Holistic admissions is becoming an increasingly hot topic among U.S. graduate schools and programs. It’s not a new idea. Programs
have long used multiple criteria such as
undergraduate grades, standardized test
SCores, English-language proficiency tests,
essays, personal statements, letters of recommendation, interviews, and résumés in
evaluating prospective students.
What is new is the increased focus on the
intentionality of the process and whether
it is being carried out in the best way to
identify the most promising prospects while
ensuring equity, equality, and inclusivity. In
a true holistic review, no single data point is
Considered in isolation.
Holistic admissions is becoming
an increasingly hot topic among
U.S. graduate schools and
programns.
Rather, all the data points together paint a
broad picture of each applicant’s abilities,
attributes, and experiences to help decision
makers identify who most effectively matches the goals of the program and stands the best chance of thriving in it.
Many graduate programs say they are
practicing holistic admissions, yet because
there isn’t one universal definition of the
term, they are not entirely sure that they
are doing it correctly. What is clear is that
each program is using its own unique
version of a holistic approach, based on
its own understanding of the definition.
Those most committed to the concept are
taking steps to include more information
on candidates, trying to educate professors
and reviewers against unconscious bias,
and establishing more formal rubrics and
practices to build consistency.
“Like any system change, designing and im-
plementing holistic review should be more
like chess than checkers,” says Julie Posselt,
associate professor of the University of
Southern California Rossier School of Educa-
tion, and author of Inside Graduate Admis-
sions Merit, Diversity, and Faculty Gate
keeping. “You need to think out a few movess
to imagine how both students and reviewers
will respond to the system you create. You
need to be disciplined and systematic.”
Table of Contents
What is the talk about holistic admission?
The intensified attention to holistic admissions has grown out of concern that faculty
Committees traditionally have given too
much weight to just one or two academic
indicators, and studies show that students
from underrepresented groups tend to
have lower grades and test Scores than stu-
dents who have had accesS to more educational resources.
At the same time, a growing body of evidence
Suggest that noncognitive skills such as grit,
resilience, and motivation can help predict
future success, for students of all back-
grounds. Many consider holistic reviews a
more race-neutral way of achieving diversity.
Another driving force is that decision making
in higher education is becoming more and
more informed by data. Institutions want to
be sure they are using the most predictive
measures of a student’s ability to do the
Work, contribute to the program, and excel in
their field.
That’s why, when it was created in 2014,
the Professional and Graduate Education
Program of Mount Holyoke College put into
place a holistic admissions process. In addi-
tion to the traditional academic indicators,
applicants must submit a personal state-
ment, two letters of recommendation, and
a résumé. Each application is also evaluat
ed by an external reviewer who holds the
same teaching license that the candidate
seeks to pursue. In addition, prospective
students have to interview with an admis-
sions committee- and teach a prepared
mini-lesson on a Subject of their choice.
Many consider holistic reviews
a more race-neutral way of
achieving diversity.
“This gives us real insight into their suit-
ability around content knowledge and
pedagogical skills,” says Ruth Hornsby,
Mount Holyoke’s assistant director of
teacher licensure programs. “This helps us
to see not only the teaching potential of
a student, but how they prepare and plan
this component.”
What is driving the conversation about holistic graduate admission
It has been relatively common in years past
for graduate admissions officials to make
an initial cut based on grade point average,
standardized tests SCores, or some other ar-
bitrary threshold to reduce the prospect pool
to a more manageable number. This is espe
cially true for larger programs that might get
hundreds or thousands of applicants. How
ever, many institutions are developing other
ways to strategically narrow the pool.
One strategy involves considering multiple
measures. In addition to undergraduate
transcripts and test scores, graduate schools
can consider relevant research experiences
or significant obstacles an applicant has over-
come. Staff can identify such cases to be put
into the pool for full holistic review. The final
review, as is customary, would still be done
by regular taculty members.
Suzanne Barbour, dean of the Graduate
School of the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, says that the traditional metrics
of grades and test scores work best when
they are considered with other factors, like
letters of reference and personal statements.
Even still, she says, it is a challenging task to
dissuade faculty members, especially in large
programs, against using arbitrary thresholds
to weed out applicants who might initially be
perceived as academically weak.
In addition to undergraduate
transcripts and test scores,
graduate schools can consider
relevant research experiences
or significant obstacles an
applicant has overcome.
