Podcast

college visits

506: What Colleges Want (Part 6): Demonstrated Interest: What Is it, Why Is it Important, and How Do You Show it? with Dean of Enrollment Christine Bowman

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SHOW NOTES

On today’s episode, Ethan is joined by Christine Bowman, Assistant VP for Admission at Southwestern University. In part 6 in our series on What Colleges Want, Ethan and Christine get into:

  • What is demonstrated interest and how do colleges track it? 

  • How important is demonstrated interest to a student’s chance of getting in?

  • How might students find out if a particular school considers demonstrated interest in their admission review?

  • What are some practical ways you can demonstrate your interest to colleges?

Christine Bowman is the Assistant VP for Admission at Southwestern, where she oversees the admission department to set enrollment and retention philosophies. She has a Masters in Higher Ed Administration from UT-Austin, was the Co-Chair for the 2007 NACAC National Conference in and has served two terms as the Chair of the Colleges that Change Lives Board of Directors (see last season’s episode with Ann Marano for more on CTCL’s work). She currently serves on the advisory board of ROCA-NM (Rural Opportunities for College Access) and, with almost 30 years of experience in the admission profession, Christine believes in guiding students to find the right college fit and regularly gives presentations encouraging a stress-free college search process.

We hope you enjoy the conversation! 

Play-by-play

  • 2:15 - What is demonstrated interest?

  • 5:00 - Why might demonstrated interest be important to colleges?

  • 8:22 - What is yield?

  • 11:24 - How can students demonstrate interest for a particular school? 

  • 15:17 - What can colleges track?

  • 18:52 - For whom does demonstrated interest matter most? 

  • 23:47 - How to “break up” with a college

  • 27:05 - What are some practical tips for students as they reach out to a college?

  • 30:10 - How might an admissions officer use demonstrated interest?

  • 32:58 - What ways can students demonstrate interest without visiting campus?

  • 37:24 - What is the difference between early action, early decision, and regular decision?

  • 40:25 - How important is the college interview?

  • 48:10 - What can parents do to support their students during this process?

  • 53:02 - Closing advice for parents, students, and counselors 

ResourceS

 

503: What Colleges Want (Part 3): "Positive Character Attributes": What Are They, and How Do You Show Them in Your College Application?

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SHOW NOTES

In today’s two-part episode, we’re delving into one of the potentially more confusing aspects of what colleges want — “positive character attributes” — which 65.8% of colleges give considerable or moderate importance. 

In part 1, I’m joined by Tom Bear (VP for Enrollment at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) and Bob Massa (former chief admissions/enrollment officer at Johns Hopkins University, Dickinson College and Drew University) to discuss:

  • What are these positive character attributes? 

  • Why are they important to colleges? 

  • How do colleges decide which qualities to seek and how to evaluate for them? 

  • How do students show these qualities in their application? 

Part 2 is with Trisha Ross Anderson, from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Making Caring Common Project, and we get into:

  • How Making Caring Common helps colleges figure out what they are looking for 

  • How some colleges are working to increase access and equity in admissions

  • Advice to parents as they navigate this process with their students

Tom Bear has been working in college enrollment since 1987 at a variety of institutions, including as VP for Enrollment at University of Evansville, Senior Director of Enrollment at Notre Dame and now as the VP for Enrollment at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He joined the Character Collaborative in 2017, served as Board Chair and will chair NACAC’s Character Focus Initiative.

Bob Massa got his Doctorate in Higher Education from Columbia, served as the chief admissions/enrollment officer at Johns Hopkins University, Dickinson College and Drew University and Co- founded the Character Collaborative in 2016. Although he has retired from full-time work after 45 years of campus-based work, he is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s online masters program in enrollment management.

Trisha Ross Anderson has served on research teams at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for the past 13 years. She’s worked with the Making Caring Common (MCC) Project to help write reports including one called Turning the Tide that focuses on reform of the college admission process. She leads MCC’s college admissions initiatives with Richard Weissbourd and currently serves on NACAC’s Character Focus Initiative Advisory Council. 

Play-by-play

  • 0:00 - Meet Tom Bear and Bob Massa (Part 1)

  • 2:12 - What do colleges mean by “positive character attributes”? 

  • 3:55 - What are some examples of these “positive character attributes”?  

  • 4:58 - Why is it important for students, parents, and counselors to think about these qualities?

  • 7:16 - How do colleges decide what qualities they’re looking for?

  • 12:04 - How do colleges evaluate students for these qualities?

  • 13:09 - Example of a rubric on extraordinary commitment to others

  • 19:10 - Why don’t colleges share their rubrics for what they’re looking for?

  • 21:18 - What can students do to better understand what a particular school is looking for?

  • 24:08 - How do colleges evaluate “character” in an applicant? 

  • 29:58 - What is the high school profile and how is it used in a student’s evaluation?

  • 31:20 - Why is it important to think about positive character attributes now?

  • 35:56 - How can students demonstrate these qualities in their college applications? 

  • 40:00 - What can parents do to help their students in this process? 

  • 42:01 - Meet Trisha Ross Anderson (Part 2)

  • 43:09 - What is the Making Caring Common (MCC) project?

  • 44:37 - How is MCC working with colleges? 

  • 46:17 - Why is it difficult to create a rubric for these qualities?

  • 48:16 - How is MCC helping colleges decide on what they are looking for? 

  • 52:45 - How is MCC helping colleges to increase equity and access in the college admissions process?

  • 57:33 - Advice for parents on navigating this process with their students

  • 1:01:31 - Closing thoughts 

ResourceS

Ideas from Ethan for finding what you care about + finding content for your application: 

MCC / CommonApp Question Screenshot: