'Unnecessary' letters, calls swamp admissions

Kayla Webley
2004-02-19
The Daily

The admissions office is swamped with e-mails and phone calls from prospective students hoping to gain admittance to the UW.

In the 2002-03 school year, the office received 40,189 phone calls -- averaging 161 a day -- in addition to more than 20,000 e-mails from prospective students, according to Paul Seegert, assistant director of admissions.

While many of these students are calling to gain information on their own behalf, others are taking part in a new trend in college admissions known as demonstrated interest.

Demonstrated interest is when students make an extra effort to make sure admissions officials know they are serious about attending the UW.

While this process may be increasing among prospective students, Director of Admissions Phillip Ballinger affirms that it has no actual effect on the admissions process.

"We do not take into consideration at all the number of contacts a student has had with us in making admission decisions. It simply is not a factor in our admission process," he said.

However, the University is part of a dwindling minority as the practice of demonstrated interest picks up across the nation.

According to a periodic publication from the National Association for College Admission Counseling, only 45 percent of the 1,540 schools surveyed said demonstrated interest was of no importance.

About one-third of these colleges and universities thought a student demonstrating interest was of considerable or moderate importance.

However, Ballinger said this would not harm future Husky hopefuls.

"I came to the UW on July 1 of 2003. Since that time, I have been impressed by how focused the admission staff is upon being as fair and as objective as possible in their application assessments," he said.

Kathy Swinehart, admissions supervisor for the law school, whose office receives around 100 calls and e-mails per day, agreed.

"The admissions committee makes decisions on a person's application based on the written information submitted," she said. "If a person called repeatedly and we began to recognize their name, it might be a detriment."

The highly competitive UW School of Medicine is no stranger to student inquiry. According to admissions officer Patricia Fero, the office receives from 20 to 50 calls per day from potential students.

"I believe that the Office of Admissions does have information for potential applicant that goes beyond what they read on the Web site and other places," Fero said. "Coming into the office for an information session in no way influences the admissions decision, however."

While student applicants may hope phone calls lead to an acceptance letter in the mail, Fero maintains a student's only advantage comes from the information included in the admissions packet.

"The advantage would be that the student would be more aware of what [we are] looking for in applicants," she said.