Harvard report calls for college admissions “revolution’’
Personal achievement is overrated, the report says.
A report released Wednesday by the Harvard Graduate School of Education calls for an admissions “revolution’’ that would shrink the importance of high test scores and endless extracurricular activities, instead rewarding students who help out their families and strive toward the “common good’’.
Rather than judge students by the number of activities they’re involved in, the report suggests colleges should consider the quality of those extracurriculars — and whether the community service actually gave students meaningful experiences.
“We don’t want students who do things just because they think they have to in order to get into college,’’ Stuart Schmill, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dean of Admissions, said in a statement. “ To the contrary: we want students who lead balanced lives, who pursue their interests with energy and enthusiasm, and who work cooperatively with others, all of which will help them be successful in and after college.’’
The report offers suggestions for how to address three of the biggest challenges facing college applicants today: exceeding pressure to succeed academically, the emphasis on personal achievement rather than truly giving back, and the unequal opportunities available to students of less privileged backgrounds.
The report also suggests colleges inquire about the ways in which students help out their families. Many students in low and modest income families can’t participate in “traditional’’ high school extracurricular activities because they’re caring for family members, such as sick relatives or younger siblings. But these experiences, the report notes, help them become more conscientious humans, and often aren’t addressed in current application forms in the same way as organized volunteer efforts.
The report also suggests colleges reduce the emphasis on taking large numbers of advanced placement courses and on standardized test scores, even going so far as to suggest that colleges discourage students from taking the SAT and ACT more than twice.
Admissions officers and guidance counselors should also promote the idea that there are more than a few good schools that will set students up for success, according to the report. Students and parents should be far more concerned with whether a college is an appropriate match for students than with its status.
This summer, Making Caring Common, the group that produced the report, will host a summit for admissions leaders and high school and parent representatives from across the country to develop a two-year plan to implement key elements of the report.
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