“Faculty are very busy and service responsi-
bilities like graduate admissions are some-
times not rewarded,” says Barbour, also a
professor of biochemistry and biophysics.
“We are still working hard to convince pro-
grams that holistic admissions processes are
worth the additional time and investment.”
How do you find the time to Carry out the holistic application process
Time is perhaps the biggest challenge of un-
dertaking a holistic process. It simply takes
more time to go through all of the parts
of an application and interviews- and to
COordinate feedback among the reviewers,
especially when as many as 10 to 15 people
might be involved.
Time is perhaps the biggest
challenge of undertaking a
holistic process.
Technology has helped. Many programs are
using online systems so that applications can
be read anywhere and anytime. Reviewers cann
also make online comments within the elec-
tronic application materials to be seen by their
COunterparts, but not the prospective students.
Video conferencing makes personal interviews logistically easier. Programs are developing
systems for the interviewers to discusS and
Compare their impressions.
To streamline the process and provide consis-
tency in review, some institutions are coming
up with rubrics for professors to follow as they
Conduct their reviews. At UNC-Chapel Hill,
graduate admissions is decentralized, as it is at
many institutions. Applicants are reviewed by
the departments or programs, and then their
recommerndations are made to the Graduate
School. The dean’s office recommends that
programs use a “reverse design” to identi-
fy desired characteristics for their graduate
students. “Start with your strongest students,
identify the characteristics that underlie their
success, and devise a strategy to review appli
cants for those characteristics,” Barbour says.
When can non cognitive indicator balance academic inconsistency
The University of Rhode Island recently insti-
tuted new policies for graduate admissions to
make “implicit” holistic experiences “explicit,”
says Alycia Mosley Austin, the universityys
assistant dean of graduate recruitment and
diversity initiatives.
The university has 35 master’s programs. Each
one requires an undergraduate GPA of at least
3.0, a personal statement, two letters of recom-
mendation, and a résumé. The résumé compo-
nent, added for the fall of 2019’s entering class,
is valuable for seeing candidates’ employment
history, volunteer work, or research endeavors,
which are often more telling of future success
than their academic record, she says.
Looking beyond academic data points, she
says, helps reviewers discover students who
might have struggled with grades, but have
valuable research or career experience. The
expectations are different for someone who
has been out in the working world. “The holistic
approach helps us focus on Our outcomes,”
says Austin. “We can identify a creative person
versus a person who got all A’s in their classes,
but doesn’t have any creativity.”
Jeremiah Nelson, director of enrollment
management for the business school at Wake
Forest University and vice president of the
National Association for Graduate Enrollment
Management, says there is more risk asso
ciated with admitting a candidate who has
poor academic performance, but he has seen
multiple examples of people who thrive in
graduate school after they have matured and
are motivated and goal oriented.
One student who is currently in her second
year at the business school was marginal
based on test scores and grades, but her expe-
rience as a senior executive and her leadership
in the community was extensive. she was a
great fit and has thrived in the program. She
needed a tutor for one class since her founda-
tion wasn’t strong, but she was determined to
succeed and has shown that at every step of
the process.
You can’t admit a whole class of students with
low GPAs,” Nelson says, “but the benefit of
averages is that there is always room for some
whose GPA was not the best indication
peop
of their potential for success.”
How can you elicit the most meaningful information from prospect.
JOAnn Canales, senior-dean-in-residence for
the Council of Graduate Schools and a GRE
board member, says that for a graduate
program’s admissions to be truly holistic,
officials first must think about what they
are looking for in a student and come up
with an Overall rubric that uses compo-
nents that align with those outcomes. It’s
also necessary to put together an informed
admissions committee with review mem-
bers who understand the nuances of the
process and applications, says Canales,
who retired in August 2019 as the founding
dean of the College of Graduate Studies at
Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi.
She recommends that every candidate
be evaluated based on the same criteria.
Programs that are clear and explicit about
their application requirements and what
materials and information they are look-
ing for, she says, have a better chance of
ensuring that comparable data is collected.
Providing a standard form for résumés, for
example, can ensure that all prospective
students present the same types of facts
and details in a singular format. It is also
advisable, Canales says, that work experi-
ence of all kinds, regardless of setting, be
included to give a broader impression of
the candidate.
