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| Admissions Essays Blog |  |
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| Through our very own editors and guest writers, this blog will discuss the INSIDE scoop on the admissions process of various schools and programs. If you wish to ask a specific question, please write to us, and we will make every attempt to address your questions in our future blog discussions. | |||
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Monday, February 12, 2018
College Admissions and the Idea of “Deservingness”
In a thought-provoking article in Pacific Standard, former admissions counselor Nadirah Farah Foley challenges third-level educational institutions to reframe their standards, shifting their self-definition from one in which they are "producers of value, not arbiters of merit".
Foley's article is centered in part upon the idea that having more diversity amongst admissions officers is a giant step towards having meaningful diversity within student populations. She notes that people tend to self-select, or be more likely to admit students with whom they can relate based on shared experience. It's a habit that is steeped in racism and classism which may be so deeply embedded as to be invisible to the admissions officer themselves. Put another way, accidental prejudice. Privilege is generational. Over the past century, America attempted to distinguish itself from societies with monarchies, and explicit class systems. The capitalistic meritocracy was a captivating concept: to go from being a nobody to being a somebody required nothing more than hard work, rather than accident of birth. Yet time has proven this concept to be myth, and it is reflected nowhere more clearly than in the college admissions system. While colleges like to think of themselves as producers of value, the barriers to entry have caused them to evolve into arbiters of merit. Arguments about affirmative action and legacy admissions are grounded in a fundamental conflict about how to define merit. Or, as Foley posits, a rudimentary struggle about how to evaluate a student's "deservingness". She acknowledges the inherent challenge in systemic change, particularly in a space where access is caught the tight-fisted clutch of money, power, race, class and politics. Still, she has solutions. First, diversity needs to become a priority in the hiring of faculty, not just in the courting of students. Second, stop treating merit as a static characteristic, and recognize it as something that can be found in anyone. That's as good a place to start as any.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Language Barriers in College Admissions
It has been widely estimated that the number of international students studying at U.S. universities has surpassed the million mark in recent years. These numbers have been on a steady rise over the past several decades, with the overwhelming majority of students coming from China and India.
Most universities welcome international students with open arms. Having students from different countries and cultures enriches the learning environment. Foreign students are required to pay higher, non-resident tuition-a fiscal win for the colleges. One obvious problem makes this transition difficult for foreign students to navigate: the language barrier. The TOEFL exam helps to set minimum standards for entry to U.S. universities, but even students with a decent grasp of the English language may struggle to perform at the collegiate level. The University of Oregon in Eugene has an alternative. It is a program called "conditional admission", wherein students are offered "bridge" classes designed to raise their English language proficiency. The offering is available to students who otherwise qualify for admission. Through the courses, foreign students are able to ease their way into the curriculum, while also enjoying a gentler cultural transition. Though programs such as these are unlikely to appear at top-tier universities, they are becoming increasingly common as a method of courting international students while also ensuring their academic success.
Monday, February 5, 2018
Advanced Placement Courses: How Much is Too Much?
Scott White has been a New Jersey high school guidance counselor for over thirty-five years. During that time, he's witnessed a dramatic evolution in the college admissions process. In the early 1980s, he notes, it was as "routine as getting a driver's license", and something people rarely talked much about.
Mr. White is also a member of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), an association of over 16,000 professionals which aims to guide students through the process of college selection and admissions. Last week, he wrote and circulated a short essay amongst other guidance counselors, encouraging them to stop pushing high school students to take so many AP courses. His concerns are critical. He sees students crushed under the pressure to take too many high-level courses. They struggle with self-harm, self-medication, eating disorders and even suicide. The competitive trend, he warns, has got to stop. The essay has earned praise from fellow guidance counselors, but has yet to draw a response from college admissions counselors. It's easy to write dispassionately about admissions trends. Over 113,000 people applied to get into UCLA this year; 16,500 were admitted. These numbers are staggering, but they also represent 96,500 students who didn’t get in. Tens of thousands of students who no doubt took armfuls of AP courses, to the exclusion of normal teenage experiences. What of them? There's no easy answer here. Some students can manage ridiculously challenging course loads. Some may want to. Colleges are unlikely to discourage it. But for the teachers and buy viagra from uk counselors who work with high school students, something's got to give. The mental and physical health of these young people is literally depending upon it.
