chairlife: undergrad recruiting
we've worked harder to recruit the very best grad students the past few years, but the minnversity is also pushing to recruit high-achieving undergrads.tonight i attended a gathering at an alum's fine house with my dean, faculty from six or seven departments, a bunch of honors program reps and students, and a dozen or so high school seniors and their parents. the high-schoolers were poised and impressive, while their parents seemed so proud and happy. heck, i was happy for them.
i talked about how the department involves undergrads in research, pointing to grants and co-authored publication opportunities. i also found two students from my lad's school and pumped them for information about the best teachers and courses at mounds view high. i figure, those kids are the real experts and proven performers.
i did a little tv interview for tonight's local news, which seemed to interest some of the parents. i hope my stammering five seconds do not dissuade the next great sociologist from attending the minnversity...
posted by christopher uggen @ 12:30 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Hey Chris,
Figured I'd go ahead and post a comment on this here blog of yours. It's good to hear the U is so invested in its undergrads, but I often worry about what "recruiting quality students" really entails. At my old alma mater, the University of Missouri, I had a friend who worked directly in the area of undergrad recruitment, and the push for higher ACT/SAT scores, grades, extracirriculars, etc, along w/ lower caps on student loans and soaring tuition prices, meant that the student population started to swing very much toward the upper and upper-middle classes. In fact, I was tallying up some figures the last time they capped student loans and found out that I would have not been able to afford to attend Missouri for my undergrad had I applied five years later than I did (and that was with a scholarship!). So, I'm wondering, is this same process happening at the Minniversity?
Keep up the good work.
thanks, dan. as a parent i don't like this trend, either! but your university of minnesota college of liberal arts still puts a big premium on maintaining access. as i understand it, pretty much all fellowships awarded to students have a need-based, as well as a merit-based, component.
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