admissions officers

6 Stories

Colleges Snoop on Applicants' Online Lives

Admissions, financial aid officers 'fess up to checking social networking pages

(Newser) - A quarter of colleges check applicants' social networking pages or run their names through search engines, according to a new report. The colleges didn't say whether their online findings could make or break an application, but the study's authors believe overly candid online postings have the potential to sink one's...

UC San Diego to Rejects: You're In!

Email screw-up raises false hopes for 28K denied applicants

(Newser) - Some 28,000 applicants were rejected from the University of California, San Diego weeks ago—and all of them received emails from the school on Monday applauding their acceptance, the Los Angeles Times reports. A few hours later, the admissions office sent out a follow-up email apologizing for the mistake,...

Students Hurt By Colleges' Digital Verdicts

Schools fawn over acceptees, but can be curt with e-rejections

(Newser) - College admissions offices are jazzing up acceptance packages—adding confetti, T-shirts, internet videos—to lure students, and are also trying to keep up with the times in their rejections, US News and World Report writes. But some efforts have backfired, with students hurt by brutally short, electronic turndowns—including text...

GPA, Personal Essay, SATs ... and Sabotage?

Anonymous smear letters on the rise, say admissions officers

(Newser) - With competition for college admissions ever rising, some students are aiming to get ahead by trashing their rivals. Admission officials around the US have reported receiving newspaper clippings, references to Facebook pages, and, in one case, a letter written in crayon pointing out other applicants' false claims or unseemly behavior....

Throw Out SAT, Say College Deans

Panel recommends move away from standardized testing

(Newser) - Colleges should make admissions decisions without requiring the SAT or ACT, says a group of deans led by Harvard's admissions chief in a yearlong study that concluded standardized tests distort students' high school experiences, exacerbate class disparities, and enrich only the billion-dollar test prep industry. Instead, say the admissions officers,...

Colleges Turn to New Media to Recruit Students

Recruiters using blogs, social networking, even text messages

(Newser) - If MySpace and Facebook are where the high school kids are, then that’s where college recruiters are headed. Schools competing for today’s tech-savvy teens are reaching out to them through podcasts, online videos, virtual campus tours, live chats, blogs, and social networking profiles, reports the Boston Globe—and...

6 Stories