Do you trust college admissions officers? Do you view us as dedicated public servants working tirelessly to help you achieve your dreams in the most time- and cost-efficient manner? Or do you, perhaps, consider us the aggressive sales force behind education, about as welcome as those people in the mall who NEED you to stop and try their face cream/hair extension/perfume combinations? 

I trust that most of my colleagues fall closer to the former than the latter. The reality is, however, that a massive portion of our jobs is to convince a particular group of students that they should enroll at our schools – and in many cases, enroll for a particular price.  

For numerous years, the federal government has been concerned that college admissions officers’ motivation to enroll students surpasses their duty to appropriately guide prospective students. As a result, there is a set of laws and policies that precludes colleges and universities from paying bonuses or incentives to recruiters based on numbers of students recruited or basing salaries on enrollment numbers. 

Since recruiting is a big part of the admissions job, it is not surprising these laws are nearly impossible to enforce. While few institutions, if any, will officially say their admissions officers’ salaries or jobs are based on enrollment, there are any number of incidents where admissions officers have been “exited” when targets weren’t achieved. At the other end of the spectrum, those of us who have enjoyed remarkable enrollments tend to be offered jobs at other institutions that are coincidentally packed with raises and promotions. 

At the moment, there is a noisy discussion about the use of enrollment incentives at for-profit institutions. Traditional nonprofit universities play the part of innocent angels, saying they are shocked at the blatant conflict of interest created by the clear bonuses and incentives that some for-profit institutions use to try to motivate their “sales force.” 

Of course, unethical marketing doesn’t require incentives. Many college admissions officers are hyper-competitive regardless of how they are rewarded. Often alumni of the institutions, college admissions officers have enormous passion for their school’s successes. While there is no doubting the sincerity of their loyalty, there is also little doubt that some go over the top in claims of student financial support, academic quality, and graduate job availability. 

How Does the Business of College Admissions Impact You? 

When the system leans so far towards awarding incentives for enrollment success, many admissions officers reach a point of saying ANYTHING to get you to enroll.  

While I am not a fan of the direct, overt, and excessive incentives and bonuses some institutions use, I’m also a realist. My job is, in no small part, to make sure that Mason has an amazing incoming class of students that reaches targets of quantity, quality, and diversity. At some level, no matter how ethical, honest and just generally wonderful my conduct, I am still a partisan for my institution, which, if I haven’t mentioned lately, is clearly the BEST UNIVERSITY IN THE WORLD.  

See what I mean? It all comes down to being a smart consumer. Regardless of the great information, propaganda, and shameless plugs you may get from any college admissions officer, you should also do your own research on each institution. On the other hand, you are certainly welcome to just take MY word for it.  

Be seeing you. 

About Andrew Flagel 

At the end of last month, I was at the Washington Journalism and Media Conference, attempting to blog on my new iPad, which seemed a bit like trying to ride a novelty scooter in a mountain bike race, but it looked much cooler. On Wednesday night at the conference, I delivered my speech on college admissions. And even after giving the speech for 20 years, I'm still amazed at the insane factors high school students consider in the admissions process.  A couple of examples of what high school students ask me: 

How will college consider the quality or ranking of my high school?   

My answer: Why would anyone care what your high school ranks? Apart from the reality that it probably makes next to no difference at all, are you really going to consider changing schools? If not, how does knowing help you at all? It doesn't -- it only adds unnecessary stress. 

What classes should I take to increase my chances of admission?   

My answer: This question always makes me really sad. Unless you are doing something entirely nutty, like substituting study hall for AP physics, and assuming your course load is reasonably competitive, you have no way to know how your course choices will impact your chances for admission to a specific college. What you DO know is that some courses interest you more than others and that challenging yourself is important. Isn't that enough to guide your choices? 

I know this sounds naïve, but students and families give admissions officers WAY too much power over their life decisions.  There are more than 5,000 colleges and universities, and there are probably dozens that would be wonderful for you. Out of those, many will admit you simply FOR DOING THE THINGS THAT ARE BEST FOR YOU.  Read: That's what's best for YOU, not for college admissions. 

