Why Is It Important to Build a Balanced College List?

(Anjali Maazel): Before we look at how to put together a college list, let's remember why it is important that the list be balanced. Take a look at Kerry's Story. Her name is not Kerry, of course, but she is a student we worked with. As you can see, her SAT and GPA as well as class rank were stellar. She was also a national featherweight boxing champion, had leadership positions in theater and community service, and also completed a research paper with a mentor. Now look at her admission results. She was accepted to Stanford, UT Austin, UCSD, and UCSB. She was waitlisted at University of Miami and Vanderbilt and denied at Brown, Duke, Santa Clara, UCLA, and USC. So a few seeming anomalies have probably jumped out at you. For example, why was she admitted to Stanford that has a 3% admission rate but denied at Santa Clara that has a 54% admission rate? And why was she admitted to Stanford with a 3% admission rate but denied at Brown and Duke with admit rates of 5.5 and 5.9% respectively? And what about the waitlists? University of Miami is much less selective than Stanford or UC San Diego. So where's the logic here? Well, our current admission system is in fact logical, but some of the logic is hidden. In order to navigate this process in a realistic and sane way, you have to understand what is actually going on. There are two main aspects to understand this hidden logic. First is yield, and second is yearly college agendas. Yield is the percentage of students admitted who actually enroll. What does this mean for you? It means that the colleges are trying to predict whether if they admit a student, is that student going to enroll or not? is that student going to enroll or not? They use all sorts of predictive algorithms with elements like zip code and family income. They also use demonstrated interest, which is why this is a key component of our process. If they don't feel that a student is committed to their school, or if they feel they are likely to attend a more competitive school, they might deny an applicant, just like Santa Clara did with Kerry. Or they might waitlist an applicant, like University of Miami did. And why does yield matter to colleges? Because the U.S. News and World Report ranking is actually linked to the yield numbers. The better the yield, the more impact this has on ranking. And as we have seen, many families mistakenly use rank as the determining factor in applying to a college. So this means dollars to colleges. Not only is rank affected, though. Often the salaries and bonuses of admission staff is linked to their ability to predict whether students will or will not attend, the better their prediction is reflected in the yield, the more they are rewarded. So you can see that they are under a lot of pressure to decide whether any given student is likely to enroll. That then explains the wait lists and the denials from less selective schools like Miami and Santa Clara. Now, let's look at how admission staff crafts a freshman class, which explains why a student might be admitted to one super selective school like Stanford, but denied at another selective school like Brown or Duke. When I was putting this process together, I drew from my experience as a Princeton interviewer. Every year, some highly accomplished candidates were admitted while others were denied, and I had extensive conversations with the admissions staff about each of these students. I learned that schools like Princeton can in fact admit 10 to 15 equally qualified students for each slot they have available in a freshman class. So how are these highly selective colleges going to choose from among those 10 or 15 equally qualified students? This is where institutional agenda comes in. Each year, the president and the board and other college leaders set forth admission goals for the year. These goals might depend on the makeup of the current sophomore, junior, and senior classes and the needs of the school in different areas. For example, one year a school might be losing a graduating senior who was first chair cello for the main college orchestra. over the main college orchestra. However, the other members of the orchestra are not up to that leadership position, so it is up to admissions to find a star cellist who can take that spot. So what happens if 15 equally qualified candidates are being looked at for one of the spaces in the class? Who do you think is going to be admitted that year given their need for a star cellist? The cellist applicant or the non-cellist? Another year, the college may have a student body that has an excess of kids from New Hampshire, and they're looking for more students from Montana. So among the 15 equally qualified candidates for a spot in the class, who do you think is going to be admitted? The student from Montana or the student from a state that is overrepresented in their student body like New Hampshire? And these institutional needs that change from year to year are secret and reflect needs for geographical variety, student clubs, legacy, athletic recruitment and donor influence, among many other factors.