The Vandy Admissions Blog

frankwcislo November 21st, 2009

It’s a quiet Friday morning on The Commons. The campus is pausing for a week-long Thanksgiving Break that begins tomorrow. Many people are headed home. Others, especially students who live abroad, will stay here or travel elsewhere in the United States. Hard to believe that it’s “only” been twelve weeks since the semester began in late August. So much has changed since then—-new friends, new classes, new experiences, new discoveries.

A group of students was in the house the other night (I can’t take myself so seriously as to call it the Dean’s Residence, but please do understand that my family and I literally live in the center of The Commons). They were my Visions group (shout out to Group 80!). Every first year student belongs to a Visions group that meets weekly with a student and faculty “VUceptor” to discuss the transition everybody is experiencing as they move from high school to college. It’s a steep learning curve. For our group, that translated into talking for an hour a week about where we were at in the semester—sometimes structured discussion but more often than not general chat. We’d always start by going around the circle and playing “highs and lows” of the week. “My high of the week was seeing my girlfriend from home and my low of the week was the calculus exam.” You get the idea.

Since this was the last official session of the semester (we decided to have one more after the Break to spend our group activity fee on dinner at the world-famous Loveless Café!), we played “highs and lows” of the semester. There were lows. “The Swine”—H1N1—has been an issue here this semester, so sickness was one constant,, as was lack of sleep, as was the discovery that, in fact, not everybody possibly can get A’s. I remembered that my high of the semester was Lindsay’s low; she was crushed that the Phillies lost the World Series and hated the fact I was a Yankees fan! The group started pausing, though, when it tried to remember the “high” of the semester, and fairly soon the consensus started to emerge that there were “highs, ” but these just reduced to a common denominator. They simply liked it at Vanderbilt, they felt at home, were having a good time of it, and felt a growing self-confidence. “Yeah, I’ve talked with some of my friends from high school, and they’re just not as happy as I am.” “That’s true for me, too. I just like it here.”

Of course, for me, as a professor, to be surrounded by young people in both my classrooms and my neighborhood who are comfortable enough to be themselves means that they are tapping into their capacity for personal and intellectual growth—the chief reason we brought them to Vanderbilt in the first place. As they grow and explore, my life becomes richer. That makes me—and my colleagues—happy as well. As does having a Thanksgiving Break.

• Balance , Commons , Freshman Commons , Housing , Living on Campus , Nashville , Uncategorized
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Thom August 14th, 2009

My apologies to Robert C. Gallagher for borrowing his quote, but I thought it appropriate.  The Office of Undergraduate Admissions at Vanderbilt is changing and growing to meet the increase in visitors we’ve seen over the last 3 years.  We have simply outgown our current space and will be expanding into the neighboring Historic Old Gym that sits next to our current building.  Our main office will still reside at 2305 West End Avenue (and this is still where all your application materials will need to go), but our new space will feature a state-of-the-art presentation room to host our daily admissions info sessions, and some much needed additional office space.  Contractors have just put up the construction fences so if you’re visiting soon, we’re sorry for the mess.  The new space will come on line in early spring of next year.

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Brad July 6th, 2009

Good morning blog readers, friends, and people who were mysteriously sent here using Bing:

This blog began several years ago as an experiment. It was not rolled out with fanfare, nor was it vetted through a massive team of consultants in suits. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I built a simple site on the now defunct Blogspot, recruited a few students to help and away we went. Our goal was to demystify the admissions processs and put you in our shoes. Of course, we quickly learned what it means to be in your shoes as well. I don’t know for sure if this blog has been successful or if it has helped meet those goals, but one thing I do know: It’s been a great time.

Sadly, this will be my last post as an official VandyBlogger since I am leaving Vandy to pursue graduate coursework in Educational Policy and Administration. Sadder still, is that the previous sentence may be the dorkiest thing I’ve ever written.

I may drop by from time to time to post a comment or to razz Thom for one of his dramatically flourished opening salvos. I hope you all continue to enjoy the dispathes from this office and that you keep the tough questions like, ”Can I combine my SAT and ACT score into a super-super score?” or “How do I make pesto?” coming.

Mostly, I hope your take our advice to heart. College admissions is not a sport or a game or a contest. If it was, admissions counselors would get paid more and would have a Hall of Fame/Truck Stop/Gift Shop somewhere in Indiana. Admissions is a subjective process, run by flesh-and-blood human beings who care a great deal about getting it right. Still our decisions come down to distinctions that can be immeasureably small or just plain unmeasureable.

