Clark Newsmakers
A few months ago, all across America, colleges and universities sent out their letters of acceptance and rejection. Harvard proudly announced that its acceptance rate for this year’s 35,023 applicants had shrunk to a mere 5.8 percent. So cruel, yet so prestigious. Acceptance rates at the other Ivy League colleges were only slightly higher. And ever more students are applying to prestigious schools that have lower acceptance rates and higher costs. Clark itself experienced a remarkable 29 percent increase in applications from just last year. This trend flies in the face of growing public skepticism about the long-term economic and social value of college degrees, especially in the humanities. Go figure. Once students reach a certain level of accomplishment, randomness prevails. Although the competition may appear Darwinian, some applicants will make the cut and others won’t, despite identical grades, identical scores on national tests, and equivalent extracurricular activities. Although we are both longtime University of Maine professors, we felt unenlightened when our daughter, Raechel, who entered Clark this fall, began the admissions process. This journey has become ever more challenging since our son Richard went through it some five years ago. Not only must ambitious high school students take the most rigorous courses, they must prepare for nationwide examinations, visit initially attractive schools, and revisit them for official tours and interviews. Then comes the “packaging” of students, including the composition of up to three separate essays for each college — in addition to the two common pieces required by all reputable institutions. Raechel wound up having to prepare 27 increasingly quirky essays: “If a lifechanging package arrives at your door, what would it contain?” “If you were a candy bar, what kind would you be?” The fact that acceptance letters for the candy-bar school contained the specified treat is evidence of another trend: once colleges admit students, they woo them to enroll in order to increase their yield. If, after all of this, The Chosen are admitted into several elite colleges, they are urged to revisit and to bargain for more funding, especially if financial awards differ significantly. Raechel wound up choosing Clark over several other highly regarded liberal arts schools. Her brother’s experience did not determine, but certainly influenced, her decision. Richard graduated (Summa!) from Clark in 2012 after four wonderful years as a double major in studio art and in communication and culture, with a minor in entrepreneurship. Raechel’s receipt of a Presidential Merit Scholarship was also a factor in her decision to attend Clark, but she did receive comparable financial aid offers from those other institutions. Yet Clark’s lovely dinner for Presidential and Traina scholars the night before Accepted Students’ Day, with an eloquent defense by President Angel of Clark’s cutting-edge and broad vision of the liberal arts, greatly impressed us. As faculty members in the humanities, we are frankly fed up with the relentless attack on the liberal arts by those with only a narrow “bottom-line” mentality. What, however, also influenced Raechel was the warm and welcoming atmosphere found among Clark admissions staff and current students and the spirited sample classes she attended. Most important, perhaps, the friendliness and unpretentiousness of the other would-be Clarkies whom Raechel met convinced her that she should follow her brother. Nevertheless, it is no wonder that the puzzling and opaque admissions process at many other elite American colleges generates hysteria among applicants — and their parents. But, especially for teenagers with limited perspective, getting into a prestigious college is not, as they say, a matter of life and death. It’s much more serious than that. Howard P. Segal is Professor of History at the University of Maine, and Deborah D. Rogers is Professor of English at the University of Maine
T
he Clark community continues its worthy — and
newsworthy — activities, with members regularly featured or mentioned in media reports around the world. Visit the
Clark News Hub (news.clarku.edu) for a complete online archive with summaries and links. Here is a recent sampling:
The Wall Street Journal: Jeffrey Jensen Arnett (psychology) comments in “New Ways to Gauge What Grown-Up Means.” The Clark University Poll of Parents of Emerging Adults, which Arnett directs, is cited in many major media, including Forbes, CBS Miami, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. Bloomberg News: Taner Akçam (history) is interviewed about protests in Istanbul and challenges to Turkey’s leadership. The Sacramento Bee: Abbie Goldberg (psychology) discusses her research finding that “what happens in the family, how warm and involved the parents are in their children’s lives, matters more than the gender and number of parents.” The Associated Press: NPR, The Washington Post, FOX News, Chicago Sun-Times, and many others run an AP article citing Gary Chaison (industrial relations) on the Detroit bankruptcy. The Huffington Post: Wendy Grolnick (psychology) discusses parent behavior and issues of bad sportsmanship at children’s ball games. The Christian Science Monitor: Dominik Kulakowski (geography/ biology) talks about climate change in “Powerhouse wildfire north of L.A. heralds a much longer fire season.” His remarks also appear in Yahoo! News Canada and The Alaska Dispatch. ThomasNet News: Jennie Stephens (environmental science and policy) talks about China’s move toward capping greenhouse gas emissions, saying it could signal “a critical step” toward slowing global emissions. Salon.com: Cynthia Enloe (political science) discusses “the fastest growing homeless population in the nation” in a feature titled “No holidays or parades for homeless women veterans.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “American clothing retailers should put up or shut up,” an op-ed by Robert J.S. Ross (sociology), takes aim at a “deathtrap factory environment” in Bangladesh. Politifact.com: Debórah Dwork (history) debunks comments made by a Georgia senator that the U.S. has “never stood by and seen innocent people slaughtered,” as in Syria. Worcester Telegram & Gazette: Graduate School of Management Dean Catherine A. Usoff and Prof. Laura Graves (management) comment in an article about how technology blurs lines between home and office. The Chronicle of Higher Education: A special section “NEXT: Shaking Up the Status Quo (and Why It’s So Hard to Do” mentions LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice), Clark’s new educational model.
fall 2012
By Howard P. Segal and Deborah D. Rogers, Clark parents
7 clark alumni magazine
Admissions done right at Clark