How college admissions officers look like in student applications: NPR

The federal case announced this week accusing parents of buying their kids in the best universities illuminates the admissions process. Every year, American colleges and universities are responsible for sorting out a mountain of apps. Some of the most selective schools, such as Harvard, can have more than 40,000 students. So how can managers know if the information in all these documents is true?

Terry Cowdrey, former Acting Dean of Admissions at Vanderbilt University, explains that the key is consistency.

"If a student had a very high SAT score on the verbal part, but his English grades were consistently low, and we read a poorly written text," she explains, "we would probably ask ourselves if this SAT score was, in fact, valid. "

Cowdrey has worked in college admissions since the 1980s. She has experience as an admissions officer at schools such as St. Lawrence University and Colby College.

Cowdrey adds that while admissions processes may vary in each school, principals can generally tell if students are telling the truth about test results, or even extracurricular activities, as the different parts of their application will become stronger. mutually.

"If a student indicates that he is participating in certain activities, this is also mentioned in a letter of recommendation or during a conversation when an admissions counselor meets a student," Cowdrey adds.

Ed Boland, former assistant director of admissions at Yale, has echoed this sentiment.

"What often raises a red flag is when you feel like you have the impression that each student has different backgrounds," he says.

Boland explains that these alarm signals indicate to the admissions office that one needs to dig deeper, which means that a phone call to a school guidance counselor might be admissible. Boland and Cowdrey add that, according to their experience, most applications are examined in several respects before being officially accepted.

So what about the elimination of fraud on the consumer side? Brooke Daly, of the Higher Education Consultants Association, says that most private admission consultants are members of a professional association like hers and are subject to a strict code of ethics. She says it works through a whistleblower system and an anonymous phone line.

"It has been developed so that, in the area of ​​independent education consulting, we can differentiate ourselves," says Daly. "We work ethically and do a good job with our students."

Daly adds that the code is constantly reviewed by group leaders, so the rules evolve as well.