terrapinsanity.com

The college admissions season has been well under way, with students across the country watching mailboxes for good news on their picks. The Washington Post ran an article on one high school student’s decision making process as far back as November. And of course the season also kicks off colleges’ yield efforts, where faculty and staff work hard to convince admitted students to confirm to confirm there. (Today’s Washington Post had an airy piece about clever ways that schools use Facebook to build a connection with the admits early, anticipating it will help the yield.)

So far, College Park is not in this game.

Even though the campus moved its deadline for early consideration up to November 1, and many area students have been debating on selections for as long as six weeks, UM’s early admission decisions are still weeks away from going out to students, many of whom by that point will have already locked in on other choices. Why so late? No good reason we know of!

There are exceptions, which only serve to call into question the fairness, not just competence, of Admissions operations on the College Park campus. International admits, in countries with which President Mote has signed cooperative agreements, will have been notified about six weeks ago. (Translation: Applicants from PRC and Indonesia have priority over ordinary applicants from Prince George’s County, the community in which our campus lives.)

And good news for athletes, independent of your home state or high school grades. If our program wants you, then you can still apply this month and learn of admission before the regular decisions are mailed out first of February. (Translation: College Park recruits top jocks before it recruits top scholars or Honors admits.)

Our practices remain at odds with the rhetoric of our glorious Strategic Plan.