Academic records

Requestor
Boyer-Anderson, Rebecca
Organization
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
Initial Request Date
11/19/2021
Status
Closed
Request Completion Date
04/04/2022

Please consider this letter a formal request for public information relevant to your admission

policies, pursuant to the Oregon Public Records Law, §192.410 et seq.  I am a research assistant at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, a nonprofit public policy organization that promotes excellence in higher education. I am currently working with the Martin Center’s president, Jenna A. Robinson, on a national survey of college admissions practices at flagship public universities. Pursuant to this study, I am seeking admissions data from several dozen universities, including yours.

 

I am seeking data, in electronic form (such as an Excel file), on the background and demographic characteristics of applicants to your undergraduate program for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 admissions cycles. (By 2017-18, for example, I am referring to the admissions cycle that began in 2017 and led to the admission of freshmen entering in the fall of 2018.) I am generally interested in the objective data your school systematically collects for use in admissions decisions. These include, if you collect this information:

 

  • SAT I (or Reasoning Test), including Math, Critical Reading, and Writing scores;
  • SAT II subject tests, reporting score and subject;
  • ACT scores;
  • Advanced Placement Scores, reporting score by subject;
  • High school GPA (as reported by the applicant’s high school);
  • Adjusted high school GPA (if your college uses an adjusted measure);
  • Race;
  • Ethnicity or Hispanic origin;
  • Gender;
  • High school class rank;
  • Parents’ income (in any reported categories);
  • Highest level of education achieved by a parent, or father’s educational attainment and mother’s educational attainment;
  • Whether the student lives in a single-parent household;
  • State residency status;
  • College program for which applicant is considered, if applicable;
  • Whether the student was offered an athletic scholarship or admitted through an athletic preference;
  • Whether the student has parents who are alumni/ae of your school;
  • Any numerical admissions index used in making admissions decisions;
  • Was the applicant accepted?
  • Did the applicant enroll?

 

In addition to the specific data, I would like copies of admissions policies or background

materials on how this information is used in admissions decisions. For example, I am interested in how your institution handles applicants with multiple scores on the SAT or ACT; the adjustment method you use (if any) for high school grades; whether the strength of an applicant’s high school is a factor in admissions, and so on.

 

Many institutions have, in recent years and under prodding from Supreme Court decisions in

Grutter v. Bollinger and, more recently, Fisher v. University of Texas, created policies that describe how race is used as a factor in admissions, and the university’s rationale for considering race. These policies often discuss race-neutral policies the university has considered and plans the institution has undertaken for phasing out the

Request ID
2022-152