Admission, a recent movie featuring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, provides an entertaining interpretation of the inner workings of Princeton University's admissions office. The plot follows admissions officer Portia Nathan (Fey), who meets a special applicant while on a road trip visiting exclusive private high schools. Nathan becomes an advocate for the applicant, even though his grades wouldn't make him "Princeton material." It is hard not to smile when Princeton's admissions dean (played by Wallace Shawn), expresses outrage upon learning that his institution slipped one spot in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Inside Higher Ed interviewed three admissions experts about the movie. Prior to its release, the movie created quite a stir among admissions officers who wondered how their profession would be portrayed by Hollywood -- and whether the film would add to the hysteria of many high schoolers and their families about the admissions process.
The experts agree: Admission won't counter the media hype about how hard it is to get into college--but it is fun to watch. The admissions world of the movie stresses the fierce competition among applicants and several excellent candidates fall through the proverbial trap door. And admissions professionals may balk at the technological backwater that constitutes the portrayed office, where all applications are housed in orange folders and checked boxes indicate whether a student is "in" or "out."
In today's student-centric environment, it is more important than ever for the admissions department to remain abreast of technological developments. Shaping the classes at our institutions is challenging, to say the least. There is tremendous pressure to land a class that meets our institutional targets. And there are many different technical tools, applications, analytics and methods available to target students who we feel would excel while improving our campuses. What technologies should be deployed in the search for the perfect┬" class? How do we improve our admission decision response time? What are the consequences of choosing the wrong technical tool or targeting the wrong audience? How do you select the correct technology for your situation and school and how do you asses its impact on your operation?
The Admissions Forum @ Tech[[[FIX]]] is a preconference track before the Tech Conference that will help admissions professionals grapple with such questions, help you find the humanity behind the technology--and maybe even find a little humor in the hard work, too. Click here[[[FIX]]] to learn more and to register.