This article offers guidelines for identifying gifted/learning-disabled high school students who would survive and thrive in the most competitive college environments. It strongly encourages the development of more informed admissions processes, not only at the undergraduate level but at the graduate and professional school levels as well.…

The National Collegiate Athletic Association's Proposal 48 requiring that student athletes maintain a minimum academic standard of achievement is not sufficient to stop exploitation and commercialism. An institution's admissions standards should be applied to athletes as they are to all incoming freshmen. (MSE)

American graduate schools need to sharpen their techniques when screening the growing group of foreign applicants requiring professional skills. An institution's admissions process can either enhance its overall institutional quality and prestige or seriously harm it in a short time. (MSE)

Elementary choral groups should be select. In every other part of life excellence is rewarded. Selecting the best singers for choir provides opportunities for those children that are necessary in the pursuit of excellence. Standards must be kept high. (RM)

Participants at a national conference on the school/college relationship make comments and recommendations in four areas: college admission policies, the role of testing in college admission, avenues for collaboration, and the impact of college admission standards on high school course enrollment. (MD)

The involvement of the courts in testing matters, particularly with regard to college and professional school admissions, is analyzed. Testing professionals are encouraged to inform and enlighten society about testing issues. (Author/AL)

Describes the revolving-door model for identifying and teaching the gifted. More flexible criteria are used than in the conventional selection process and a "talent pool" of 15 to 25 percent of the student population participates. An evaluative study of the model yielded positive results. (WD)

Discusses different emphases placed by institutions of higher education on a range of admissions criteria including academic performance, evidence of graduation, letters of recommendation, personal essays, and interviews. Concludes that standardized tests are not the pervasive barrier to higher education in the United States that many test critics…

Admissions committees, it is suggested, should regard a failure experience as an opportunity to examine characteristics of candidates which may otherwise be inapparent. Current admissions criteria do not adequately address the social responsibilities and humanitarian goals of medical education. (Author/MLW)

Identifies and discusses three current and emerging problems in graduate admissions: lack of understanding by applicants about admissions procedures, lack of information available to applicants about graduate programs, and lack of information about applicants available to those persons making decisions about admissions and appointments. (JMF)

Argues trend toward benign and homogeneous college promotional materials/presentations makes college selection process more difficult. Feels tactic of deemphasizing importance of college board scores to increase applicant pool and thereby enhance "college profile" is unethical and deprives college applicant of ability to make informed choices. (CM)

The University of Iowa has been admitting students without a required selection interview for 15 years. Personal qualities are measured by evaluation forms given to each applicant for completion by evaluators of the applicant's choosing. Some proponents of the interview see recruiting as a by-product of the interview process. (MLW)

Explores factors causing greater emphasis on qualitative variables in selecting medical students and assessing physician conduct. Outlines an admission model to aid in making this or other shifts in emphasis in a school's admission process, and to deal with the difficult issue of diversity in admissions. Last, gives an extended hypothetical…

The Nairn report, The Reign of ETS, has charged that the major college admissions tests administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS) have undue influence on admissions to higher education, and that the tests have little value in predicting future academic performance. Nairn's claims that the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a poor predictor…

Presents an excerpt from Essays That Worked, a collection of outstanding essays on applications submitted to some of the top colleges in the country. Admissions officers were interviewed by the two Yale University student authors. Their attitudes towards, and evaluations of applicant essays, are presented. (KS)