It was bad. Who cares?

If you follow admissions, you’ve heard by now about the Tulane University decision to “put a reluctant pause” on Early Decision admission offers to students from schools where some students had violated the terms of ED in the past. The article identifies only one, Colorado Academy, but suggests there are at least a few more. […]

Forestry, Farming, and College Admission

If your university enrolls a lot of undergraduates, April can be the cruelest month. Typically, May 1 is the deadline most institutions use as their candidate’s reply date, when students offered admission must let the college know if they plan to accept the offer to enroll or not. The percentage of students who accept your […]

Is there room for simplicity?

In January, 2017, in the middle of a rare snowstorm in Memphis, I presented to the students and parents at three private high schools. Part of my talk focused on the paradox of complexity in college admission: Everyone says we hate it, but the institutions that introduce more of it tend to be rewarded with […]

The Myth of Selectivity

Much of the hype in media and watercooler talk centers on institutional prestige, often using the selectivity of university in first-year admission as a proxy. Should you try to make your institution more selective to increase its prestige? If you think the answer is “yes” you might want to reconsider. From 2001 to 2023, first-year […]