Confessions of an Application Reader Lifting the Veil on the Holistic Process at the University of California, Berkeley

Ruth Starkman, via a kind reader's email:

My job was to help sort the pool.

We were to assess each piece of information -- grades, courses, standardized test scores, activities, leadership potential and character -- in an additive fashion, looking for ways to advance the student to the next level, as opposed to counting any factor as a negative.

External readers are only the first read. Every one of our applications was scored by an experienced lead reader before being passed on to an inner committee of admissions officers for the selection phase. My new position required two days of intensive training at the Berkeley Alumni House as well as eight three-hour norming sessions. There, we practiced ranking under the supervision of lead readers and admissions officers to ensure our decisions conformed to the criteria outlined by the admissions office, with the intent of giving applicants as close to equal treatment as possible.

The process, however, turned out very differently.

In principle, a broader examination of candidates is a great idea; some might say it is an ethical imperative to look at the "bigger picture" of an applicant's life, as our mission was described. Considering the bigger picture has aided Berkeley's pursuit of diversity after Proposition 209, which in 1996 amended California's constitution to prohibit consideration of race, ethnicity or gender in admissions to public institutions. In Fisher v. the University of Texas, the Supreme Court, too, endorsed race-neutral processes aimed at promoting educational diversity and, on throwing the case back to lower courts, challenged public institutions to justify race as a factor in the holistic process.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 5, 2013 4:31 AM
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