Thanks, for Nothing*

The University of Pennsylvania added a new wrinkle to their undergraduate admissions this year. Prospective students are to write a thank-you note to someone they would like to acknowledge. They are then encouraged to share that note with the person being thanked. This is in addition to the usual prompts, such as “If you could choose to be raised by robots, dinosaurs or aliens, who would you pick? Why?”, and “Tell us about spiders.” (Actual college prompts, though not from Penn).

These prompts are supposed to give the school a sense of the student outside of the raw GPA numbers and their chosen extra-curricular activities. According to Whitney Soule, Dean of Admissions at Penn, the gratitude prompt was “an opportunity that benefits the applicants and those of us who get to read their answers”. In other words, Penn was including this as a public service to the prospective student, and a morale builder for its employees. As the Church Lady would say, “Isn’t that special”.

To be clear, I am not anti-gratitude. I think that gratitude is a wonderful quality to possess, and that everyone should recognize those that have helped them along the way. Too often we are inclined to attribute success to our own efforts, when the truth of the matter is that achievement is rarely individual. It takes support, encouragement, and a good bit of luck to thrive.

Nor do I underestimate the task college admissions officials have before them. According to Ms. Soule, Penn receives 55,000 applications each year, for a freshman class of 2,400. Even if half of the submissions can be dismissed out of hand, that leaves an incredible pool to assess, especially now that SAT/ACT scores have become less important, and admissions offices look to implement important university goals, like diversity and community engagement.

I also acknowledge that prompts have a place in this system. There must be some mechanism whereby a student can try to shine outside of the cold academic numbers, whether they be GPA’s or test scores. Extra-curricular activities help, but they are easily exaggerated. Knowing that a high schooler was the founder of a quidditch club, donated time to save the nematodes, and was on a team that placed first in the regional Odyssey of the Mind competition may make for interesting conversation, but does it tell you anything about the student? Not really.

That being said, including an extra prompt to “benefit the applicants, and those who get to read the submissions” stops just short of cruel and unusual punishment. Any kid that has a legitimate shot at getting into Penn is probably applying to another 6 – 12 schools of comparable quality, since there is no way to assure acceptance regardless of your academic record. Each of these schools is going to have its own set of prompts (“What advice would a wisdom tooth have?”, or “Which Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor (real or imagined) best describes you?”). The admissions staff has thousands of prompts to review while making difficult decisions that will inevitably knock out numerous worthy applicants. Are either really benefited by this additional task?

And task it is. I have no doubt that more than 95% of those applying will look at this prompt as just one more box they need to tick to complete a long and arduous process, and miss the benefit being conferred. Can you blame them? The common app may make the basic application easier than it once was, but with all the prompts, the need to secure recommendations, and the other hoops involved in seeking acceptance at top schools, the stress is significant. What 17-year-old needs more?

And let’s not forget that these kids are still in school. They need to study for the next test, write the next paper, and complete the next lab report. Then there are those pesky extra-curricular activities they committed to, which the colleges so love, and which give them so much more than an application prompt ever could. All that needs to be handled while filling out these applications. One thing is for sure, their gratitude note won’t be written to the admissions department for making them jump through this extra hoop (though that may be a good ploy).

This minor bit of social engineering points to a larger problem with higher education. It all too often seems designed not for the students, but for other constituencies, most usually alumni and donors. Schools are more worried about questionable rankings (No. 1 Mid-Atlantic Phys-Ed program at a medium sized school in a rural setting) and inflated placement statistics (Bob is an Assistant Manager at Popeye’s!!) than they are about producing adults ready for the world beyond academia.

I am probably overstating my point. Colleges are filled with faculty and administrators that care deeply about the students. They are ready, willing and able to provide support, encouragement and advice so the students can succeed. However, that attitude seems to get lost at an institutional level where the current undergrads seem low on the priority list, unless, of course, mommy and daddy are major donors.

So, I will write my thank you note to all of those in the University system who fight that trend, embrace the students, and see them as the center of the college mission. In the meantime, good luck to those applicants going through the process. See it not as a lesson in gratitude, but another opportunity to show patience with your elders who mean so well.   

*No pictures today. I couldn’t find anything useful that was not copyrighted. Bummer.