If you decide to make your education a lifelong journey, then everything will fall into place.

It’s been fun. Go Dores!

• Advice for Parents , Uncategorized
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Brad May 20th, 2009

It has been a week since we first made waiting list offers and the response has been good. Very good in fact. Nevertheless, we are planning to make a second round of waiting list offers this afternoon. The process will be the same as it was in the first round. Admissions counselors in our office will call students on the phone. Assuming those students are still interested in Vanderbilt (or want to consider the offer) we will send an admission offer via email within 24 hours. From there, you all have seven business days to submit your deposit.

Good luck to everyone and congratulations to the newly admitted members of Vanderbilt’s incoming class.

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Brad February 24th, 2009

Nashville has plenty of culinary choices. But there is one type of food which is distinctive to Music City: Hot Chicken.

Hot Chicken is southern-style pan-fried chicken cooked in a cast-iron skillet. There is, however, one twist. The chicken is breaded in a super-secret blend of spices which give the chicken its…hot. And trust me, it is spicy. Dangerous even.

The main purveyor of this delight is called Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack. Former Mayor Bill Purcell declared it his favorite restaurant and legend has it that one could garner political favor by stepping up from the milder varieties. The truth is, that I frequently crave Prince’s. Eating it on Tuesday can guarantee that you’ll want it on Wednesday. Fortunately for me, I am eating Prince’s tomorrow. After all it’s a Data Day tradition.

So what are data days? Well, you’re about to find out. Because as much as I’d like to use this blog to promote Hot Chicken, it’s really not the point.

Data Days are the days where we evaluate the overall depth, quality and diversity of our applicant pool just before starting admissions committee.  There are three per year, one for each of the Early Decision rounds, and one for Regular Decision. Thom alluded earlier to the admission officer deadline by which all applications must be first and second read. That date was last Wednesday. Since then, our support staff have been frantically entering decisions (admit, deny, waitlist, or committee)  into our database so we can have a complete look at the pool by Data Day.

Then, using some fancy schmancy reporting tools (we actually use Business Objects, a French data solutions package) the admissions committee will answer some critical questions:

How many students should be admitted?

This number is calculated by taking the number of spots in the first year class and subtracting the total number already admitted during Early Decision. Then, using a yield projection for Regular Decision we multiply to account for students who are admitted but will not choose to attend. From this number we subtract the regular decision students who have already been admitted or will be shortly. The only students in this group are MOSAIC invitees, Scholarship Finalists (Ingram, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Chancellor’s) and recruited athletes.

The final number will be the total number of admissions letters that leave our office on mailing day. You can try to guess the number, but we do not release it publicly. Remember that we keep it intentionally low  to prevent over enrollment. Then we admit from the waiting list to ensure the porridge is just right.

2. How many students can be heard at committee?

An easy calculation. We average about 10 application discussions in a committee hour. With three committees running 6-8 hours every day, five or six days each week  for the next month. According to Amy, our committee guru, we have 330 hours scheduled but may need more or less depending on the answer to the next question.

3. What is the threshold by which any student should gain admission?

Ideally any application that reaches committee will include a compelling discussion and the full spectrum of decision options. Although we love hearing about the incredible, bizarre, hilarious and remarkable things that prospective Vanderbilt students accomplish, it is not useful to spend more time on students who are clearly admissible.

On Data Days we take a statistical snapshot (compiled from the espresso-fueled months of reading) and assume that we can admit most qualified applicants in the highest end of our pool. This process is known in our office as “Commando.”  The origins of the term are hazy, but if I had my guess it dates back to 1645 when Alan Commando, the former Dean of Oxford decided to admit everyone at once. A carnival was subsequently thrown in his honor.

At the conclusion of Data Days, the entire staff receives an email with “Commando Guidelines.” Any applicant who meets the guidelines is gathered, re-read and barring any concerns, summarily admitted. Remember that every last application has been reviewed in full (twice in fact), received hand-written comments, and a decision recommendation. 

The remaining applications are slated for committee review where we will spend the coming weeks discussing everything from extra curricular involvement to grades to curriculum to that essay describing that time you fell offstage at your piano recital.

To a geek like me, Data Days are like Magic Eye posters. For months I’ve closely examined the applicants from Maryland (except Montgomery and Prince George’s counties), Minnesota, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. Now I am able to inch backward and see how those students fit into the larger group considered for Fall 2009.  Now it’s time for some Hot Chicken.

Mmm...Hot Chicken

• Admissions Committee , Application Process , File Reading Explained , Uncategorized
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