Posted on Mar 15, 2002
Show up and act interested.
That seemed to be the message that 20 high school
guidance counselors from across the U.S. will take back to their students
after attending selection meetings on Tuesday of candidates for the
Class of 2006, an exercise that Dan Lundquist, vice president
for admissions and financial aid, called “a no-holds-barred,
unvarnished look at the Union strong-average applicants.”
Counselors said they were surprised that some of
the applicants – even local ones – never took the time to come for a
campus interview, a visit or an open house. They also said they were pleased
by the candor of the discussion and the careful consideration that
went into each folder.
Admissions staffers took a break this week from the
“toughest 10 days of the year,” when the
final shaping of the class occurs, to host a two-day conference
with counselors that included meetings with faculty; campus
tours; sessions on financial aid, curriculum and residential life;
and, perhaps most memorable, open selection meetings. “This was
real kids, real counselors, and real admissions cases,” Lundquist said.
Union staffers and counselors used folders of current
applicants, but all information was kept confidential and had no bearing
on a final decision, Lundquist noted.
While so-called “beauty contests” are nothing new,
a number of the high school counselors said it was refreshing
to see a selection committee considering the minutia of folders
from current applicants who could go either way. Similar
counselor programs at other colleges use applications from the
previous year, often of their “high end”
only, Lundquist said.
“This process has made me understand that my
average students need to show their colleges that they have a real,
authentic interest,” said one counselor.
“I'm going to make sure that they visit, call, write … do whatever it takes
to get that across.”
The visitors also reported being impressed by their
exchanges with Union faculty. “The counselors said they had a real
appreciation that a kid who comes to Union will be taught by a Ph.D. in a class
or lab with maybe, at most, 24 others,” Lundquist said.
“This is a group of seasoned, respected professionals with
an average of 25 years in the business,” Lundquist said. “Colleges
are blowing rose-colored smoke at them all the time. They told us
they were really refreshed by our candor.”
“The most important thing that we wanted the counselors
to take back was a sense of the values that Union tries to bring to bear
in making these tough decisions,” Lundquist said. “I hope they
go back and say `I visited a selective college … if you're interested,
you better visit, let them know you're interested, and get your stuff in
on time.'”
As for Union's admissions staff, Lundquist said they
were reassured that they can pick up the phone to ask questions of
the counselors. “It's important for us to be reminded that their support of
a kid doesn't end when they write a letter of recommendation.”
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