Monday, January 29, 2018
Length Matters in College Admissions Essays
This week Stanford University announced some minor changes to their essay prompts for the class of 2022. In an announcement in their own periodical, The Stanford Daily, these prompts are more aptly referred to as "supplemental application questions". To apply for a spot at Stanford, students must complete no less than eleven of these written responses.
To complicate matters, these responses are limited to between 50 and 250 words. By way of illustration, my opening paragraph above is 56 words. A full seven of Stanford's application questions are limited to 50 words. Most standard-length essays give students enough space to have a first paragraph that eases the narrative off the runway. Stanford's requirements scarcely give students the time to edge out of the driveway. Since Stanford's admission rate is a whopping 4.65%, the discussion that better deserves to be aerated is the general challenge of the short essay. Most colleges require at least one essay of 500-650 words, meaning that admissions committees understand the importance of the thesis/body/conclusion essay model. But fewer words should be easier, right? Not exactly. You're talking 2-3 sentences at most to answer a question like "What is the most significant challenge that society faces today?" Some essay consultants even invite students to put a spin on these short responses by bulleting them or including separated sentences. In essence, the universities want two things: 1) a window into who you are and 2) brevity. I realize I may be aging out of new composition standards. After all, even 280-character tweets wield a lot of influence these days. Yet for students, the key to short essays is to omit needless words; and then omit them again. Understand that you can't say everything, something that should feel more liberating than restrictive. Put another way: get right to the point. The end.
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Law School Recruitment Heating Up
For the past decade, law school enrollment has been in a tailspin. Since 2006, freshman enrollment has declined 30 percent, a figure running parallel to the downward slope in numbers of students taking the LSAT. A weak legal job market has made competition for junior associateships and post-graduate attorney roles ruthlessly competitive. Law schools have been forced to adjust by shrinking faculty, increasing tuition, and, in some cases, shuttering their doors.
The trend, however, seems to be turning a corner. Applicants are up 12% this year, and LSAT takers are up by 4%. This is true even though some law schools are taking a more lenient approach in admissions by allowing students to take the GRE instead of the LSAT. The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) is the body that administrates the LSAT. They have just joined forces with the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), a non-profit that has been around for over a century. AALS’ purpose is to improve the legal profession through better legal education. Together, these two massive organizations are pulling together a recruitment push, designed to attract law school students, beginning as early on as high school. Though LSAC clearly has a financial stake in this scheme, both organizations claim to be committed simply to providing better information about legal study and the profession beyond. Through a social media campaign and website revision, they hope to reach out to young students, rolling back the negative narrative that has surrounded law over the past several decades. The goal of this outreach is to help young students understand the variety of ways in which a legal degree can be employed across a broad spectrum of industries. Students should not feel confined to "pre-law" majors, nor should they assume that being a lawyer is about sweeping monologues in a crowded courtroom. Launch of the campaign is expected within the next six months.
Monday, January 15, 2018
College Admissions: Tasks for January
As we emerge from the business and bustle of the holiday season, many high school seniors may once again find their focus pulled back to that elephant in the room: the college acceptance letter. Unless you filed for early admissions, you're still playing the waiting game. What can students do to fill the time?
1) Follow-up: Check in with the universities to which you have applied. Enquire as to whether or not they need or accept any supplemental materials. If they do, pull those together and send them. If not, sit quietly on your hands. Just remember that, in some cases, each point of contact with the school helps to demonstrate your continued interest in their program. (It will also end up being an effective life lesson in taking initiative). 2) Check Application Status: This may seem obvious, but it's also important to ensure that the college has received all of your submitted materials in a timely manner. Most colleges offer this information on-line, so the follow-up here should be quick and easy. 3) Avoid Senioritis: I get it. You are almost done with high school. You've basically done all of the hard work of getting into college. But remember, you still have time to screw it up. Do not slack on academics in these last few months. Colleges still reserve the right to rescind offers if they see a dramatic drop-off in your academic performance. Hang in there! 4) Savor the time: Even if you've got one foot out the door of your high school and your family home, remember that these next few months are ones you will never get back. Enjoy your friendships. The full responsibilities of adulthood are still some time away—take advantage of that. Go to the beach. Go to the prom. Maybe even consider being nice to your parents. Above all, try to trust that, when it comes to college, the future will mostly take care of itself. (In the mean time, it's okay to give it a little nudge).
