Even though we are still welcoming the last of our new students for 2012 into the fold, we have already begun turning our attention to the class of 2013, many of whom arrive today, Friday, May 11, for Junior Visit Day. Just under 12 months from now, they’ll be making their final decisions about where they’ll spend their four undergraduate years.
So last night we had this reverse radio call-in show…
Last night, for students who had not yet finalized their college plans, we hosted Lawrence’s first “Reverse Radio Call-In Show” using some technology that involves robo-calling. (That we did so during an election cycle gave us pause, knowing that many households still attached to landlines are receiving calls from various and sundry political candidates).
On the phone with me were Dean of Student Affairs, Nancy Truesdell, and Dean of the Conservatory, Brian Pertl. They answered questions from students calling in from coast to coast. Seriously. We had students from Boston and students from Alaska–and many places in between–on the line last night.
If you have half an hour to burn, you can listen to a recording of the phonecast here (skip past the first 30 seconds unless you like hearing a lot of back chatter). It works well if you’re looking for answers to questions about student life (including a great question about starting a formal group house dedicated to “slow-food cooking”) and life in the Conservatory of Music. It also works well if you’re having a hard time sleeping and you find the dulcet tones of university administrators to have a soporific effect.
Phonecast May 1
On May 1 at 7 p.m. CST, we’ll be holding a last-minute phonecast for students and families who may have some last-minute questions before they make their final decisions. On the line with the dean of admissions and financial aid will be members of the Lawrence community who can have a live conversation with you and your fellow admitted students (and their families). It’ll be like a radio call-in show, except we’ll be calling you using some kind of new-fangled robo-calling equipment. If you’re interested, simply pick up the phone. If you’d rather not be bothered by it, please ignore the call.
How we get those nifty Conservatory productions to your home over the interwebs
If you’re planning on watching tonight’s broadcast of our conservatory’s production of “The Messiah,” and wonder how we support it technologically, you’ll enjoy Dean Brian Pertl’s walkthrough of our new remote camera system in the Con.
Hallelujah!
Like non-fiction horror stories? Then you’ll love college admissions news stories.
Early-rising daffodils have given way to lilacs and apple trees, which are now in full blossom. And while the sweet scent of spring is in the air, we must pause to hold our noses over the proliferation of college admissions stories that focus on the occasionally sensational world of highly selective colleges.
Consider this one from the New York Times blog, “The Choice,” which ran last Friday (which—coincidentally?—happened to be the 13th):
…we present our third annual listing of college admissions statistics at a range of institutions — a listing based on figures supplied by those colleges and universities that responded to a survey from The Choice over the last few weeks. This year, for the first time, we have included the number of students who were placed on waiting lists, as well as a more in-depth look at acceptance rates.
If you were to believe that the approximately 70 colleges on this list were representative of the universe of American colleges (which is about 1,600 colleges) you might think that most colleges have admission rates that read like the average January low temperatures above the Arctic Circle (which, you should know, is not where you will find Appleton, Wisconsin).
- Stanford: 6.63%
- Yale: 6.82%
- Harvard: 5.92%
- Really?
Of the 70 colleges featured on the list, 87% have admission rates lower than 50%.
However, if you were to include the universe of American colleges, the preceding statement would read just as accurately by changing the word “lower” to “higher“. (For the record, Lawrence University, which admits about two-thirds of its candidates, was not asked to complete the survey.)
College admissions, with so many cases of students failing to “get into their dream college,” abounds with drama. Drama is what makes for good storytelling. But the rest of the story when it comes to college admission is really not all that dramatic: most students apply to colleges that are good matches with their talents and aspirations; and most students get into those colleges. Not much to write about there, so, at least for the sake of interesting journalism, we find ourselves confronted with more tales, often breathlessly told, of deflated aspirations.
And we wonder why students are so stressed out about getting into college… and why they spend so much energy doing so many things—quite often too many things—to try to make themselves more “interesting” to colleges, as if we are panelists on American Idol.
There are a lot of colleges out there—many of which are not household names—that are perfectly good fits for students and which offer admission to more students than they deny or wait-list. The Colleges That Change Lives, of which Lawrence University is a proud member, are a great example of such institutions.
If one of the purposes of this blog is to demystify our college admission process, another is to demythify (pardon the made-up word) college admission.
Myth demythified: It’s not as hard to get into college as you may have been led to believe.