Sarah Lawrence Says 'No Thanks' to Casual Applicants
One of the reasons that colleges are receiving more applications today than ever before is that on-line applications make it so easy for students to apply to multiple schools. Not all colleges welcome that trend.
A surge in applications poses a serious workload problem at small institutions. College staff put hundreds of hours into application review and admissions decisions. Admissions officers are happy to make that effort when they feel that applicants are sincerely interested in attending their school. It's quite a different matter, however, if they sense that an applicant has no serious interest in matriculation.
Thyra Briggs, the dean of enrollment at Sarah Lawrence College, recently told ABC News that she is not convinced everyone who applies to the College online is submitting "a real" application. To weed out frivolous applicants, Sarah Lawrence has decided to make the written part of its application harder. (See "College Applications on the Rise, and So Are Rejections," ABC News, April 6, 2006.)
It's newsworthy that Sarah Lawrence is publicly stating that it is asking for more work from applicants in order to discourage non-serious applications. It's not news, however, that admissions committees look to essays for evidence of how serious an applicant is about wanting to attend their school.
This is one reason why it's a mistake to think that a 'shotgun' strategy to college admissions is the way to cope with a more competitive admissions environment. No one is likely to write thoughtful, effective, focused application essays for 20 different schools. You're much better off selecting a manageable number of schools that you would be genuinely happy to attend and writing an essay tailored for each individual school. It's quality, not quantity, that will make the difference in winning admission to the schools that are right for you.
Technorati tags: college admissions, college applications, Sarah Lawrence College, college selection
A surge in applications poses a serious workload problem at small institutions. College staff put hundreds of hours into application review and admissions decisions. Admissions officers are happy to make that effort when they feel that applicants are sincerely interested in attending their school. It's quite a different matter, however, if they sense that an applicant has no serious interest in matriculation.
Thyra Briggs, the dean of enrollment at Sarah Lawrence College, recently told ABC News that she is not convinced everyone who applies to the College online is submitting "a real" application. To weed out frivolous applicants, Sarah Lawrence has decided to make the written part of its application harder. (See "College Applications on the Rise, and So Are Rejections," ABC News, April 6, 2006.)
It's newsworthy that Sarah Lawrence is publicly stating that it is asking for more work from applicants in order to discourage non-serious applications. It's not news, however, that admissions committees look to essays for evidence of how serious an applicant is about wanting to attend their school.
This is one reason why it's a mistake to think that a 'shotgun' strategy to college admissions is the way to cope with a more competitive admissions environment. No one is likely to write thoughtful, effective, focused application essays for 20 different schools. You're much better off selecting a manageable number of schools that you would be genuinely happy to attend and writing an essay tailored for each individual school. It's quality, not quantity, that will make the difference in winning admission to the schools that are right for you.
Technorati tags: college admissions, college applications, Sarah Lawrence College, college selection
posted by AllStarEssays at 10:51 AM
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