With some exceptions, selective colleges consider five main parts of an application: transcripts, test scores, personal essays, extracurricular activities and letters of recommendation. Here is a contrarian viewpoint on those letters from the associate vice president for enrollment management and marketing at DePaul University in Chicago. The nation’s largest Catholic university, DePaul does not require SAT or ACT scores or teacher recommendations. It does ask applicants to have their school counselors complete a recommendation form. You don’t have to look too far these days to see debate and action on reforming college admissions. The Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success is creating a new application and portfolio system to address what it says are barriers to higher education’s gated communities. Dozens of colleges each year, including many with high profiles, are dropping the requirement for the SAT or ACT, after conducting research that says the tests don’t add much in helping colleges predict academic success in college. I’ve even written about having Google manage the college admissions process.  And, most recently The Making Caring Common Project at Harvard has issued Turning the Tide, a manifesto of sorts that calls for big changes in how colleges evaluate applications.

March 3, 2016 ・ From The Washington Post