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« February 2007 |
Main
| April 2007 »
Some updates for our invited students... Here is the timeline for scholarship and financial aid notification:
1. Liberal Arts Honors Program/Merit Scholarship award letters will be released from our office today.
2. Award letters for students who applied for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Multicultural Scholarship will be mailed tomorrow.
3. Need-based financial aid packages will be mailed next Wednesday, April 4th.
This is a question that comes up every year when decision letters are released, and the answer is a nice follow-up to my previous posting. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I rarely give short answers to questions-- and I'd like to give a detailed answer to this one as well! The short answer, though, for those of you who want the abridged version, is that there are so many other factors considered in the review process than just a GPA or class rank or SAT/ACT number. Let's delve a little deeper into this topic...
First of all, though the average invited student GPA is an "A-" this year, all "A-'s" are not created equal. As I have mentioned, we are looking at the GPA on our 4.0 scale. Though some high schools give extra weighting in the numeric GPA to Honors/AP level courses, we look at all GPAs on that straight 4.0 scale. Where students do get the "weight" for Honors and AP courses they have taken is in our strength of curriculum evaluation-- we take a look at what a student's high school offers and what courses the student then chose to take advantage of. The student's strength of curriculum rating and GPA are ALWAYS looked at hand-in-hand throughout the entire review process.
Also, while the overall GPA is certainly important, how a student got to that GPA is also extremely important in our review process. Take a look at these two examples-- both students with an overall GPA of just below an A-minus:
1. Student #1 has his/her weakest year as a freshman, achieving a GPA of a "B," but steadily improves each year to bring his overall GPA up to around an "A-"...
Grade 9 GPA: B
Grade 10 GPA: A-
Grade 11 GPA: A-
Grade 12 GPA: (1st semester) A
2. Student #2 has his/her weakest year as a senior, dipping an entire letter grade from the "A" average that the student achieved freshman year...
Grade 9 GPA: A
Grade 10 GPA: A-
Grade 11 GPA: B+
Grade 12 GPA: (1st semester) B
These two students are in approximately the same area when only their overall GPAs are considered, but obviously have taken different routes to get there. We are definitely aware of GPA trends, and are much happier to see a student with an upward trend in GPA (like Student #1) rather than the student with the GPA digression (Student #2). As we stress all the time here at PC, students cannot rest on their laurels after freshman and sophomore years-- they must continue to achieve during the junior and especially during the senior year.
Just from looking at the GPAs themselves, it is easy to see why students who have similar numbers can receive different admission decisions... But it is also important to remember the major role the subjective (non-academic) portions of the application play in admission decisions. Though you might have some idea of another student's grade point average or class rank, you are not seeing the entire application package that we see-- the college essay, the recommendations, the detailed level of their involvement, the additional materials they submit with their application, their choice of major... and the list goes on. These non-academic and supplemental pieces of information often are the "tip factors," or the reasons why students with similar academic numbers receive different decisions. As I have mentioned previously, MANY students have the average invite GPA, but we have limited space in the freshman class and the non-academic factors are crucial in our decisions of which students we will invite.
There you have it... the relatively short answer as to why students who look similar academically often receive different decisions. (And it is a relatively short answer, because I could go on and on about all of the factors we are considering to make our final decisions, but I think you get the idea). More thoughts to come!!
Thank you to everyone who has posted comments and questions over the past week! One of the most popular questions has been to ask if I could post an "invited student" profile and explain what we saw (and what we were looking for) in our Committee on Admission meetings. So, here you are...
First of all, here are the statistics that everyone has been requesting: Overall (both Early Action and Regular Decision), we received just about 9,800 applications for a freshman class of around 960 students. Just from looking at those two numbers, it is clear that this was a very competitive year at PC, made even more so by the overall caliber of the applicant pool-- the overwhelming majority of the students who have applied have the academic ability to be successful in our classrooms. However, we do have the limitation on the size of the freshman class, and we must somehow work our way from the 9,800 applicants down to the 960 students who will enroll. As you can surely imagine, the review process was very difficult for the admission staff and this was the most competitive year in our history (with an acceptance rate of about 40%).
