When visiting the California Polytechnic University, I fell in love with the campus, the programs, and the people. In an on campus information session, we were told that the university no longer required an essay or any other writing portion in its application.
My aspirations were immediately halted when I discovered that one of my dream schools was going to evaluate my acceptance eligibility solely based on my GPA, standardized test scores, class schedule, and my answers to a few multiple choice questions.
I went to the admissions office to confirm what I had been told. I became even more discouraged when the woman at the front desk assured me that these were the facts.
What I didn’t know was that the university didn’t choose to eliminate their chance to get to know me in an essay or other writing section before admittance.
Cal Poly is one of the many California State Universities, which share the same application.
Due to state budget cuts, that application could no longer be reviewed by readers.
The only solution was to accept applicants based on numbers.  She told me that the California State Universities had to choose between cutting classes, or eliminating readers for applications.
I suppose they all agreed that cutting classes would damage the school’s integrity, but what about the integrity of the students?
Sure they could choose the students with the best test scores and GPAs, but I didn’t understand how they would fill the personality gap. I thought that part of college admittance was building a community of students who could interact side by side successfully both in and out of the classroom.
I was upset because I consider myself to be one of the candidates who gets “alright” test scores, but writes a killer essay or excels in an interview.
I was particularly excited to include supplemental information about my experience with a local landscape architect who was a graduate of one of Cal Poly’s most celebrated five-year undergraduate programs.
After going to the admissions office and feeling defeated, I marched over to the Landscape Architecture department in hopes that I would leave an impression on at least one human being before I left campus.
Sure enough, a very welcoming woman took time to unlock classrooms and studios while she talked to me about the department.
I thought I had finally made a breakthrough, but then I remembered she would never get the chance to see the application with my name on it and argue that I was a good candidate, given my experience, for one of the school’s programs.
My chances of getting into the school were almost entirely up to a computer. I walked away wishing I could change the facts, but I knew I couldn’t be upset with the university.
They don’t really have a choice.
I would have done the same thing. If they had cut the curriculum instead of application readers, maybe I wouldn’t have wanted to go there in the first place.