Will AI and Online Exams Affect Your Student's Candidacy?

It's National Decision Day as I draft this post. As a counselor, I am thrilled that all my students have landed in places where they can thrive. They are excited; their parents and I are relieved. Even those who chose to remain on waitlists tell me they're happy to attend where they've put down a deposit.May is also the month when I really power up the junior cohort. What will be different as they head toward the end of their high school journeys, and how will developments affect their candidacies? Let's see what's ahead - and what we can control. 

🌸🌸🌸🌸

All Things Online? Pitfalls and Opportunities

May is known for flowers, showers and . . . AP exams! Out of the 36 exams given this month, 28 are administered online by College Board, including AP U.S. History and AP Language and Composition, known for their essays. As noted in Inside Higher Ed, however, "changes to the AP exam have raised doubts about the rigor of the tests and scoring methodology." Language and music exams, which use audio files, remain paper-based for now.Then there's College Board's chief rival, ACT. If you haven't heard, ACT is in the process of moving to a shorter, digital test. After its debut last month, the ACT blog stated that “students give vote of confidence after taking enhanced ACT.” However, Sean Quinn of Onsen Education provided some interesting tidbits about the new version of the ACT in his latest post: 

"A test prep professional who sat for the test reported that the digital highlighting tools for reading had negligible utility, and there was no means to take notes other than provided scrap paper. Additionally, the test’s countdown timer was reported to be non-intuitive and the 5-minute warning was easy to miss. Answer choices were difficult to select and the interface was, at times, non-intuitive. There were also reported issues prior to test day, with some testers reporting last-minute changes to their registration, being switched – without their consent – from the Enhanced ACT to the full-length paper-based test with mandatory Science section.”

Remember how ACT is also deemphasizing its Science section, so much so that students can opt out? We are curious about how colleges will react. Now, Boston U has come forward:

"For the ACT, BU will only accept ACT scores which include the Science subsection; the Writing subsection continues to remain optional. We recalculate a new composite score using the highest score from each section, regardless of test date.” -BU Admissions

🍦🍦🍦🍦

Artificial Intelligence: A Work in Progress

Every month, I've shared something about AI in the college business. Students are scared; some fear that their education has quickly become irrelevant. Contrast that with the view of Northeastern's president Joseph Aoun, who asserts: “I believe that higher education will become more relevant than ever because it’s not about knowledge — it’s about integration of knowledge. It’s also about socialization. It’s also about understanding what we do that machines cannot duplicate.”

AI in Curriculum: Watch It Unfold

As announced in Penn Today, the Wharton School will offer both an undergrad major and concentration in artificial intelligence: "The Artificial Intelligence for Business curriculum will include courses on applied machine learning, data science, neuroscience, data engineering, statistics, and the required ethics course, Big Data, Big Responsibilities: Toward Accountable Artificial Intelligence." The new program will be jointly run by Wharton's Operations, Information and Decisions and Statistics and Data Science departments.

We will continue to watch program launches at other colleges, of course.

AI and Critical Thinking 

Recently, Northeastern began using Anthropic's Claude for Education, a bot "created to question and guide students through a reasoning process that helps to develop their critical thinking skills." We're told it will help students stay organized during project work. Faculty can use Claude to quickly get rubrics (though we really don't need AI to do that). Some of us argue that critical thinking and organizational skills are best built other ways. I have read and reread a piece in The Chronicle: Is AI Enhancing Education or Replacing It?. Written by Clay Shirky, Vice Provost for AI and Technology at NYU, the article includes reactions from students and faculty to AI use, countering some assumptions: ". . . the fact that AI might help students learn is no guarantee it will help them learn . . . We are also hearing a growing sense of sadness from our students about AI use."

AI in Essays: A Hard Stop

Well before AI became an everyday topic, unCommon students learned about the importance of authentic voice in admissions essays. Recently, I came across a Statement on Generative AI from Boston University:

"As an innovative, teaching and research institution, Boston University encourages the exploration of new technologies and recognizes the growing importance of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. However, the Board of Admissions believes that the most compelling personal statements are representative of the writer’s authentic voice–a nuance that generative AI tools have yet to achieve. If you opt to use these tools at any point while writing your essays, they should only be used to support your original ideas rather than to write your essays in their entirety.” 

🌸🌸🌸🌸

Alma Mater, How Much is Our Team Worth?

Every year, the March Madness finalists draw lots of attention. This year, the Gators of the University of Florida won it all. However, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, the most valuable college hoops team is actually UNC Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels, according to IU Columbus professor Ryan Brewer, are worth some $378 million, followed closely by rival Duke at $370 million! (Brewer's methodology seeks to answer: "What would these teams be worth if they could be bought and sold like a pro sports team?)

UNC accepts about 18 percent of out-of-state applicants.

The women's winner - no shock - is UConn, valued by Brewer at $95 million.

By the way, Brewer estimates that the Ohio State Buckeyes football team has a value of $1.96 billion! And they went back to testing!

🍦🍦🍦🍦

$100,000 = Sticker Shock!

Which college will cost as much as $100,000 per year for a student not receiving aid? The winner is . . . Wellesley College, edging out Vanderbilt, WashU, UChicago, USC and Tufts. In an article in Inside Higher Ed, Georgetown scholar Bryan Alexander asks: “Will this pricing make the college more desirable, as a luxury good? Or will it drive away would-be students from sticker shock?”  

Wellesley accepts about 18 percent of applicants.

🌸🌸🌸🌸

Interdisciplinary Curriculum: The Antidote for AI

Last week, Brown announced the formation of the Watson School of International and Public Affairs. Bruno was always at the forefront of international relations education and already had an active Watson Center on campus. Professor and now inaugural dean John Friedman explains that the school will focus on "learning experiences for students that develop professional skills through real-world scenarios including policy simulations, research labs and field experiences as well as wide-ranging engagement with alumni in international and public affairs careers."

Look who stopped by Brown!

I've been noticing the increase in certificates awarded by Brown and many other colleges. According to Inside Higher Ed, we're seeing an 11 percent uptick in undergraduates receiving certificates. Data released from the National Student Clearinghouse show that "more than one-third of all students who earned a certificate receiving it in the same year they obtained a bachelor’s degree, associate degree or another certificate."

🍦🍦🍦🍦

Enjoy the sweet scents of this new month. And if you are curious about what your student should understand about their path to college, don't hesitate to reach out.