Monday, January 8, 2018
College Admissions and Big Data
This Christmas, my husband bought me a Sonos sound system with Alexa built in. Two days in, my kids have learned how to boss Alexa around, and I've discovered that she's already learned my musical tastes based on my amazon library. Smart homes and robots with feelings will be the signposts in my children's youth, in the way that cassette tapes and VCRs marked mine. Perhaps it will make it easier for them to cope with the growing reality of Big Data's influence on our purchasing tastes.
Even the people who share the most casual relationship with social media probably have some sense of algorithms, and the way they are employed to streamline what we see and search for online. In the business world, data mining is now a standard part of marketing strategy. It is cheaper and more accurate than direct marketing, and colleges, like other businesses, are quickly learning to use it effectively. The purchasing of student information is nothing new. Law schools purchase the names of students with certain LSAT scores from the test's administrator in order to court high-performing students. Universities looking to perfect demographic mosaics can purchase survey information from the College Board and the ACT. But as data mining becomes more sophisticated, its influence on the shaping of student bodies grows stronger. The tech-savviness of the younger generation could prove a double-edged sword for colleges. On the one hand, high school students have already been warned to curate and sanitize their social media profiles carefully. On the other hand, it's difficult to cover up your digital footprints, and most people make little effort to try. Weighing privacy against convenience is no easy feat. One thing is certain, data mining is changing the way all businesses operate, and colleges, who have been name-buying for decades, are quickly morphing with the times. Labels: College Admissions and Big Data
Friday, December 29, 2017
When The College Admissions Bubble Won't Burst
How many applications is just too many applications? It's not news that technology and platforms like the Common Application have made applying to college easier. That's not a bad thing. Machines can be helpful in processing large amounts of data. Yet there are certain components of college application packages that can't be reviewed electronically. Things like interviews and admissions essays. As colleges become flooded with increasingly huge numbers of applicants, how can they expect to handle the new logistics?
The Washington Post tackled the subject recently, writing specifically of the increased number of applications at so-called flagship universities in each state (typically, the largest public universities). Over the past decade, these numbers have exploded. The statistics are astounding: only two of the fifty states-Alaska and Montana-have seen a downturn in applicants, and the drop was small. Many other states have seen triple-digit percentage increases in applicants. At the University of Alabama, the numbers are up by 205%. In California, both UCLA and UC Berkeley have been hit with a veritable deluge: UCLA had over 113,000 applications this year, Berkeley, over 80,000. Every school has different mechanisms for reviewing applications. The University of Florida, for example, promises that each essay will be read at least twice, by different people. The good news for colleges is that they are sure to fill all their empty seats, but at what cost? The processing of tens of thousands of essays requires a labor force; universities will have to pass the cost of that on to someone. By many accounts, there appears to be no end in sight. As college admissions becomes more competitive, students will continue to cast wider nets, and universities will be forced to keep up. By nature, bubbles eventually burst. We may, however, be in this one for the long haul.
Friday, December 22, 2017
Early Admission: What to Do if You're Deferred
The first rounds of early admissions result are in, with no great surprises. As expected, admissions rates at this stage are higher than regular admissions. The Ivies, as usual, gain a lot of traction in media reports because their overall acceptance percentages are already so low. Some Ivies reported an increase in early admission applications, which translates seamlessly into even lower early acceptance rates.
If you understood that first paragraph, it's probably because we're speaking the same language. The legendary chaos and competitiveness of college admissions is eclipsed only by its hyperbolic escalation each year. Penn, for instance, just admitted 18.5% of early applicants-a record low. At Stanford, almost as many students were deferred as accepted. So, what to do if you're a student embroiled in an early-onset waiting game? For a start, don't hold your breath. Get the rest of your regular deadline applications out, and be well invested in them. Find out the university's policy on deferrals-some will accept updated materials, and some prohibit them. Don't alienate admissions officers by bombarding them with new information if it violates their practice. If they welcome updates, be sure you're sending only the most critical ones-changes in test scores, compelling awards, or notable community service. And though I've mentioned Ivies here, the other golden piece of advice to try and steer clear of the annual hysteria surrounding declining acceptance rates. It's a numbers game, and as more students apply, more necessarily get declined. There are over 4,000 universities and colleges in the U.S. Focusing on the top one percent is a phenomenal waste of energy. Particularly when you need to invest it in something more important: patience.
