30. Remove from consideration evidence of “demonstrated interest.”
Here’s what institutional leaders can do:
- Higher education institutions should remove from their admissions process the practice of “demonstrated interest.”
As an interim measure:
- Higher education institutions should define allowable “demonstrated interest” criteria and refrain from including criteria that not all students can access due to financial barriers such as campus tours, summer programs, etc.
- Higher education institutions should provide transparency about “demonstrated interest” criteria in their admissions process.
- Higher education institutions should ensure that information about their “demonstrated interest” criteria is shared in recruitment materials, catalogs, student handbooks, and on publicly available admissions websites.
Instead of relying on opaque criteria that are unrelated to college readiness, institutions should base admissions decisions on transparent measures and criteria that all students understand and have access to.
Since 2003, the number of selective institutions that perceive “demonstrated interest” as a considerably or moderately important factor in their admissions criteria has increased by 7 percent. [i] “Demonstrated interest” factors are those that an institution perceives as indicating an applicant’s individual enthusiasm for attending a particular institution, such as attending a campus tour, contacting a regional admissions officer, or opening advertising emails from the institution. Reliance on such criteria contributes to the opaque process of college admissions that rely on specialized knowledge of the process. [ii] Some institutions currently reward applicants who show “demonstrated interest” by increasing the applicant’s likelihood of acceptance. In a study at a medium-sized private higher education institution, it was found that “demonstrated interest” offered a 20 percent higher chance of admittance. [iii] Considering barriers in access to college counseling faced by historically underrepresented students, many may not be aware of the weight that “demonstrated interest” carries in the admissions process, especially at highly selective institutions.
[i] Lakshmi, Jayaram; Lutz, Amy; & Bennett, Pamela. “Beyond the Schoolyard: The Role of Parenting Logics, Financial Resources, and Social Institutions in the Social Class Gap in Structured Activity Participation,” February 24, 2012.
[ii] We do not advocate for the removal of demonstrated interest shown during the admissions process through applications, such as essays expressing interest and enthusiasm for the institution and participating in interviews.
[iii] Dearden, James; Li, Suhui; Meyerhoefer, Chad; & Muzhe, Yang. “Demonstrated interest: Signaling behavior in college admissions,” Contemporary Economic Policy,” February 11, 2017. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/coep.12216.