Applying for college can be a nerve-wracking experience for high school students. An alternative to the traditional method of application is applying through an on-site admission where the college sends a representative to the high school for a one-on-one interview. On average, a dozen colleges conduct on-sites at Southfield High each year.
Charley Eaton has been an on-site admissions officer for the University of Michigan-Dearborn for four years. Eaton shares the following insights with the Southfield Jay about how to ace the on-site interview.
Q: Does a student’s outward appearance affect your first impression of the student?
A: To be honest, typically it doesn’t for me because I think that for on-site admissionsgood idea to look your best, but right now I am pretty much looking at their academic background to determine their admission status.
Q: What would you consider a larger factor in your decision: the grade point average or the ACT test score?
A: For our university we do look at those two items in tandem. Our expectation is that students have really solid academic background, which is indicated by their academic grades; and what their ACT score does is indicates a certain level of mastery of different content areas. So we are looking at both of those in equal consideration when looking at deciding to admit a student.
Q: Do you believe the on-site admissions process gives students more of an advantage over the traditional admissions process?
A: I would say yes, mainly because it’s an opportunity for students to share information that otherwise may not be readily available on an application. Many colleges ask for things like essays or personal statements, but not all colleges do. So with on-site admissions, that gives a student an opportunity to share maybe a challenge that they had during that time frame that may have impacted their grades and that could be helpful for the college admissions representative to decide on how to handle their admission.
Q: What challenges have you encountered including minority students in light of Proposal 2?
A: I would say one of the challenges in terms of admissions with minority students really relates to our university’s admissions criteria. We do have some minimum requirements for ACT, and sometimes it has been more difficult, or we haven’t always seen minority candidates achieving those ACT scores. We don’t look at anything related to race or ethnicity in terms of making admissions decisions. So for our particular university (Proposal 2) hasn’t impacted how we make decisions on candidates.
Q: How do you go about selecting which schools you offer on-sites?
A: Usually we look to do on-site admissions at high schools where we have had a good track record of successful candidates to the university, so that plays a big role. Another thing is that when we are looking at increasing the number of applicants from a particular high school, then we may also choose to do on-site admissions at that school.
Q: What is the most prominent piece of advice that you would give a student before coming in for an interview with an on-site admissions officer?
A: The best advice would be to find out in advance what the general admission criteria is for that college. I often see students who apply, and they’re not meeting the admission criteria (although) a lot of that information is readily available, either on the web site for the university, or a lot of the time the high school guidance counselors may know the criteria for the college.
It just helps save that student time and energy and effort, and they won’t be disappointed if they already know that they are not falling in the criteria for a college. They can set their sights on applying to colleges where they do fit the criteria.