Monday, December 18, 2017
UCLA Again Receives Record Number of Applicants
It's been just a single year since the University of California at Los Angeles became the first university in the U.S. to report a freshman applicant pool of more than six figures-102,177, to be exact. This year, UCLA shattered its own record, with over 113,000 freshman applications, and 24,000 transfer applicants for the 2018-2019 academic year.
On its own website, the university reveled not just in the numbers but in the diversity of the applicants, 71,400 of whom are California residents. According to UCLA, applications from African-American high school students jumped 13%, Chicano/Latino students was up by 10%, and American Indian students saw a 6% increase. The university credited the increases to "robust community engagement". While this is good news for the university, it may be less so for hopeful students, whose admission odds just got steeper. This is choice marketing material, and arguably a draw for faculty and donors-which is great for the students who do get in. But these monumental jumps are also illustrative of a college admissions process that becomes larger and more unwieldy every year. For a start, how many people does it take to meaningfully comb through 137,000 applications? The University of California is a public school system, and while tuition may be cheaper than private schools, it still prices out many families. The UC's original policy purpose was to educate residents of the state, by making third-level education affordable. Though these numbers indicate a strong level of in-state enthusiasm, it's difficult to see how they will ultimately increase the accessibility of a public school diploma.
Monday, December 11, 2017
Race-Based Admissions and the Problem with the Model-Minority
It has been nearly three years since over sixty prominent Asian-American organizations first filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, alleging that the school's admissions policies unfairly discriminate against Asian students. As the case slowly winds its way through the U.S. legal system, the complex social dynamics illuminated by the suit are generating heated discussion.
The "Model Minority" concept, which first fluttered onto the American social science radar in the 1960s, refers to demographic groups who tend to enjoy above-average success, intellectually, financially and socially. In the U.S. the stereotype is overwhelmingly imparted to Asian-Americans who comprise the majority of non-white students in American colleges and universities. The premise of the Harvard lawsuit is that Asian-American students are actually held to higher standards of admission, simply because of a perception that they are smarter. This notion is pervasive in the college admissions industry, where many consultants coach Asian students on how to appear less typically Asian on their applications (hint: stop spending so much time on calculus and piano). In a deeply personal piece for Slate, recent Yale University graduate, Aaron Mak, wrote of his regrets about scrubbing his race from his college application, out of fear that it would be a liability. Mak, who is Chinese-American, made no reference to his race or heritage in his application, and now wrestles with two demons-regret at having concealed his identity, and concern that, had he been honest, he might not have been admitted. Mak tackles the complexity of the so-called "Asian penalty", including the racism at its heart. Asian students may be held to a higher standard because of the perception that they are, as a class, smarter. But the real problem is that white society has decided that Asian students are a monolith-some faceless class of submissive math geeks who fail to "stand out" in the college admissions process. As Mak ponders-don't all those blonde lacrosse players all look the same too? Edward Blum, the Jewish conservative activist who has thrown significant weight and financing into the Harvard lawsuit is unabashed about his goal, which is not advancing the cause of Asian-American students but abolishing affirmative action-a policy that has produced mixed results for Asian students. As Mak concludes, perhaps it is possible to be Asian and support affirmative action, while also opposing a system that may stack its cards against them. Labels: Race-Based Admissions and the Problem with the Model-Minority
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
What the GOP Tax Plan Means for Graduate Students
Though a nuanced discussion of tax code and potential implication for billion-dollar, private university endowments would have no space to breathe in a short blog post, I'd like to briefly tackle the issue of what this tax code overhaul could mean for higher education here in the United States.
Currently, somewhere around 150,000 graduate students in the U.S. receive so-called tuition waivers. Their tuition is paid by the universities where they study, so long as they as they are teaching or researching. The new tax plan will treat that tuition payment as income, meaning that students will have to pay tax on the money. This is problematic in practice for a number of reasons. Graduate students typically don't earn much money, particularly if they work almost full time on research and teaching. They would now be required to pay significantly higher taxes on cash that they do not get to use for living expenses. Some estimates have noted that graduate students will see a 400% increase in their tax liability because the bill will cause their taxable income to triple. The GOP is selling the bill in effect as a stimulus package, and many economists claim that the overall tax cuts embedded in the bill will cause a short-term bump. But for an industrialized country that lags behind the rest of the world in education, the act of discouraging people from pursuing advanced degrees makes little socioeconomic sense. Why, some wonder, would we discourage scientists from researching cancer cures? The tax bill consequences fan the flames of an ongoing discussion of the problems with privilege in higher education. It comes in the wake of a partisan split over the inherent value of college-an increasing number of Republicans feel that third level education is not the ticket to upward mobility that it once was, but rather a vehicle for the inculcation of liberal views. Though the House and the Senate still have to reconcile their two different versions of the bill, graduate students don't fare well in either draft. One thing is certain-if graduate school becomes entirely out of reach for all but the wealthiest students, the health of the entire country suffers.
