This year’s undergraduate application may have taken a little longer to fill out.
Four essay questions are now part of the application, and although they have been offered to applicants to better explain themselves in the past, this year they are required of all applicants.
Prior to the four short-answer questions is the following statement: “Please respond to the following questions reflecting carefully on the content of your answers and staying attentive to spelling and grammar. Ohio State does not interview applicants; consider this your opportunity to demonstrate who you are, what you believe, what you’ve learned, and what you expect to learn.”
“It seems to have made people possibly shy away from applying this year,” said Martha Garland, vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies. “The application is more time-consuming now.”
The Office of Admissions hopes to gather more about each applicant through the essay questions.
“The questions were added to our application this year to provide more information for us about the applicant as whether or not they would be a good candidate for the Ohio State University,” said Mabel Freeman, assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions and first year experience.
The questions were designed by the admissions staff after reviewing questions and applications from other selective universities, consulting with students and other university colleagues and then getting approval from the faculty committee on admissions. Approval for the new application and admissions process was given last August, Freeman said.
“The students that do apply will be more serious about coming here,” Garland said. “After this we will be able to get more information than just numerical numbers. Focus groups will be able to tell us how they thought the essays worked – if they were too extensive or if there were too many.”
Drew Sprouse, a freshman in education, remembers writing two required essays for admission last year.
“I filled out applications for three different schools, but I knew that I wanted to come here,” Sprouse said. “I don’t think it would matter how many essays they required of you if you really want to come to OSU. I can see the number of essays becoming a factor if you were undecided between two schools.”
In the Gratz v Bollinger Supreme Court case last year, the Supreme Court ruled that automatically awarding points to minority students based on their race was unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court did say that universities can consider race when evaluating applications for admissions, but other considerations must be given.
“All applicants are reviewed in the same manner,” Freeman said. “This year we have moved to a more individualized review process in compliance with the Supreme Court’s decision that regardless of the size of the applicant pool, a more individualized process is necessary.”
The Supreme Court said that it was fine to consider race as one factor in an admission review process, but any type of point system could no longer be used in our review, Freeman said.
“The most important factors in the review of any applicant continue to be the successful completion of a college preparatory curriculum in high school, the student’s performance in high school as reflected by class rank and grade point average and performance on the SAT or ACT,” Freeman said.
Following the academic review of all applicants, admissions personnel give consideration to those involved in school and community activities, special talents, special circumstances, work experience and the responses to the four short-answer questions, Freeman said.
“If an applicant has accomplished a lot in a difficult environment, it is likely they will contribute to our university with their different background,” Garland said. “We want a class that has the best chance to come, stay, succeed and graduate.”
The admissions process is under review every year to make sure that it reflects the university’s goals. OSU wants to admit the most academically prepared students who will also contribute to the university community, including educational diversity, Freeman said.
