Adam Epstein '05

Today marks my one year anniversary of working in the WPI Admissions Office.  What a great year it was!  I truly have enjoyed getting to know you—prospective and now enrolling students, parents, guidance and college counselors, colleagues—and I look forward to continuing that relationship in the coming years.  The travel was great, and I’m looking forward to another exciting and busy schedule this fall.  The reading was tedious and overwhelming at times, but it was rewarding to see all of the great students and their accomplishments.  And at the end of the year, it is a great feeling to know that I was a part of the process that brought the Class of 2012 to WPI and helped them begin to leave their legacy.

The next year will bring even more excitement: some new responsibilities, new staff members, a new WPI residence hall, more travel (including Hawaii!), and I’m sure another strong and well-qualified applicant pool.  After a long-weekend of relaxing, I’ll be back Tuesday to start strong in year two

I came back to my desk from a meeting this morning to find several e-mails and IMs alerting me to the fact that Sean Sears, a student I knew at WPI who is a member of the Class of 2007, just won the 2008 USA Rock, Paper, Scissors League Championship! The Championship site lists Sean’s nickname as “Wicked Fingers,” and I’ve already seen the story on several news sites as well as hearing it on NPR this morning. Sean beat 300 opponents to win the $50,000 prize and a trip to Beijing, China this summer to compete at the International Championship which will be held during the summer Olympics. Sean was an Electrical & Computer Engineering major, and he was involved outside of class with Student Government, Lambda Chi Alpha, and the Student Alumni Society.

Some links covering the story:

• WBZ news
• Boston Herald
• USA Rock, Paper, Scissors League

The SAT continues to be a topic of much debate.  Just last week at the NEACAC conference, several sessions were devoted to the topic and about schools making the test optional for admissions.  An article in today’s New York Times discusses findings from studies conducted by the College Board regarding the SAT and its writing section introduced in 2005.  From the Times:

The revamped SAT, expanded three years ago to include a writing test, predicts college success no better than the old test, and not quite as well as a student’s high school grades, according to studies released Tuesday by the College Board, which owns the test.

“The changes made to the SAT did not substantially change how predictive the test is of first-year college performance,” the studies said.

Indeed we do put the most emphasis on your high school coursework and grades.  However, we do also find value in the SAT and consider it a significant portion of your application.  Last year, however, WPI made standardized test scores an optional requirement for admission becoming the first national science and technology institution to do so following research that indicates the scores are not the best predictor of success at WPI.  When you apply to WPI, you may choose to submit alternate materials for us to review in lieu of your SAT (or ACT) scores via our Flex Path option.

If you do choose for us to review your scores, we’ll sum your math score with the higher of your critical reading and writing scores and evaluate your score out of 1,600.  In other words: math (of 800) + critical reading or writing (of 800) = total (of 1600).

What are your thoughts on the SAT?

NEAC-what??  The New England Association for College Admission Counseling, more commonly referred to as NEACAC (yes, it sounds a little like a duck), is a professional organization affiliated with the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) overseeing the New England region.  NEACAC members are admissions counselors, guidance and college counselors, independent counselors, and other individuals.

Last Wednesday-Friday I had the opportunity to attend the 2008 NEACAC Annual Meeting & Conference at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, VT along with two of my colleagues from WPI and nearly 500 colleagues in the industry from organizations, colleges, and high schools throughout New England.

The conference was a great opportunity to meet and network with others in the field and learn about best practices and trends in college admissions.  The conference was also great fun, both during scheduled hours and outside of them exploring Burlington, VT.

A few reflections:

• Vermont and the Burlington area are gorgeous!  But far away!
• All schools operate differently.  It is important for you to realize these differences during the application period.
• This blog and other electronic mechanisms are important parts of the way we communicate with you.  I hope you’ll communicate back, too.
• We’re doing lots of great things at WPI; there are a number of things we can enhance and improve.
• In general, admissions folks like to talk.

There was plenty more than that, but it’s mostly stuff I’ll be taking back to the office (after my week of vacation, of course–sorry for being so quiet) for discussion.  The NACAC conference this year will be held in Seattle, another gorgeous place.  I think I’ll be going in September!

It has been a quiet few weeks in terms of visitors in the office, so yesterday the staff took the opportunity to do a bit of spring cleaning in Bartlett Center.  Dressed casually we each tackled our own office space and volunteered to assist with some of the shared and common space in the building.  I had done a quick cleaning/organization of the top of my desk a few weeks ago, but most of the clutter just made its way into drawers or my cabinets.  All I have to say about yesterday is “wow, where did all of that stuff come from?”  Saving you the details, I threw away (recycled of course) things from over six years ago that were in my office!  Yes, my office that I have had less than a year!

Meanwhile, the staff had a great time cleaning and freshening up the common space.  It’s easy to get distracted with all of our day to day work that we don’t think of tidying up the building.  I took the copy room, and although you’ll probably never see it, it is awesome!