Friday, December 1, 2017
Leveraging Military Experience in Graduate Admission Essays
Since its passage in 1944, the GI Bill has offered financial support to U.S. military members in their pursuit of higher education. In the years since, nearly every state has created tuition incentives in some form, which allow for whole or partial coverage of college and graduate school expenses for current and former service members. Despite these financial advantages, students with military backgrounds must play the admission game just as shrewdly as their competition. Which is why writing candidly about their service can help breathe critical life into their personal statements.
Military service has the potential to give applicants a vital edge in the application process. Values like discipline, responsibility and team unity are some of the philosophical cornerstones of the U.S. armed forces. Most service members join as teenagers so that, by the time they are applying to graduate school, they have garnered a richer and more diverse set of life experiences than their collegiate competition. There are many reasons why a veteran may not want to write about their service. For some, it is too raw and personal. Others may be wary about broaching topics that could be deemed political in nature. And while a quality essay will avoid excessive military acronyms or unnecessary drama, it has the potential to be deeply persuasive. Whether a reader has military experience or not, the essay is likely to stand out. As with any essay, the most effective work will be that which is reasoned and sincere. Though statistics on military service are notoriously difficult to pin down, it is estimated that less than one percent of the U.S. population is actively serving. Though the number of veterans is higher, it remains statistically distinctive, and small within the general population. What gives most student-applicants the greatest anxiety is wondering how to best make themselves stand out in an application essay. For military members, this part of the battle is already won. Labels: Leveraging Military Experience in Graduate Admission Essays
Monday, November 27, 2017
Are Law Schools Seeing a “Trump Bump”?
This question was posed in a Huffington Post editorial this week by Ray Brescia, an Associate Professor of Law at Albany Law School in New York. Brescia built his premise, in part, on an apparent twenty-percent increase in LSAT takers for the December 2017 exam. The spike is notable given that the numbers of students taking the LSAT has been, for several years, in steady decline.
Brescia speculates that Trump's election may have galvanized young people on both sides of the political spectrum to increase their social involvement. Against the backdrop of a highly charged political environment, civic engagement does appear to be on the rise. Lawyers were instrumental in reversing most of the adverse effects of Trump's so-called travel ban last winter. Appellate court judges across the country have neutralized many high profile executive orders issued by Trump over the past twelve months. If Trump's election has coaxed out social justice warriors, it has also emboldened conservative support for the administration's promise of policy changes. The visible victories of progressive lawyers may have the unintended side effect of inspiring a new wave of conservatives to pursue law degrees in order to fight back. There are, of course, myriad reasons why LSAT numbers may be up. The country is recovering from the recession that scared so many students away from law school in the first place. This could be a statistical blip. But while Brescia's educated speculation may not unfurl as expected, it is an interesting social enquiry. The U.S. is certainly in unprecedented political territory at present. The current administration has made statements and movements that threaten to topple the constitutional democracy that has underpinned the Republic for 241 years. If that isn't a good reason to go to law school, I'm not sure what is.
Monday, November 20, 2017
Diversity in the Legal World
A cursory glance at the American Bar Association's demographic report for 2016 reveals a handful of alarming statistics. Take gender parity, for example. While law school enrollment amongst the sexes is close to equal (52.2% men, 47.8% women), a full 64% of practicing attorneys are men. When it comes to race and ethnicity, however, the inequity is astonishing. Fewer than 5% of practicing attorneys are African-American; only 4% are Hispanic.
