Although it is well established that college entrance exams have become a key factor for admission to selective institutions, less is known about the influence of test scores in relation to other academic factors in the evaluation of a student's application file. This study conducts a randomized-controlled trial to determine whether providing…

The Center City campus of Thomas Jefferson University (Jefferson) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an academic medical center that enrolls 3,700 students all seeking degrees in a health science-related discipline; the Center City campus includes six colleges and an Institute for Emerging Health Professions. The Office of Admissions is tasked with…

Despite pledges to increase student body diversity, low-income students and Black, Latinx, and Native American students remain grossly underrepresented at elite colleges. To date, most studies exploring stratification in college enrollment patterns have looked at this phenomenon from the student or organizational perspective--examining either…

Many universities and K-12 public school systems express a significant, formal commitment to the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Relative to the emphasis on DEI in America's educational institutions, however, there has been little research describing DEI trends and evaluating the efficacy of DEI bureaucracies. This three-chapter…

Disparate student academic outcomes and program access is a problem at Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs in the Northeast United States The current admission committee members at the case university did not know institution leaders' rationale for eliminating the Graduate Records Examination (GRE) criterion. The decision to exclude the…

College admission has always been a rewarding and at times, stressful, career path. For professionals new to the field, an increased competitiveness in college admission and advances in technology in the last decade or so have contributed to an even greater possibility of burnout early in the career. In this article, the author discusses important…

This mixed-methods study used open-response survey data, focus groups, and an experimental simulation to explore how 311 admissions officers defined and used concepts of holistic review in selective college admissions. We found that 3 distinct definitions of holistic review predominate in the field: whole file, whole person, and whole context. We…

This study found that current selective admission practices continue to reflect traditional norms of leadership in which title and prestige of organization are most valued, in part driven by increasing external pressure for quantification which emphasizes higher positions in prestigious or familiar organizations because they are easier to…

The mid-20th century push for high school calculus nurtured generations of future STEM professionals. While the growth of high school calculus is often seen as an educational success story, the emphasis on calculus has also exacerbated opportunity gaps along racial and socioeconomic lines, and crowded out other important math topics that are…

This article examines how diversity is constructed in college recruiting, with a focus on the ways in which recruiters' interpretations of diversity are conceptualized, practiced, and (mis)aligned with those represented in institutional messaging in higher education. Through the lens of Discourse Theory, this study demonstrates how distinct…

In recent years we have developed a data analytics pipeline using artificial neural networks to predict prospective student matriculation for university admissions using very limited demographic data. Predictions are generated at the earliest stages of the admissions process and successfully inform recruiting and admissions staff about the…

Inclusivity in data reports for undocumented students can be difficult to achieve. By nature of those students' status and livelihood, there is contention among academics and practitioners on whether this is a population that should not be formally tracked or identified, for a variety of reasons. Concerns about tracking arise because of the…

From calls to close borders to intolerance for non-citizens, growing nationalism within the US and other countries threatens the global nature of higher education. How are college counselors advising students in this new political climate? And are there differences depending on where counselors reside in the world? "The Journal" asked…

The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) commissioned this environmental scan of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in college counseling and admission professions in concert with its other recent DEI-related research, training, and initiatives to address the urgent needs of today's students and institutions.…

The goal of this report is to shed light on how counselors view the persistent attachment to calculus in college admissions. This report examines how high school counselors interpret admissions offices' expectations, driving their advice that students maximize calculus opportunities. The conclusions are based on a survey and interviews conducted…