Adding Personality to the College Admissions Mix

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 8-19-09 | Robert Tomsho

[DesScorp]

Now, schools like Boston College, DePaul University and Tufts University also want to measure prospective students' personalities.

Using recently developed evaluation systems, these schools and others are aiming to quantify so-called noncognitive traits such as leadership, resilience and creativity. Colleges say such assessments are boosting the admissions chances for some students who might not have qualified based solely on grades and traditional test scores. The noncognitive assessments also are being used to screen out students believed to be at a higher risk of dropping out, and to identify newly admitted students who might need extra tutoring.

Big nonprofits that administer standardized admissions tests, including the College Board, the Educational Testing Service and ACT Inc., are also getting in on the trend. ETS, for instance, which administers the Graduate Record Examination, or GRE, recently unveiled a "personal potential index" designed for schools that want to replace traditional letters of recommendation for prospective grad students with a standardized rating.

"There is quite a bit of demand for these [noncognitive] instruments," says David Hawkins, director of public policy for the National Association of College Admissions Counseling. Educators say the use of such assessments is likely to grow as some schools search for new tools to recruit more minority and low-income students. At the same time, budget pressures are forcing public institutions in states like California and Florida to find new tools for selecting incoming students.

Critics contend that efforts to quantify noncognitive traits are often unreliable. And, they say, as the new systems of evaluation become widespread, prospective students will figure out how to game the answers to their advantage. Some legal advocates also say the assessments could stir affirmative-action controversy if they are used solely to give a boost to minorities' admissions chances.

Continued at link...

[DesScorp]

The dumbing down of college admissions continues.

[Buckeye McFrog]

let’s see.....I suppose they are talking about questions like “Can you talk Smack?” “Gimme your best James Brown impression”, and “Busta few lines of Rap for me”....

[TexGuy]

“Can I ... uh ...like ... uh, yeah ... hmmm ... like can I ... uh ...yeah ... Like can I ... uh ... study at your ... uh ... study at your college man.”

[dfwgator]

“Princeton could use a guy like Joel.”

[Fedupwithit]

“Oh well, lokks like it’s the University of Illinois!!”

[massgopguy]

Something tells me that BC isn’t looking for the next Artie Donovan.

[Candor7]

"This applicant has a personality array of the conservative stereotype. Recomendation: Application Denied."

Hopey Changey Touchy Feely.

1984 was 25 years too early.

Positively Pneumatic.

[I Buried My Guns]

"I roll a tight doobie"

[Candor7]

I am joker, a toker, a midnight stroker!

Gimme a scholarshit!!!!

[STONEWALLS]

...”The dumbing down of college admissions continues....”

YEP!....college administrators are terrified of not meeting “Diversity Goals”....so it’s all about recruitment of minorities....then the struggle is student retention, so colleges have to expend time and effort to keep them in school....and lastly it’s about graduation rates so administrators have to sweat that.

Not all cultures value education...trying to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse is very expensive....colleges won’t admit that so they treat “street cred” as a plus for admittance.... California once gave bonus points on applications if a kid had ever seen anyone shot.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Hardworking, never misses a day of work. Saves money for long term goals. Never takes illegal drugs. REJECTED.

Duh. What’s work? You means that stuff is illegal? Votes democrat. ACCEPTED.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Here’s the “Non-Cognitive Questionnaire” by William Sedlacek. He’s a prof of Education who specializes in measuring attitudes about race and gender. No bias there... /s

http://williamsedlacek.info/publications/surveys/universityofmaryland.html

Here’s a link to publications by this guy.
http://williamsedlacek.info/publications.html