Statistics almost always require context, except perhaps, when they are this stark. African-Americans make up roughly 13.3% of the U.S. population, and a staggering 45% of the U.S. prison population. Hispanics account for 16.7% of the U.S. population. Though racial and ethnic classifications carry their own inherent biases, some statistics speak for themselves. The roots of these disparities go far too deep for a short blog, but a few salient points bear discussion. Income inequality in the U.S. skews along racial lines, meaning that college and law school are out of financial reach for many students of color. Because classes and races are so geographically segregated in American society, people from low income areas also have dramatically reduced access to the many tools that make college feasible-good schools, guidance counselors, and money for college preparation. And those are just the measurable tangibles. The psychology of poverty and oppression is crushing, and defined in stark opposition to the privilege and entitlement afforded to white Americans. For African-American students looking to study law in cultural and social comfort, the offerings are meager; only six HBCU law schools are accredited by the American Bar Association. Not one of those is in California, the most populous U.S. state, by a long shot. Texas, with a population of close to 28 million, is home to one. Access to justice is a fundamental marker of success and power. Prestige is a hallmark of the legal profession. Until people of color are adequately represented in the legal realm, law will remain a microcosm of society’s larger issues with racism, sexism and privilege. Labels: Diversity in the Legal World
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Is Life Coaching the New College Consulting?
Here's how it went a couple decades back when I was applying to colleges. You picked maybe half a dozen, tops. One reach, one safety, and a few in between. The applications were all on paper. Most schools asked for a single short essay. The top-tier private schools may have given you ten lined spaces to answer a question about the world you came from.
Change is, of course, a part of life. No young student is interested in an "in my day" review of how things used to be. But college has become wildly competitive, and technology has transformed expectations surrounding the admissions process. Everywhere you look, someone is selling college consulting services. There are hundreds of books about the process, the essay, and how-to-get-in. In order to distinguish themselves, college preparation businesses need to get creative. Which is exactly what 22-year-old Chris Rim-a recent Yale graduate-has done. He shoe-horned his way into Yale with a 3.8 GPA and a non-profit he'd built from the ground up. Now, Mr. Rim charges up to $950 an hour to coach college hopefuls, and parents are paying it. What's different? He's not just helping with essays or tutoring-he's teaching students to build their own brand, starting early in high school. He knows that all the top schools turn down thousands of candidates with perfect SAT scores, a 4.0 and a bang-up essay. Rim is already claiming a 96% success rate, and while critics worry that this kind of coaching simply cheapens the process with artifice, it may well be the wave of the future. Many students (and parents) are still more interested in prestige over "good fit". Rather than reframing the breathless process, they are likely to keep searching for a new edge. Mr. Rim has already found a way.
Monday, November 13, 2017
The Search for a Reasonable Bar Pass Rate
In 2014, the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law (UNT) opened its doors with a very unique mission statement. Their stated goal was to help at-risk students to gain law licenses. Translated loosely: UNT was willing to admit students with lower admission credentials and help them become attorneys in Texas. The problem? ABA accreditation. This is a blueprint that has been used many times before, to mixed results.
There are roughly 200 law schools in the country accredited by the American Bar Association. ABA approval is the standard stamp of validation that allows students of the various schools to sit the bar exam in their state. Only one state-California-has made a notable break from the system by creating their own accreditation system. Schools approved by the California Bar Association may sit for the California bar exam and become licensed attorneys in California. Those students may not be allowed to sit bar exams or practice in other states. In 2016, UNT was denied accreditation by the ABA on the grounds that too many of its students had low LSAT scores, making it less probable that they would be able to pass the Texas bar exam. The school appealed the decision and was granted provisional accreditation in June 2017. The first graduating class took the exam this July with a 59% pass rate. Texas’ overall pass rate was 71%. Whittier College of Law in California posted a pass rate of just 22% in the July 2016 exam; Whittier, an ABA accredited school, is shuttering its doors in 2019. Like UNT, Whittier prided itself on its diversity and commitment to educating non-traditional students. While relevant, pass rates alone should not be a death sentence. The state average pass rate in California for the July 2016 bar exam was around 60%. Those quick to blame California's non-ABA accredited goals may want to look at the pass rates for many of the state's reputable law schools. Above The Law In a system propped up on prestige, it is ironic that pass rates at all but the very top schools in the country post somewhat paltry numbers. It is unfortunate that the very schools that aim to diversify the profession are those most often taking a hit because of it.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Are Full-Time MBA Programs Worth It?