What were we looking for? Well, as I have written countless times (you can go back and check the archives!), we have a very holistic review process but the academic portion of the review is the most important. We were looking for that combination of a strong curriculum and strong GPA in the demanding courseload. I know that everyone will be interested in what the average GPA for invited students was, but before I post that, please understand this: The average invited student GPA is just that-- the average. There are students who were admitted with both higher and lower GPAs... there were also students who were not admitted with higher and lower GPAs. Remember, there are many other factors that come into play beyond just a student's overall GPA. Having said all of that, the average invite GPA was just a hair below an "A-" on an UNWEIGHTED scale.
On a side note, although we do recalculate GPAs and look at them on an unweighted scale, GPA is never looked at by itself... GPA is always considered in the context of the curriculum the student chose to take at their high school. One more time: Strength of curriculum and GPA are looked at hand-in-hand throughout the entire process.
Though the average invited student GPA was just about an "A-," please also understand that there are hundreds of students who achieved around an "A-" but were placed on the waiting list. Why? Simply because there are so many more qualified applicants than there are spaces available in the class. This is why we emphasize time and time again that, although academics are incredibly important, we are looking beyond the high school transcript at the subjective factors to make these decisions, and the students who have performed at a high level academically (that aforementioned unweighted "A-" in a strong advanced-level curriculum) and stand out in some way beyond their academics are the students who were most likely to be accepted.
How did students stand out beyond the classroom? Frankly, in a lot of different ways... Certainly the Student Council President is impressive to see but so too is the first generation college student who works at a part-time job for 30 hours a week and still achieves an "A-" in the classroom... Well-written and thought-out essays could also make a student stand out from the other applicants... People who have shown a deep and sincere passion for an activity or organization, who have demonstrated true leadership... Glowing letters of recommendation from counselors and teachers that go well beyond the generic form-letter... Students who have had truly unique experiences or have persevered in the face of a tragic situation... Completion of the PC Supplemental Essay Question, which many students chose not to complete this year... There are many different ways for a student to shine outside of the classroom, and I wouldn't say that any one is "better" than any other one. But the point is that in the context of our extremely competitive pool, having the "average invite GPA" is far from a guarantee of admission.
I know I have written a lot and so I will stop here for today... I will continue my thoughts about the process as the week goes on and hopefully will be able to answer all of the questions that you have. More to come soon!
P.S. Liberal Arts Honors Program invitations were not mailed with decision letters. They will go out this week.
Back in (chilly) Providence after my short visit to Maryland for yesterday's college fair. I arrived back in the office today to find the rest of the admission staff continuing to proofread and organize decision letters, which will be leaving our hands this week. Before the letters go out, I do want to talk about students who were deferred from Early Action, and the decisions they could (and will) receive in the next week.
One thing the admission committee always struggles with is whether to place a deferred student on the waiting list after they have been reviewed again during the regular decision process. It is very difficult for us because we have already postponed making a final decision for these students once-- when we deferred them to the regular decision pool after they applied at our Early Action deadline. Therefore, by placing them on the waiting list, we are asking these students to wait again-- this time until after May 1 to see if any spaces become available in the freshman class after the students who were initially invited have decided where they will enroll. Although it is a dilemma for us, we do place deferred students on the waiting list in some cases, and below is the explanation as to why we do...
When we defer a student at Early Action, there are two main reasons for this decision: (1) to see the student's senior year academic performance and (2) to see the student in the context of the overall applicant pool (not just the Early Action group). Students who are deferred receive a complete review again with the Regular Decision applicants, and there are three potential decisions that all students could receive at this point: invite; wait list; deny. Looking at the deferred students in the context of this group, a number of these students (many times even if they have a strong first semester performance) have the academic and overall profile of a student who is not strong enough to invite, but too strong to deny; therefore, we place them on the waiting list.
Consider the following two examples:
(1) A deferred student is considered in the context of the overall pool and has the profile of a wait list (their performance is not on the level of the Regular Decision invited students). So, because we don't want to make this student wait again, we deny the student. This effectively would be penalizing this student for applying Early Action-- giving them a deny decision when they have the credentials to be placed on the waiting list. While placing this student on the waiting list does mean they have to wait again for a final decision, it also keeps the door open for those students who have their heart set on attending Providence-- something a deny decision obviously would not do.
(2) A deferred student has a strong senior year but still looks like a wait list in the context of the overall pool. But not wanting to make the student wait again, we decide to invite the student. By doing this, we would be penalizing Regular Decision applicants by admitting an EA student who is less qualified simply because we wanted to give the deferred student a final decision. For all of you who applied Regular Decision, rest assured that the EA students did not have any competitive advantage in the process just because they applied early.