Be seeing you.

About Andrew Flagel 

I have a house less than a mile from Mason’s campus. This has obvious benefits, among which are my 5-minute commute and residing in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. This is particularly interesting as a parent -- the unofficial motto of the region was taken from “A Prairie Home Companion”: “All of our children are above average.” 

This was made most clear to me when we stuck my kid in storage (also known as day care) at the advanced age of 4 months. Soon afterward, my wife and I attended a gathering of parents whose children were stored (I mean nurtured and educated, of course) at the same place. I found a group of parents with kids in the same age range, 3-6 months old, engaged in a very serious conversation about what languages their kids were studying. Not how many were spoken at home. How many they were studying. Infants? Really? 

With my typical sarcasm, I responded that our son had recently learned to blow raspberries quite successfully. The parents in the group managed, at best, a weak response to my clearly superior sense of humor and asked whether, since our son was not enrolled in language lessons, he was too busy with other classes, like gymnastics or swimming. 

Did I mention he was 4 months old? I told them we hadn’t made it to swimming lessons but that we did manage to bathe him -- occasionally. 

At this point, I believe, several of the parents immediately called protective services. We’ve wised up since then. Our 8-year-old now plays soccer and basketball, takes guitar and piano lessons, and speaks fluent Yiddish. And by fluent, I mean he knows a handful of wildly inappropriate phrases. I, of course, have no idea where he might have learned them. The reason I’m blathering about all this in what is supposed to be a blog about college admissions: 

1. This local obsession with toddler involvement extends throughout the country into high school, where students are overinvolved, overscheduled and just plain overwhelmed.
2. Parents and “experts” complain that students have no time to be kids, as they are busy scheduling high school internships in between band and soccer practice while they volunteer at homeless shelters.
3. All of that hyperprogramming is often blamed on the admissions process.

I wonder whether there’s really a problem. Did the pioneers stop their kids from working in the fields after school so they could have time to be kids? If given more time, would teens use the freedom to rest or expand their minds with great literature and art -- or would they just sit around updating their Facebook statuses and gawking at YouTube videos? 

On the other hand, scheduling every minute of your life in order to get into college is nutty: 

• Extracurricular activity isn’t nearly, remotely, or in any way as important as your academic records.
• You never know what college admissions officers are looking for anyhow -- especially whether they’d prefer to have a student deeply involved in one thing compared to being involved, in one way or another, in every club and activity available.
• And, most importantly, it’s a dumb way to live life. If you’re doing all that stuff because you love it, have a passion for it, and/or can’t bear to live without it, fine. But trying to join every single activity that MIGHT give you some miniscule assistance in some mythical admissions process, however, is deeply misguided.

In the meantime, since you can’t know what we want (or don’t want), you can feel free to make choices based on what actually interests you, as opposed to what MIGHT interest us (the admissions officers). Isn’t that better?  

Be seeing you. 

About Andrew Flagel 

Once upon a time, an illustrious student managed to get into Harvard with amazing scores and great grades from one of the best prep schools and one of the best colleges in the country. He lied. 

While this has been widely reported in the media, most of the reports have been very easy on Harvard’s admissions office. One of the experts in the field went so far as to say that, given the thousands of applications schools receive, documents just can’t be verified. 

Whoa Nelly! 

On the one hand, that’s just plain silly. This guy faked transcripts, and I can see, given the right computers, etc., being able to slip that document past someone. However, if a school has at least a couple of nickels to rub together (and who has more nickels than Harvard?), perhaps they could invest in a nice imaging system. Nearly every reputable college in the country (and the applicant was claiming to have attended MIT) uses really fancy transcript paper that shows all kinds of stuff when you scan the document. This makes copying or scanning the document challenging and confirms that it’s a real document. Did the student go so far as to obtain that paper? If not, how the heck did he get it past the office? 

