Which is better? Most rigorous or higher GPA?

Data10
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 04:07:05 +0000

theloniusmonk:

Actually I think only 11-14 are holistic, the first ten are all academic so on the balance, UCs do not use holistic admissions.

I think most would people would consider vague not directly stat criteria like “Quality of your academic performance relative to the educational opportunities available in your high school” or "Outstanding work in one or more special projects in any academic field of study " holistic. Ignoring that, the number of factors that are considered gives no information of the relative importance of those factors. Similarly having a larger number of stat criteria than more directly holistic criteria doesn’t mean the college is not really holistic or is less holistic than a different college that considers a small number of stat criteria.

Using a more specific example, the report at https://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/hout_report_2005.pdf analyzed Berkeley’s admission more than a decade ago. A lot has changed since then, but the general points still remain. If anything, I’d expect the degree of holistic admissions to have increased since then, as non-stat holistic factors tend to become more influential as colleges become more selective and need more ways to distinguish between top stat applicants.

Table 9 shows example GPA and average read scores for 30 kids who attended the same public high school. A read score of 1 is best, and 5 is worst. Read score is highly correlated with acceptance. The 3.78 UW kid has a near perfect 1.5 read score that was the 2nd best in his HS class (2nd to val), even though his GPA didn’t put him in the top 10% of his public HS class. While the 3.9 UW kid who had a better UW GPA only received a mediocre 3 read score.

1. 3.78 UW GPA, 4.5 W GPA, 1.5 Read score

2. 3.9 UW GPA, 4.54 W GPA, 3 Read score

The regression model gives some clues about why the read score didn’t follow GPA. It suggests that grades were the most influential factor in the read score, but it also suggests some non-stat holistic criteria were quite influential… Expected contributions to Berkeley campus was especially statistically sigfificant. The author writes the following.

"Two important findings emerge from the previously unrecorded variables (PUVs). First the harder-to-observe judgments that make comprehensive review comprehensive strongly affected read scores. Activities – evaluated as major and minor, strong and light – affected scores (all else being equal) and so did contributions to community (and predictions about future contributions to Berkeley) and evidence of obstacles to achievement that appeared only in the personal statements. "

There is little doubt that Berkeley and other UC admissions have holistic admissions. Whether they are more/less holistic than other schools is debatable and depends on the schools you are comparing to.