We strive to make the Early Action and Regular Decision review processes consistent, and because of that philosophy, students who are deferred can and do end up being wait listed because that is the decision that is most appropriate to make in the context of the overall applicant pool. We know that it is painful for these students to have to wait a second time and we wish there was a better way, but we feel our decision to wait list deferred students when appropriate is most fair to everyone. I would love to hear your observations, opinions, or comments on the subject as well-- please feel free to post them!!
I have been talking a lot about the admission review process and the release date of our decision letters, but as I have mentioned on numerous occasions, there are other things going on as well! Spring semester of junior year is when many high school students begin to get serious about the college search process, and we are hitting the road to answer your questions! In the near future, you’ll likely be seeing your region’s admission counselor at your neighborhood college fair!! Today, I attended a college fair at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School just outside of Washington, DC in Olney, MD. The pictures below show the “calm before the storm" – about 200 admission counselors setting up their tables prior to the students arriving for the day program:
 
I am headed back to Good Counsel tonight for the evening program (from 6:00 to 8:00 PM if you are in the Northern DC area and want to stop by!) and then back to Providence tomorrow as we prepare to release decision letters later on this week. I’ll talk to you all again soon!!
Some press for admission blogs in The Daily Pennsylvanian - and look who gets a mention!
After reviewing thousands (literally) of applications, our final committee meeting is complete (as of 12:00 AM). The hard-working (and tired!) admission committee poses below...
Later on today (Friday), after a few hours of sleep, we will be finalizing decisions and beginning to print and proofread decision letters. I'll give you an update on exactly when letters will be going out soon!!
As we have reached mid-March, I know that many students who applied Regular Decision or were deferred from Early Action are very interested in when they will be receiving their decision letters from PC. We are still on track to send the letters during the middle of next week.
Currently, we are continuing to review our applicants in our committee on admission meetings (it feels like I've been saying this for a long time! And I guess that I have... it takes a while to complete reviews of 9,800 applications!). Right now, it is looking like our final day of committee meetings will be this Thursday, and then we will spend the weekend and early next week finalizing decisions, proofreading decision letters, and getting them ready to be mailed. We're getting there!
Still in the office!! Yes, day #1 of committee was a long one yesterday, and before we knew it, day #2 (today!) was already upon us! As I talked about at Early Action, we are truly seeing some amazing candidates for admission this year... which makes all of the decisions we have to make that much more difficult. I will keep you posted as much as I can (but don't be too surprised if you don't hear from me for a couple days-- busy, busy, busy!!!!)
...begin in 30 minutes... Day #1 of Regular Decision committee is upon us!
Regular Decision Review Process: Our Committee on Admission meetings begin this week. If you were here for the Early Action process, you're familiar with what takes place in committee... at these meetings, we make our final decisions after the admission staff as a whole discusses each student's application. Decision letters for students who applied Regular Decision (or were deferred from Early Action) will be arriving sometime before April 1. I will pass on further information as soon as I know it!
Student Bloggers: It is our spring break week here at PC, so while you have been introduced to our two student bloggers, you might not hear from them for the next week because they are not on campus. (A lot of our students on campus will ask us, the members of the admission staff, where we are going for spring break... And the answer is: our office conference room for our Committee on Admission meetings! The students are on spring break; we are working as much as ever!!)
PC Basketball: The Big East Tournament starts this week for the Men's Basketball Team... I had my one day of "spring break" yesterday as I was in New York City watching the Friars take on St. John's in their final regular season game. Let's not talk about the outcome, though...
Our student bloggers are online! Please take some time to read their biographies and introductions and also to send them any questions you might have regarding student life here at PC! I know both Jackie and Nicole are very excited to part of the blogging process and are both looking forward to your questions and comments!
I do want to mention at this point that while we hope to have a lot of interaction between our students and prospective students/parents on this site, our student bloggers are unable to accept prospective students as their "friends" on internet social networking sites such as "Facebook" and "MySpace." This policy is to protect our students' privacy and also to give them a little time off from all of the writing they'll be doing on this site!! Thank you for your understanding on that issue... Again, both Jackie and Nicole are happy to answer any questions you do have so please start sending them in!!!
...The men's basketball team picked up win number 18 last night with a 77-72 win at South Florida, and moved to a game over .500 at 8-7 in BIG EAST Conference Play... One more regular season game to go: at St. John's this Sunday and then on to the BIG EAST Tournament!
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