For the third year in a row, full-time MBA programs in the U.S. have seen a steady decline. Experts are nonplussed; in a robust economy, fewer professionals are willing to forgo actual income to pursue a graduate degree. The problem, however, may be more complicated than that.
Like many law schools nationwide, most MBA programs come with a steep price tag of over $50,000 a year. That kind of investment is unlikely to lure the ranks of the gainfully employed back to the classroom. Attendance may also be derailed by the abundance of shorter, more affordable specialized degrees in areas like data analytics and accounting. Over the past decade, enrollment in those programs has nearly doubled. Many business students rely on employers to fund MBA educations, but those are most often part-time or executive MBA programs. Taking two full years out of the work force and dropping six figures in tuition simply isn't prudent. Another possibility likely to gather steam in the months ahead is socio-political in nature. Foreign students have long made up more than half of students in American MBA programs. The visa restrictions imposed and promised by the Trump administration, as well as the anti-immigration rhetoric, have served as a stark deterrent. This year, more than 75% of programs surveyed by the Graduate Management Admission Council reported enrollment declines for the 2017-2018 academic year. Whether this is a precipitous trend or a shorter hiccup remains to be seen.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Rethinking the LSAT in Law School Admissions
When it comes to standardized tests, everyone's got a lot of opinions. For decades, the LSAT has been a prerequisite for entry to law school. In recent years, however, it has-like many other aptitude exams-come under fire for being a less capable predictor of academic success than once thought. Results skew along socioeconomic lines, raising questions about access and diversity in higher education.
Still, when a handful of prominent law schools across the country-among them Harvard and Columbia-recently dropped the LSAT requirement for entering law students, people noticed. Like the SAT for undergraduates, a high LSAT score is a golden ticket to entry. Top scoring students are wooed by the best schools in the country. All things being equal, an LSAT score allows any student to know where they'll land in terms of admission. Detangling the LSAT from law school admission will be a complicated process, but there are compelling reasons for doing so. Most significantly, numerous studies have indicated that the LSAT is not an accurate predictor of law school GPA or performance on the bar exam. This isn't to say that there isn't correlation in this data points, merely that they are not exhaustively probative. Accepting the GRE instead, is sending a different message to potential law students. The GRE is the standard-bearer for entry to most graduate programs in the U.S., (aside only from law, business and medical school). Arguably, it is a friendlier test. Because it can buy xanax pills online be used to access such a broad range of graduate programs, law schools would potentially catch incoming students who might not otherwise have considered law as a field. The LSAT, of course, also offers measurable structure. It gives students a strong sense of whether or not they are up to the substantial task of law school. But while it's possible that some law schools will follow Harvard's lead in making the LSAT optional, it will likely take years for this testing landscape to see major topographical changes.
Sunday, October 29, 2017
The Courage of Losing the “I”
There's an old adage about experience being something you got by not having it when you needed it. This is true of wisdom generally; most adults will admit that the more they learn, the more they realize they don't know. A young student might roll their eyes at this existential musing, but they should trust me on one thing: the person reading your admission essay has more experience than you do. Your job isn't to outwit them.
Many students tackling the essay struggle with the overuse of the word "I". Which is paradoxical, given that the admission essay is, by design, autobiographical. The thing is, a good essay shouldn't simply be a list of accomplishments. It shouldn't be a mixing bowl full of adjectives either. If you're a great leader, or altruist or hard worker-don't just say that. Show it. Trust your reader to be able to read between the lines. The admonition to "show, not tell" is ubiquitous in the world of college counseling, but often falls on deaf ears. Why? In a sense, it's because students don't always trust that their experiences will speak for themselves. They worry that the essay needs to be an exercise in successful self-branding. In another way, students fail to heed this advice because they aren't experienced enough in life to see the essay through adult eyes. And this is something that can't be taught. Challenging though it may be, students must learn to zoom out when it comes to the essay. Listen to your elders-your guidance counselors, teachers, parents. Trust that writing about that time you fixed a carburetor on your lawn mower can tell your reader more about you than the time you were voted student body president. You need not write passively about principles of leadership if you can instead tell the story of how you used to be in charge of making breakfast for your younger siblings. Experience teaches us that there is value in the little things. We learn by doing, and by wading through mistakes. Your reader doesn't expect you to know everything at age 17. Your essay should be a prologue, not a final chapter. Have the courage to lose the "I". Labels: The Courage of Losing the “I”
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