This fall, students will be able to get into college, with a guaranteed scholarship, without ever applying. Students will be receiving such offers from schools around the country.
Direct admissions allow colleges to send offers to students based on their GPAs along with a few other criteria. They include one\’s major and geographic location. Direct Admissions also eliminate the hassle of recommendation letters, essays and months of uncertainty.
According to Federal Data, above 85 per cent of four-year schools admit at least half of their applicants. This process of Direct Admissions helps in making the process less cumbersome. It also makes college education within reach for low-income and first-generation students. They also funnel more prospects for the institutions that are desperate in meeting enrollment goals.
DIRECT ADMISSION PROCESS
This procedure acts as a redistribution of the power dynamic from the college to the families right now. Niche.com Inc. is a company that offers profiles and ratings of schools and towns. The institution piloted a direct-admission program with two colleges last spring. This year, it is working with 14.
The private-college scholarship program SAGE Scholars is a common application offered by the state of Minnesota and Concourse. This was purchased by enrollment-management consulting firm EAB in September. They have launched or expanded direct-admit programs in collaboration with various colleges and universities.
The process is straightforward. Students who are interested specifically in joining the direct-admit pool can register on a website. The students must register with their biographical information and basics such as areas of academic interest and GPA.
Students generally do not have knowledge of the schools that are participating. The platform then screens the students. The major criteria of screening include the schools requested. After coordinating with the schools, admission offers are sent out.
The Niche website offers 30 questions which take about half an hour to complete. Niche first notifies eligible students who expressed interest in a school. They are sent emails that are most likely to be receptive to an offer. It then reaches out to the next set of students who may have shown interest in similar schools.
SUCCESSFUL APPLICATIONS
Claire Gaber received an email last year bearing the logos of Niche and Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland. It stated that based on her Niche profile, they\’ve been offered admission for the fall 2022 semester. Thus, there is no necessity for an application. She was also offered an annual scholarship of $25,000 that brought the total cost below state universities in Oregon.
Only if the student accepts the school’s overture and agrees to be contacted further, their file goes into the official applicant pool. Then, the responsibility is given to the school to woo the student.
GREENLIGHT MATCH
Greenlight Match of Concourse started as a pilot last year with 10 colleges. It focused on low-income and first-generation students in Chicago. This was mainly through community-based organizations. Now, it is collaborating with more than 70 partners on the domestic front including Southern Methodist University and Auburn University.
So far, big and small institutions and public and private colleges have been participating in direct-admission pilots. Some more selective schools have stated that they have begun discussions about signing up for this program. This will be implemented by them for international students or for students interested in particular academic disciplines.
The director of UG admissions at Montclair State University in New Jersey stated that any project, opportunity or initiative that works to remove the barrier from students who look to go to college is something that is necessary. This University is working with the EAB and Common Application.
Last year, 3,000 candidates were offered spots by the Common Application based on Montclair State’s GPA criteria. Twenty-seven students had actually enrolled and Thirty-one students put down deposits.
A senior at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis stated that based on his GPA, he is guaranteed admission to schools including Dunwoody College of Technology, the University of Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State University, Mankato. However, he is still applying to others as this will help if they don’t pan out.
AUGSBURG UNIVERSITY – PILOTS
Augsburg University in Minnesota is participating in direct-admission pilots. This is in collaboration with the Common Application and with the state of Minnesota. It has cut its own application time limit and it must be completed in an average of seven minutes.
All applicants with at least a 2.75 unweighted GPA are admitted. In a few days, online offer letters are received including details about guaranteed scholarships.
Augsburg already connected with 184 students through the Minnesota pilot. According to Robert Gould, vice president for strategic enrollment management, Half of the students weren’t on the school’s radar. Also, it has received 1,581 applications via the Common Application and its website. This is a 44% increase from that time the previous year which was then 1,094.
The path to direct admission may be long for some students. This is because a number of schools are waiting for students who have flagged for acceptance to complete their applications. This could actually scare off prospects. It will also undermine the goal of simplifying the process.
FASTTRAK PROGRAM
A tuition-rewards program for private colleges, SAGE Scholars now offers something subject to verification and if the schools choose them, there would be potentially more paperwork.
FastTrak program has been signed by more than 30 schools this fall. Goldey-Beacom College in Delaware has about 700 undergraduates. Based on its 2.5 GPA threshold, 4,333 students from this college have been qualified for admission through FastTrak. The pool has been limited by geography and academic interest. The field of automatic admits has been cut down to 434.
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