Table of Contents

Preface Introduction College Recruitment Night Kim Stafford, Director, Northwest Writing Institute, Lewis & Clark College Let Them Be Students William M. Shain, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, Vanderbilt University Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation William Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Harvard College; Marlyn McGrath Lewis, Director of Admissions, Harvard College; Charles Ducey, Director of the Bureau of Study Counsel, Harvard University Sanity Check Bruce J. Poch, Vice President and Dean of Admissions, Pomona College Editor's Stories I Our Numbers Are Up! (Is That Good?) Mark Speyer, Director of College Counseling, Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School Faked Figures Make Fools of Us James M. Sumner, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, Grinnell College Admissions Messages vs. Admissions Realities Paul Marthers, Dean of Admission, Reed College The Rank Lyrics of the Sirens' Song Sean Callaway, Director of College Placement and Internships, Pace University Center for Urban Education Editor's Stories II. Practical Perspectives: On Choosing the Right College Richard H. Hersh, Former President, Trinity College Admission Selection: Discerning Intrinsic Talents in a Confounding Era. Karl M. Furstenberg, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Dartmouth College Higher Education: The Status Game William Adams, President, Colby College You Must Re-member This Ted O'Neill, Dean of Admission, University of Chicago Editor's Stories III College Admission: As If Learning Mattered Michael Beseda, Vice Provost for Enrollment, Saint Mary's College of California Thoughts From an Admission Officer Mother Sid Dalby, Associate Director of Admission, Smith College Knowledge for its Own Sake Colin S. Diver, President, Reed College Status vs. Substance: Is There a Choice? Robert J. Massa, Vice President for Enrollment, Student Life and College Relations, Dickinson College Editor's Stories IV Establishing the Right Perspective Regarding College Admissions Harold Wingood, Dean of Admission, Clark University Students: You ARE Important, and You Can Take Control! Matt Fissinger, Dean of Admission, Loyola Marymount University Listening to What Matters Craig J. Franz, FSC, President, St. Mary's College of California Saving Imagination Philip Ballinger, Ph.D., Director of Admissions, University of Washington Summary and Discussion: Seeking Educational Clarity and Inspiration Recommendations: Who can do what needs to be done? What can students do? What can parents do? What can colleges do? What can The College Board and the media do? Hope and inspiration Acknowledgements

Promotional Information

The truth could set you free! This collection of essays adds real insight to the search for college and re-centers the focus to the student's development and well-being. Full of excellent observations and advice. -- Richard H. Shaw, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, Stanford University This book is welcome, if not overdue. The leading figures in college administration and admissions articulate with insight, candor, and compassion what the college admissions process should and should not be. This book is required reading for every parent, counselor, and aspiring student. It is more honest, helpful, and important than any guidebook or ranking magazine that exploits the misplaced anxiety concerning college admissions among students and their families. -- Leon Botstein, President, Bard College College Unranked is the most important effort yet to yank back the college application/admission process from the grasp of college rankings, commercial guidebooks, and expensive private consultants, and to restore it where it belongs: in the hands of students and their parents. The voices of the book's contributors are a calm, thoughtful force propelling us through the national blast of anxiety that dominates college selection and admission. -- Bob Laird, former Director of Undergraduate Admission, University of California, Berkeley

About the Author

A thirty-year veteran of the college admission and college counseling professions, Lloyd Thacker is executive director of The Education Conservancy. Thacker lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and their two sons.

Reviews

[College Unranked] is a collection of essays by some of the most thoughtful people working in college admissions today...[Thacker] has an unusual perspective, an irresistible writing style and a passion to help students. -- Jay Mathews Washington Post 20050913 These college-insider contributors deride the 'commercialization of college admissions,' the obsession with college 'rankings' and the 'test prep industry' in a compelling critique of college admissions today. -- Eric Arnesen Chicago Tribune 20051211