UW looking beyond test scores, GPA


		Gilbert W. Arias / P-I
	Prospective students and their families stop at Red Square during a campus tour at the UW. The university is taking a "holistic" approach to admissions this year.

A third enrolled in honors classes but got C's and D's.

A year ago, the first student might have likely gotten into the University of Washington, the details of the second student's life might not have mattered and the context of the third's academic career might not have been taken into account.

This year, however, who got into the UW and why changed dramatically. For the first time, UW admissions staffers read each and every one of the more than 16,500 freshman applications -- a process that took four months, 40 readers and hundreds of hours.

The university is no longer accepting students based primarily on grade-point averages and standardized test scores. Now what courses a student took, the clubs she was in and her family's income, among other factors, are also considered.

That means students who wouldn't have automatically been accepted to the UW in the past might have a better chance of getting in this year. And those who would have automatically gotten in previously might not now.

The UW's new "holistic" approach is one that private schools have used for years and even some large public universities have adopted. Opponents have criticized the review for being subjective and circumventing anti-affirmative action laws. But admissions officials -- who sent out the last of the UW's freshman acceptance letters this week -- said it is a better method because it evaluates the entire student.

"I never ever look at it as a number because it's not," said senior admissions counselor Paul Francis of student applications that he read. "It's a name. It's a face. It's a future."

More than grades

Tim Nichols is one of those students.

The Ballard High School senior didn't think his chances were good of getting into the UW based just on his grades and test scores.

But this year the university looked at more than Nichols' 3.4 GPA. It also considered his enrollment in advanced-placement classes, participation in rowing and a job at a burger joint.

"There's a lot more that goes into a student than just the grades that they've gotten," said Nichols, who earned a spot in the 2006 freshman class.

Just a year ago, though, the UW sent out more than half its acceptance letters based primarily on students' grades and test scores.

Since the 1970s, the university used a grid called the Admissions Index to accept part of its freshman class. The grid assigned each applicant a score based on his or her grade-point average and standardized test score. Last year, the UW automatically accepted students who scored 70 or higher.

It reviewed the applications of those students who scored 69 or lower using a weighted point system based on grades, test scores, curriculum and parents' income, among other factors.

Though the UW still considers a student's grade-point average in its admissions review, its new process now takes into account what makes it up:


		Gilbert W. Arias / P-I
	UW juniors Lauren McKee, left, and Karen Abington go over last-minute notes before a science class. Both agree a high GPA is the most important factor for admissions.

Did the student take honors and advanced-placement courses? Did the student slack off senior year or enroll in a fourth year of core subjects? Did the student's grades improve through high school or get worse?

Take, for instance, a freshman applicant who reported a 3.76 GPA. Although the student attends a high school that offers advanced placement classes, the student didn't enroll in any. Nor did the student take language or math courses during senior year.

"This is college prep, but it's basic," said Philip Ballinger, UW director of admissions, looking at the student's course work on the application.

Compare that with a student with a lower GPA -- a 3.42 -- but who took advanced placement physics, calculus and Latin.

A close look allows readers to "contextualize the GPA," Ballinger said. The Seattle P-I reviewed parts of actual freshman applications with student names and other identifying information removed. The review served as a basis for discussions with the admissions director and staff about the new review and how it worked this year. The P-I does not know which students got into the UW.

Students must meet core admissions requirements to be accepted to the UW, such as three years of high school math and two years of science. Readers want to "pick up the voice of the student," Ballinger said, "and you just can't do that with a database and Admissions Index."

That doesn't include looking at race or ethnicity, admissions readers said. Sensitive to affirmative action criticism, they do not look at the part of the application that includes a student's race.

But sometimes readers find out anyway by reading a student's essay or personal statement.

Essays often most telling

Moving to a comprehensive application review has been time-consuming and expensive for the UW, which is spending $250,000 on the new process.

In addition to 20 professional staff, the university hired and trained 20 graduate students to read applications. Admissions readers received more than 20 hours of training to learn how to differentiate a strong candidate from one who is admissible or even marginal.

At least two people read each application. Each reader gave an applicant an overall assessment -- ranging from "highest recommendation" to "deny" -- based on academic performance and personal achievements.


		Gilbert W. Arias / P-I
	Paul Francis, a senior admissions counselor with the University of Washington, and other staffers scoured through 16,500 applications for the freshman class.

If the two readers' assessments varied by a difference of greater than one level, a third senior reader reviewed the application. Overall, 4.3 percent of the applications -- about 700 applications -- went to a third reader.

