This story first appeared on the ProPublica website.
As college-bound students weigh their options, they often look to the various statistics that universities trumpet—things like the high number of applications, high test scores, and low acceptance rate.
But students may want to consider yet another piece of info: the ways in which schools can pump up their stats.
“There’s no question about it,” said David Kalsbeek, senior vice president for enrollment management and marketing at DePaul University. “There are ways of inflating a metric to improve perceived measures of quality.”
Some of these tweaks—such as a more streamlined application—can actually benefit students. Others serve to make the admissions process more confusing. Here’s a rundown.
1) Quickie, often pre-filled out applications
Express applications—sometimes known as “fast apps,” “snap apps,” “V.I.P. applications” or “priority applications“—are often pre-filled with some student information and require little if anything in the way of essays. And especially when they’re accompanied with an application-fee waiver, what’s a student got to lose? Not much, fans of fast apps argue.
The school, meanwhile, has a lot to gain. The tactic, designed to broaden the pool of applicants, can help super-charge application numbers. Drexel University and St. John’s University—the only two private colleges among the top 10 for most applied-to colleges in 2011—both market broadly and use fast apps.
Both schools received roughly 50,000 applications in the fall of 2011, according to U.S. News data. Both schools enroll roughly 3,000 freshmen.
6 Ways College Admissions Offices Game Their Rankings
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