SAY

MEAN

MATTER

“The University’s gates, it seemed, had been flung wide open.  And here, before their very eyes was one of the gatekeepers who could escort them”  (2).

Ralph is there to help applicants in through the figurative gates of the University.

Applicants many really need someone to help them through the application process or they many not have a chance at getting accepted.

“Though the University had offered admission to more than 715, because some of those accepted would invariably choose to go elsewhere, Wesleyan had still rejected 7 of every 10 who had applied.  The median SAT score of those admitted—a combined 1370 on a scale of 1600—was not only the highest in Wesleyan history, but also higher than that of all but a handful of other colleges”  (4).

The average SAT scores to get admitted to
Wesleyan were getting higher.

Collage entrance requirements are getting more competitive.  Students have to do better than in the past.

“. . .with ‘top’ variously defined as those who checked ‘valedictorian’ on their applications; those with decent test scores who identified themselves as black or Hispanic; or those who played the bassoon. . .” (7).

The top students are those that are valedictorians, minorities with good test scores and musical instrument playing students.

Shows that accepted students need to be able to do many things well and be a minority.

“Ralph was instructed, he needed to examine those records in the context of an applicant’s life before deciding to whether to accept or reject the candidate.  Occidental’s philosophy was that SAT scores aren’t as important in the screening of minority applicants, especially who were the first in the family to apply to college”  (21).

First time minority college applicants didn’t have to have high SAT scores.

It means that the average student must have higher test scores to offset the occasional lower test score applicant.

“Ralph began to pay attention to students study habits, their ties to their community, their support system and the closeness of their families. . .”  (21)

Other things besides test scores are considered.

Paying attention to other attributes and improvement on those could help in getting accepted to the college of choice.

“That Julianna had scored so high on the PSAT and had checked all those boxes indicating her background had made her an especially bright blip on the radar of every highly selective college in the country” (33)

Julianna was completing the basic requirements for been a easily accepted college freshman.

There are certain basic requirements in force by all highly selective colleges.

“Wesleyan sometimes stretched to admit a student of color with low SAT scores were likewise broadened to admit a badly needed linebacker”  (71)

Sometimes
Wesleyan lowered their standards if they wanted to fix their athletic team or admit a student of color.

It means that you might not be able to anticipate if you will get in or not.

“’The first thing we look at is your transcript,’ Ralph said.  We’re looking at the rigor of your curriculum” (77).

The difficulty factor in the classes a student takes is more important than the grade received.

A student should take the most difficult classes he can manage.

“The docket was organized first by state and then by High School”  (94)

They way in which the applicants were discussed were first by state and then by school.

The by state were alphabetical; but the listing by school seemed to indicate a preference by school for admittance into Wesleyan.

Students received “an academic rating, a personal rating and an overall rating”  (95).

Wesleyan looks at academics and the personal contributions of the student.

A weakness in one area could be overcome by a high achievement in another. 

“They were attempting to predict nothing less than how a high school senior might fare at an institution as academically rigorous as Wesleyan, to say nothing of his or her potential in the world at large”  (96).

Wesleyan admissions officers try to read the future.”

Sometimes the officers are accurate and sometimes they are inaccurate.

“At least statistically, a legacy was nearly twice as likely to be admitted as someone who no prior connection to Wesleyan”  (99)

Children of prior students had advantages over students that were not related to a prior graduate of Wesleyan

This is good to know should one want to go to the same university as their parent, or to use that university as a back up.

“Wesleyan usually went to great lengths to ensure that it was consistent in how it treated the applicants from the same High School” (100).

Wesleyan tries to treat the students from the same High School consistent with each other.  If the students are equal they will try to admit both students.

It shows that if our school is doing well in getting into good schools that you have a good chance if you are keeping pace with other achievers.

“’It’s a mistake to hold out that total fairness is the only objective’”  (100)

Wesleyan doesn’t just strive for fairness in its admission requirements.

It shows that sometimes the selection process is about luck.  It doesn’t have to be fair.

“. . .the committee’s stated goal of being consistent within the same high school was outweighed, at least in part, by other concerns. . .”  (101)

Other matters in student achievement could cause the student to be rejected despite obvious similarities between them and another accepted student.

Sometimes the chances for acceptance are in the small details and not in the major achievements.

“But there were few other certainties about how the process would play out.  Admissions was messy work, done by humans, not machines”  (102).

After certain items were considered the rest of the achievements by a student was subject to interpretation and not an objective determination.

Again, luck and subjectivity plays into the selection process.

. . .that the odds of getting into a particular college were higher in the early-decision round than the main round”  (105)

Acceptance to a specific college is more advantageous during the early round of application consideration.

Many students don’t know that this is an advantage when they have a particular college in mind.

“But whatever his personal feelings for Mig, Ralph’s answers would hinge, in large part, on whether he thought he could convince his colleagues that Mig was worth the obvious academic risk.  And that was by no means a sure thing”  (117)

Mig was risky academically and despite that fact that Ralph was convinced Mig should be accepted he had to convince others on the committee of that thought.

It shows that it takes more than one admissions officers to believe in a student’s ability if they haven’t achieved the basic requirements for admittance.

“. . .that while black students had surely benefited from access to such institutions, their white classmates had also benefited from having minorities on campus”  (150)

The admission officers felt that the lowering of standards to allow entrance to black students was offset by cultural contributions to the campus experience.

Advanced education is ore than just the curriculum but the contribution made by all the particpants.

“A handful of prospects with low SAT scores who otherwise met Wesleyan’s varied criteria for admission could be welcomed into the class without doinjg damage to Wesleyan’s standing”  (177)

Wesleyan needs to keep up their good reputation by maintaining a certain average SAT score by all those who accept offers of admittance.

Wesleyan wants to attract the best students so it must maintain a standard for admission.  So, if it accepts some higher SAT scores it can offset them by giving some students with lower SAT scores an opportunity.

“He also began to think about how kindly he had been treated by the creative writing professor at Wesleyan, who had set aside time to talk to him”  (240).

The actions of a creative writing professor made a difference when making a decision about which college to attend.

The choice of college for students can also rely on the small details of the college, as well as the large ones.