A Word About the Yale Admitted Student Questionnaire

08 Jul

Posted by Sam Jackson as Admissions, College, Internets, Ivy League, Yale, marketing, personal

“Awesome,” I said to myself. “This questionnaire has been helpfully designed to take only a few minutes- how thoughtful of the Yale Admissions Office!” How wrong I was. I opened the questionnaire-packet to find myself confronted by about 100 questions. Allowing a mere 10 seconds per question, that survey would take nearly 17 minutes to complete. “A few” indeed. Was the survey gratuitously long? Not particularly–I still filled it out. But I was annoyed by the misrepresentative sell. Was it necessary?

4 Comments

Gender in College Admissions: Why Women are Often Held to a Higher Standard than Men

28 Jun

Posted by Sam Jackson as Admissions, Campus, College, College Board, Gender, Ivy League, Student Life, Teenagers, education

U.S. News & World Report ran a story two weeks ago about the “drastically higher” rejection rates women face at many colleges compared to men. This well known fact comes as no shock to those who know the numbers– more females graduate from high school and more of them seek college degrees than do their male counterparts. Their percentage in colleges and universities continues to grow. Alex Kingsbury describes the stats, informing us that “From rough parity in 1980, women made up 57 percent of the 16.6 million American collegegoers in 2006. By 2010, the Department of Education expects the ratio to be around 60 to 40.” What’s the magic of that 60/40 number? According to Kingsbury, “anecdotal evidence suggests that once a campus reaches, say, a 60-to-40 split in favor of either gender, the college becomes less attractive to applicants of both sexes.”

5 Comments

A Picture a Day: The Narrows, Zion National Park

25 Jun

Posted by Sam Jackson as Teenagers, Travel, personal

Here is just a quick picture of our Backroads group, minus trip leaders. This is in the Virgin River Narrows of Zion National Park, which was a lot of fun since I absolutely love hopping on rocks and scampering around in the water. I’m in blue next to my mom on the right. I have […]

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I hate Las Vegas and United Airlines, but love the national parks!

21 Jun

Posted by Sam Jackson as Travel, personal

I am back from my Backroads trip to Bryce, Zion, and Grand Canyon national parks with my mom last week. We had to stay in Vegas a night coming in and a night leaving for logistical purposes, and it was dramatically awful. I won’t at this exact moment elaborate on the hatred for Las Vegas […]

4 Comments

Vacationtime: Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon!

11 Jun

Posted by Sam Jackson as College

Beloved readers, I will be away for a week on a Backroads trip with my mom to Bryce, Zion, and Grand Canyon national parks. I will be back on the 20th. If I am not responding to your e-mails during this time very promptly, now you know why.
Feel free to leave comments about things in […]

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Who is Sam Jackson?

I'm currently a freshman at Yale University and I've been blogging about college admissions and higher education marketing trends since I began my college application process in 2005. I now also write about my experience here at Yale, and am an official Yale blogger. Click here to read my 'about' page.

Kind words about my blog:

Andrew Careaga calls it “a service to all of us in the higher ed marketing business.”

Christian Long says it has “dramatically inspired college admissions folks to take notice”

Bob Johnson says “I like [it] because I agree with so much of what he says.” and that “Paying attention what Sam writes will let you focus more closely on students who will actually attend your school.”

Karine Joly says my witty and fresh style “offers a rare glimpse at the mind of our elusive prospective students”

and TargetX calls my blog “good reading” and me “wise-beyond-my-years.”