Holistic Admissions Review Not Being Utilized in California
Despite the official adoption of a holistic review of applicants to blunt the impact of the 1996 affirmative action ban in admissions, University of California schools are still relying on traditional indicators of merit and Black student enrollment has continued to suffer as a result, according to a UCLA study released Tuesday.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:45 am
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February 6th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
“We are proposing the elimination of the SAT test to make the process fairer and more equitable for minority students. It does not add to the predictive validity of a student’s academic success,”
Once again, we see a statement that should be supported by fact, not supported by anything. The SAT does predict academic performance, up to 25% according to most sources. Some people argue that 25% isn’t much but it is when you are talking about the difference between a 3.0 and a 4.0 gpa, it matters. Or more importantly, the difference between a 2.0 and 1.5 gpa which is often the cut off for matriculation or athletic eligibility. Holistic reviews are nothing maore than open attempts to use race as a factor in admissions in an effort to subvert state laws.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I had another thought on holistic evaluations of students. One of the main attacks on the use of merit (i.e. SAT, ACT, GPA, awards, achievements, etc) is that they don’t have an overwhelming predicitive validity. It’s safe to say that during the tumultuous years of college life, nothing can take into account all of the factors that play into a student’s performance. Past performance is the only viable way to make any forecast of future performance during college years, as weak as merit-based assessments may appear. Holistic reviews, on the other hand, have NO predictive validity whatsoever because the criteria that are used are neither consistent or tied to observed factors that have an effect on performance. To say that SAT’s shouldn’t be used for admissions because of low predictive ability and simultaneously make an argument for holistic reviews is ludicrous. If SAT’s are to be discontinued on the basis that they are not strong predictors of performance, then holistic reviews should be discontinued with even more haste since they have 0 predictive ability.
February 10th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
It would be nice if you would cite your sources when you make claims that holistic reviews have “0 predictive ability.”
For example, William Sedlacek of the University of Maryland has done a lot of research on the accurate assessment of noncognitive variables…his work is being used by a lot of universities as part of a structured holistic admissions review.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
“It would be nice if you would cite your sources when you make claims that holistic reviews have “0 predictive ability.”
That’s the beauty of holistic reviews, they don’t need to have predictive validity and can’t have predictive validity because part of validity is reliability. Holistic reviews strip reliability out of the equation thereby negating any claim of validity. Positive self-concept and the ability to evaluate one’s self are manifested in grades. Also, please note that Sedlacek’s research was published 25 years ago and the holistic reviews being conducted now are different from the ones he tied to measurable psychometrics. Here is an example of how holistic reviews are being used today as part of college admissions: http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/docs/untitled-40.html
The decision making process used by selections committees under the veil of holistic reviews are a joke. A quote from the article I linked to is, “Admissions officials acknowledge that their work is highly subjective and can be inconsistent. It is also guided by few hard-and-fast rules.” No kidding. When you take objective criteria out of the mix and select people because you like them, racial discrimination is guaranteed to occur. Your opinion on whether it is right or wrong depends on whether or not you are in the favored race. Unless, of course, you are like me and the vast majority of Americans who believe that basing decisions on race is wrong.