When reading a freshman application, Sara Frame, a 27-year-old graduate student, asked herself two questions -- what would the student contribute to the university and what would the student get out of attending the UW?

Frame -- who read applications for about 20 hours a week -- said she spent "whatever time it took to feel the person" on each application. Typically something about the student would speak to her, she said.

"I have a role in ... hearing somebody," she said. "You're there to listen."

Students' essays were often the most telling.

Readers reviewed how the essay was written and what insights the student shared. Ballinger described it as looking to see if a student has "developed some kind of antenna for understanding differences in people."

One student, for instance, wrote about her sister, who has Down syndrome, and how their relationship transformed as they grew older. It was a touching, thoughtful essay that explored the student's changing feelings toward her sibling. "In this case, I would say, yeah, she has a radar," Ballinger said.

Some personal statements explored hardships that students had overcome -- such as the teenager who toiled in fields with his family while working to earn an education. Or revealed aspirations -- the student who grew up in a small town but always wanted to move to a large city.

But one student wrote about a first trip outside the country -- and devoted just three sentences to the experience. Another discussed the impact of a relative's death on her own life -- but her writing was riddled with egregious spelling and grammatical errors.

The university does not check the veracity of students' essays. But students must sign their application attesting their statements are true and submit their high school transcripts to the UW if they are accepted.

Ballinger said he has checked on at least one applicant when the personal statement didn't read as though the student had written it. He compared the essay with the student's SAT writing sample. They matched.

Ultimately, the decision to accept students is made by Ballinger, not the readers.

He accepted the students in the order of their assessment rating -- starting with those who received a "highest recommendation" rating -- until all of the university's allotted 11,330 acceptance letters were sent out. The UW hopes to admit a freshman class of about 5,100.

Students who are accepted to the UW have until May 1 to inform the university of their decision to attend.

Unless told by individual students, high school counselors don't necessarily know yet which of their students got into the UW. Wendy Krakauer, the head counselor at Roosevelt High School, expects to receive that information from the university next month. Overall, "the jury's still out" on the new system, she said.

But she already has a sense that some students who might not have gotten into the UW last year under the Admissions Index did so this year, including two good students who had lived in the country for only a few years and had low SAT scores because English was their second language.

Despite the switch to a new system, one aspect of the college admissions process hasn't changed -- the excitement and disappointment that comes with receiving college acceptance and rejection letters. "It's such an emotional time," Krakauer said. "I don't get the sense that's any different from prior years."

Nichols, the Ballard High School senior, has already accepted his offer of admissions.

The UW was his top choice. Family members attended the university and his father has bought Husky football season tickets for years.

The 18-year-old was "pretty excited" when his acceptance letter arrived in the mail a few weeks ago. He said he thought the UW's new review process might have helped him get in.

"I think that I'm probably kind of biased because it helped me out a lot, but I think it's nice that (the UW) would look at (more than) a grade-point average."

HOW IT WORKS

Past practices

The UW used to accept part of its freshman class using the Admissions Index. The university assigned each applicant a number based on his or her grade-point average and standardized test score. Last year, a student who received a score of 70 or higher was automatically accepted.

New "Holistic" review

In addition to considering a student's GPA and standardized test score, the UW now considers a number of other factors:

Academic assessment

GPA in context
Strength of curriculum
Grade trend
Strength of senior year schedule
Notable achievements in specific academic field
Recognized talent in the arts
Essay quality
Standardized test scores

Personal qualities/achievements

Cultural awareness (Depth of awareness and understanding)
Adversity (Economic disadvantage; educational disadvantage/first generation; personal adversity or disability; school factor - free or reduced-cost lunch)
Unique personal need to enroll at the UW
Activities (Long-term commitment to activity; increasing levels of responsibility in work or activities; exceptional creativity, talent or skill; extensive participation in UW-sponsored college-prep programs)
Character (Has made significant contributions to the community, school or family; shows dedication to a cause; has unique perspective on issues; shows notable self-awareness)

Overall recommendations

UW admissions readers used the following assessment descriptions when reviewing freshman applications.

Highest recommendation: Exceptional academic preparation or characteristics that would contribute unique talents, perspectives or backgrounds to the university community.
Strong: Strong, but not exceptional.
Admissible: Adequate but does not stand out in any singular manner.
Marginal: Marginal academic preparation or characteristics.
Deny: Little or no evidence of academic preparation or characteristics that would contribute talents, perspectives or backgrounds to the university community.

Source: University of Washington and Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board

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