OSU's admissions process has been named in a recent N.Y Times article.
Insight Resume Requirement
Applicants for first-year undergraduate admission and undergraduate transfer applicants for Fall 2004 will be
required to complete an “Insight Resume”, a written assessment
designed to evaluate students’ noncognitive attributes. These attributes
include self-concept, realistic self-appraisal, handling the system, ability
to set long-range goals, leadership, connections with a strong support person,
community engagement, and nontraditional learning.
Benefits
Research has revealed that consideration of noncognitive variables offers
these benefits:
· Improves predictions of students’ performance in college.
The most accurate predictions are achieved when an assessment of noncognitive
variables is combined with traditional admission criteria such as high school
GPA, SAT or ACT scores, and high school curriculum.
· Allows students with different learning styles to demonstrate their
potential, which often is not the case with tradition admission criteria.
· Provides valuable information for use in academic advising.
Research Basis
Research conducted by Dr. William Sedlacek at the University of Maryland
demonstrates that noncognitive variables can be accurately assessed from
short written responses to a series of questions. Responses are scored by
trained evaluators using carefully developed scoring guides. High levels
of inter-coder reliability have been achieved using these procedures. OSU’s
Insight Resume consists of six questions that have been reviewed and endorsed
by Dr. Sedlacek.
Scoring Procedures
Insight Resumes will be scored by 15-20 faculty and staff members representing
diverse backgrounds and perspectives. This group will receive intensive
training from Dr. Sedlacek, a lead researcher on the use of noncognitive
variables in admission and scholarship selections. A scoring guide has been
developed based on Dr. Sedlacek’s work and has been pre-tested with
a group of first-year students.
Impact for Fall 2004 Applicants
For Fall 2004 applicants, the Insight Resume will be used for:
· Scholarship selections, replacing a current essay requirement.
· Compiling baseline data for possible changes to admission requirements
in the future.
Admission Requirements
Undergraduates will continue to be admitted if they have a high school gpa
of at least 3.0 and have taken the required 14 high school subjects.
For the future, OSU will strengthen admission requirements by:
· Placing greater emphasis on the quality of high school courses
taken by students. Those who challenged themselves to take more difficult
academic courses would be given additional consideration in the admission
process.
· Factoring in Insight Resume scores, based on testing and analysis
to be done over the next two years.
Research indicates that consideration of these factors can add significantly
to predictions of students' performance in college, including higher retention
and graduation rates. The pilot phase will provide information to develop
admission policies that better predict student success in college.
Ongoing Evaluation
Insight Resume questions and scoring will be revised based on continued
calibration of scores to student performance at OSU.
Rev. 6/05
