admissions news stories on Newser

We Need a Match.com for College Admissions

John Johnson — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:02:02 CDT

It's time to bring the college admissions process into the modern age, writes Kevin Carey at the Atlantic . He doesn't mean the process by which elite students get into Ivy League schools—he means the real world, where the vast majority of students end up picking a school because it...

IQ Tests for 4-Year-Olds Reveal Nothing but Wealth

Harry Kimball — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:32:34 CST

A common fear among high school juniors is an SAT score so bad it derails ambitious future plans. A similar fear grips affluent New Yorkers—but the kids in question are 4-year-olds taking IQ tests. The tests are de rigueur for admission to prestigious kindergartens, which feed into top high...

NY College Offers Freshmen $10K to Wait a Year

Nick McMaster — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:42:43 CDT

Ithaca College faced flagging enrollment last year, so it loosened admissions criteria. But that backfired: The New York school admitted 250 students more than it can accommodate this year. Even after building a temporary dorm, the college still doesn’t have room for 31 of them, so it’s making them an...

Colleges Use Student Blogs as Free PR

Harry Kimball — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:10:55 CDT

Colleges are loosening the reins on student bloggers in hopes that a dose of candid commentary will lure prospective applicants. At MIT, for instance, bloggers paid by the admissions office go about their work with no fear of censorship. That policy has caused some friction—including a spat between the...

Personality Test to Supplement Grad Exams

Jason Farago — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:35:39 CDT

For students applying to graduate school, good GREs and warm recommendation letters will soon not be enough. The Educational Testing Service has developed an index for professors and supervisors to use to rank students on a 1-to-5 scale for attributes like teamwork, creativity and integrity. The goal of the questionnaire...

Pols Pushed U. of Illinois Into Taking Students

Wesley Oliver — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:32:35 CDT

Prominent state lawmakers have been pressuring administrators at the University of Illinois to accept favored applicants or risk facing their wrath, the Chicago Tribune reports. Analyzing 1,800 documents, the paper found that subpar applicants on a “clout list” gained admission over the objections of admissions officers after school lobbyists...

College President Disputes Rankings

Heather McPherson — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 07:43:26 CDT

A college president is lobbing allegations of shoddy journalism at U.S. News magazine, accusing its annual college-ranking guide of fabricating data for its upcoming report. Although Sarah Lawrence tossed out its SAT requirement for incoming freshman, president Michele Tolela Myers says U.S. News decided to assign an average...