get a better grade in it. But always the harder class.
I can’t answer for all big publics, but at UW they would be swamped and have antiquated systems to easily deal with that.
I didn’t see enough kids from small, religious schools to give an answer. But in general I think kids from schools that aren’t “busy schools” for these selective colleges are often at a disadvantage.
In what order would a first review look at apps, grouped by high school? Or random for the AO’s region?
Any comments on the process for URMs, e.g. are URMs evaluated in a separate bucket, compared against each other?
Just curious- were you at Emory before, during or after Jean Jordan’s time there?
Hi Jeff - thank you for your time! My questions:
- Are all URM's created equal? Specifically, how much does it help / not help being a Hispanic?
- My DC goes to a TT NYC private high school on Financial Aid (and live in a poor zip code, if that makes a difference), where he's surrounded by children of (mega) donors, legacies, celebrates, and lots of high achieving kids, etc. We are unhooked and not full pay for college - does that put my DC at a disadvantage given the competitiveness of his class mates (and their parents)?
It wasn’t consistent in the review. Some AO’s did it by high school because they thought it helped the process go faster. Others randomly so they wouldn’t get stuck in their way of thinking.
URMs aren’t evaluated separately, although that is one of many buckets looked at separately during shaping because they don’t want to shape out URM’s or there might be “high admits” they can bring in.
Well after, I think. I was just there in 2018-19 for the book.
Hi Jeff - another question: what is a “high admit” that you mentioned in reference to URM shaping?
OK. Great. My question- what did Emory do to recover from the years of misrepresenting their numbers to USNews and maintain its status? Did they look at the applications any differently or just report the numbers honestly?
Could we quote you on this the next time a high school student comes on CC, thinking that these exact topics will set them apart (in a good way)?