Likewise, programs might want to create
a process in which recommendations are
submitted on a standard form, rather than
individual letters on letterhead that might
impress-or disappoint- a reviewer. This
also precludes giving too much weight, says
Canales, to well-written letters or letters
from prestigious schools.
Being deliberate about personal state
ment prompts is also key, Canales says. If
a college is too general in its request for
a personal statement, it is open to inter-
pretation. In some cases, that can be good
because it lets admissions officials see what
the question evokes in the student. How-
ever, if the question is too broad, then the
response could be too ambiguous.
“Different individuals might interpret it
differently, and reviewers may react differ-
ently, which could lead to an inequitable as-
sessment,” she says. “Additionally, without
an explicit rubric for assessing the content
focused on clarity, mechanicS, specificity,
the assessment can be quite subjective.”
Holistic graduate admission.
Howcan you guard against bais
A 2018 report entitled Master’s Admis-
sions: Transparency, Guidance, and Train-
ing, by the Council of Graduate Schools,
recommends that institutions provide
information and support to help admis-
sions committees avoid unintentional bias
in the review process. Only 26 percent of
the graduate schools participating in the
survey reported that their institutions pro-
vided such training
Only 26 percent of the graduate
schools participating in the
survey reported that their
institutions provided such
training.
At Cornell University over the past couple
of years, many graduate programs have
been critically examining their admissions
review practices, including how to prevent
bias. The university has held faculty work-
shops and panel discussions on such top-
ics, and it has set up an online resOurce
to educate professors. The site includes a
series of videos that describe how biases
can influence decision making without a
person realizing it. One lesson, for exam-
ple, is entitled Explicit vs. Implicit Bias, and
another is Attitudes and Stereotypes.
“Our directors of graduate studies are very
engaged,” says Sara Xayarath Hernández,
associate dean for inclusion and student
engagement at the Graduate School.
“Many are willing to consider ways in
which they cannot only improve their
admissions practices, but also how they
can contribute to creating more inclusive
research and learning environments.”
How can you be sure the essay and recommendation are authentic
Many admissions teams say there really is
no way to adequately or accurately aSsess
whether the words are the words of an ap-
plicant or whether they’ve been finessed by
a parent, professor, or college consultant.
Many institutions require applicants to cer-
tify that the content is theirs, not someone
else’s, and that they didn’t receive undue
help. Still other admissions committees rely
on actual GRE essay responses because
they are written in a monitored setting,
where candidates cannot receive any help
or coaching.
Some institutions are moving away from
asking for formal recommendations, as
most candidates choose recommenders
who are going to make nice comments.
Instead, the applications ask for references
who can be contacted to answer questions
about the candidate.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s
Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Bio-
medical Sciences, which has been using holistic admissions since it was created in 2015,
no longer accepts letters of recommenda
tion that are personal in nature. Rather, it
requests letters from specific categories of
individuals, such as a faculty member from
whom the applicant has taken an upper-lev
el science course, a research mentor, or a
supervisor. All of these changes have been
made to the program’s application forms
and assoCiated instructions.
Interviews with the biomedical candidates
are a huge component of the admissions de-
cisions process because they are an effective
way to assess noncognitive variables. The
reviewers also compare the communication
skills evidenced in the personal interviews
with the quality of the writing in the personal
statements. “This can often identify situa-
tions in which the student received consid-
erable assistance with the written personal
statement,” says Karen Gould, associate pro-
fessor and vice chair for graduate education
for the department of genetics, cell biology,
and anatomy.
What does the future hold for holistic admissions.
Admissions protessionals are uncertain what
the future of holistic admissions looks like,
except to say they are sure it vwill continue to
grow. Some say their institutions need to invest
more in admissions staffing So more time
Could be spent getting to knovw candidates in a multifaceted way.
Many graduate-admissions decision makers
desire more guidance and direction. They are
not sure they are doing it right, and they would
like to know more about the process and how
to develop effective rubrics. Most caution that
they are not advocating for standardizing holistic admissions practices to the point of a one type-fits-all kind of approach. Rather, they are
looking for general techniques to adopt that
still can be flexible to meet the needs of the
individual program. Only then can a graduate
program create a unique and effective learning
environment for students who have different
educational backgrounds and life experiences.
“Holistic review affords opportunities for access
that might otherwise be overlooked, and that
better levels the playing field,” says Canales. ”
would argue that holistic admissions can work
for all graduate programs anywhere especially
because it forces conversations that otherwise
might not occur.”