Now let’s give poor, overworked Harvard (cue violins) the benefit of the doubt on the transcripts. They also accepted the applicant’s fraudulent SAT scores. I can’t speak for every institution, but Mason downloads the scores directly from The College Board. We go back and verify any that come in from the high school or the student directly with CB.  

On the other hand, since the student was transferring, maybe the Harvard admissions office wasn’t that worried about his scores, which makes sense. And since they were REALLY GOOD (and whose wouldn’t be, if we were picking them ourselves?), why check further? 

Let’s move on to how this exposes the DIRTY SECRET OF COLLEGE ADMISSIONS -- wait for it:  

College applicants lie.  

The even dirtier secret is that we probably don’t catch most of those liars. Applicants submit all kinds of recommendation letters, lists of extracurriculars, and claims of awards and achievements. For the most part, colleges make no effort to verify the authenticity of these submissions. There are rare exceptions. For example, with the Internet so readily accessible, the applicant claiming to have appeared on “Big Brother” and “America’s Got Talent” is easily referenced. The applicant falsely claiming to have won the East Podunk Service Commitment to Youth Who Are Far Less Lucky Award is unlikely to get caught.  

In fairness, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, these factors are far less important to admissions decisions than academic records. I should also note, for all those tempted by the knowledge of admissions offices lack of verification systems, that the penalty for getting caught is generally steep. Most admissions offices, if they believe that any part of the application has been falsified at all, will deny the applicant. You won’t get a reason, just the denial.  

So we’re not that good at catching you, but we offer a really strong disincentive. How many of you think that works?  

Be seeing you. 

About Andrew Flagel 

Are you part of the class of 2011? Then this is your last summer as a high school student!  

You have an exciting year ahead of you as a high school senior, and taking some time during the summer to get organized in between barbecues and road trips will help you enjoy it even more. Here are seven must-dos that should be on your list: 

Study Up for College Entrance Tests: You know these as the SAT and ACT. Even if you took these tests during your junior year, you’ll likely want to take them again in the fall to see if you can improve your scores. Don’t let the tests creep up on you! Set some time to study now so you’ll be well-prepared come test day. 

Visit College Campuses: You’ve likely come up with a number of potential colleges and universities in your college search -- now it’s time to visit them. And if you’ve visited already, take the time to do so again. Nothing gives you a feel for the college more than being on the college campus. Walk around, talk to any students who are there for the summer and see if you could picture yourself attending this institution. 

Narrow Down Your Options: Now that you’ve gone on a campus visit (hopefully) and gathered all your information, it’s time to get your list down to the schools you will actually be applying to. Remember: You want a mix of schools that you could definitely get into, schools you could probably get into, and schools you would like to get into. 

Get Started on Your College Applications: The last thing you want is to miss out on going to your dream school because you missed the application deadline. So take the list of schools you plan to apply to and find out what the application deadlines are and whether or not the schools accept the common application. Even if the schools do accept the common application, it is good for you to know now if there is a required supplement and/or additional material you need to turn in. If the schools do not accept the common application, then you should get a copy of the school’s application. 

Create a Resume: Documenting your objectives in the college application process along with your achievements in school, extracurricular activities and work will give you a strong tool for marketing yourself. You can use this document as a basis for your applications, as well as give it to admissions officers at college interviews or include it when applying for college scholarships. If you’re having trouble identifying accomplishments, sit down with a family member or friend who can help remind you of what you’ve done over the past few years. 

Secure College Recommendations: You will likely need a few recommendations from teachers and other adults who can vouch for you and your accomplishments. If you haven’t already, think about people who know you well and who can represent you favorably. You’re going to want to give them at least three to four weeks to write their recommendations and fill out any required paperwork. You should also be sure to do all the legwork and provide them with all the information and documentation they need to give you a recommendation by the deadline. 

Start Your College Essays: This summer, you want to at least write a draft for your college essays. Check your schools’ applications to see what topics you have to cover. The purpose of the college essay is to show the school how well you can communicate in writing, how you think and to reveal a bit about your personality that the rest of your application does not.