Synopses & Reviews
Advanced degrees have become necessary credentials for many careers that once required only a college education. Yet while graduate school pursuit stands at an all-time high, little has been written about graduate school admissions--how the process works, who gets in, and why. Julie Posselt pulls back the curtain on a process normally conducted in secrecy, revealing how faculty evaluate applicants in ten top-ranked doctoral programs spanning the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
Inside Graduate Admissions describes committee deliberations as they winnow applicant pools, interview prospective students, and debate borderline cases. For all the lip service higher education pays to diversity, Posselt shows, faculty weigh diversity in only a small subset of cases and often fall back on admissions criteria that obstruct access for women and underrepresented minorities. Yet the standards faculty employ, and the ways they determine "merit," are far from uniform. Admissions outcomes are shaped to a surprising degree by disciplinary norms and impressions of intelligence, and the process is driven by aversions to risk, conflict, ambiguity, and change. Who makes the admit list says as much about how professors see themselves and how they relate to one another as it does about how they view prospective students.
Good intentions notwithstanding, what counts in practice as merit often serves to institutionalize inequalities. More equitable outcomes occur when admissions committees are themselves diverse and when faculty rethink inherited assumptions about student quality and diversity. Posselt closes with concrete strategies for academic departments seeking to improve admissions review.
Review
A pleasure to read. Posselt offers a deep and compelling take on graduate admissions procedures and practices--a topic that has received little attention, despite a relatively large body of work on undergraduate admissions. This book will undoubtedly be of great interest to scholars from a broad array of disciplines, particularly when it comes to the practicalities of conducting admissions work. Laura T. Hamilton, co-author of < i=""> Paying for the Party <>
Synopsis
Advanced degrees are necessary for careers that once required only a college education. Yet little has been written about who gets into grad school and why. Julie Posselt pulls back the curtain on this secret process, revealing how faculty evaluate applicants in top-ranked doctoral programs in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
Synopsis
How does graduate admissions work? Who does the system work for, and who falls through its cracks? More people than ever seek graduate degrees, but little has been written about who gets in and why. Drawing on firsthand observations of admission committees and interviews with faculty in 10 top-ranked doctoral programs in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, education professor Julie Posselt pulls back the curtain on a process usually conducted in secret.
Inside Graduate Admissions presents admissions from decision makers' point of view, including thought-provoking episodes of committees debating the process, interviewing applicants, and grappling with borderline cases. Who ultimately makes the admit list reveals as much about how professors see themselves--and each other--as it does about how they view students. Professors in these programs say that they admit on merit, but they act on different meanings of the term. Disciplinary norms shape what counts as merit, as do professors' ideas about intelligence and their aversions to risk, conflict, ambiguity, and change. Professors also say that they seek diversity, but Posselt shows that their good intentions don't translate into results. In fact, faculty weigh diversity in only a small fraction of admissions decisions. Often, they rely upon criteria that keep longstanding inequalities in place.
More equitable outcomes occur when admissions committees are themselves diverse and when members take a fresh look at inherited assumptions that affect their judgment. To help academic departments promote transparency and accountability, Posselt closes with concrete strategies to improve admissions review.
About the Author
Julie R. Posselt is Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Michigan.