I started the day at a lecture hosted by SMU where we got the opportunity hear from Dr. Eric Bing, an SMU professor in the area of public health. This has become one of my favorite NACAC events, because I really value the opportunity to hear from college faculty, not just admissions staff talking about statistics. I love getting to listen to a lecture again, it brings back the days of being a student! He spoke to us about his work looking to make large scale public health impact using small scale interventions. Things like diagnosing cervical cancer with a cell phone camera and teaching surgeons how to practice performing hysterectomies using virtual reality tools you can buy at Best Buy. He was a dynamic speaker and SMU showcased once again what their campus has to offer. We also got a quick update from last year's speaker about the progress on SMU's cultural intelligence initiatives. They are doing great work across many disciplines. It shows.
The conference opened with keynote speaker Dr. Shaun Harper from USC. He spoke on the opportunities we have, as college counselors and admissions professionals, to break the cycles of racism that might not be as overt as what we saw in Charlottesville. This year more than ever, our work in this arena holds a tremendous amount of weight and we must all strive each day to push back against all forms of inequality and oppression.
I decided to start off my educational sessions with my favorite type of session: the ones designed for colleges. I opted to attend "Let’s Talk –
Selective College admission Offices and Committee Based Evaluation" a session about CBE, a new reaching format pioneered at the University of Pennsylvania in 2013. In this model, admissions officers work in the office to read files as a team. The file is usually broken up into two sections and each member of the team reads one half -- either the academic side of the application or the personal side. They shared that this new model fosters unparalleled levels of office mentorship between veterans and new staff. It makes reading faster and prevents reader bias since every file has at least two sets of eyes on it for the initial read. They espoused the higher levels of efficiency and stronger professional development. Schools using this model of reading are increasing rapidly, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it become widespread in coming reading cycles. It is already being used at about 15-20 schools in some form (either just in the Early Decision pool, or for the entire class) -- places like NYU, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, and Oberlin. Some of my fellow counselors have concerns about the impact of this reading model on applicants, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for now. It seems to foster happier readers and happier readers does not have a downside to me.
Tomorrow is the hardest day - the longest and most intense - but I'm ready!
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