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Article Type

Professional Proficiency

Article Abstract

Related Issue:

Holistic review is widely practiced in graduate admissions. However, despite its prevalence, there is a need to understand how practitioners approach holistic graduate admissions, how its practice relates to institutional priorities, and its potential implications for equitable access to graduate education. This exploratory mixed method study captures the perspectives of graduate enrollment management (GEM) professionals on the (a) consideration of applicants’ personal attributes for evaluating their potential for graduate degree completion, and (b) alignment between applicants’ personal attributes with strategic institutional priorities. Applicants’ professionalism and integrity were reported most important when evaluating applicants’ potential for graduate degree completion. Applicants’ multicultural competency was reported most important for the institutional priority of increasing graduate student diversity. Participants’ overarching perception of holistic review was that it provides important flexibility during the application evaluation process. Implications for practice are discussed including the need for institutions to (a) make the consideration of applicants’ personal attributes transparent to applicants by defining the attributes and aligning required application materials to these attributes and (b) create internal methodologies to ensure reliable and consistent evaluation of applications.

Author(s)

paris-j--smJoseph H. Paris is Dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies at
Delaware Valley University. As a scholar-practitioner, his research and
practice focus on the intersections between college admissions criteria and
selection methodologies, institutional finance, and access to postsecondary
and graduate education.

winfield-j-d--smJake D. Winfield recently completed his Ph.D. in Policy and Organizational
Studies at Temple University’s College of Education and Human Development.
Prior to graduate studies, he taught high school math in Helena-West Helena,
Arkansas and Phoenix, Arizona. His research interests center the intersection
of community-university relationships.

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Endnotes

  1. GEM refers to a comprehensive approach to the methods by which an
    institution recruits, admits, supports, retains, and graduates
    post-baccalaureate students (Connor, et al. 2015). GEM includes
    codependent functions working congruently to strategically manage graduate
    student enrollment levels and the graduate student experience (Connor,
    et al.
    2015).
  2. One respondent worked at a proprietary institution that does not report to
    IPEDS and therefore was removed from the data. One respondent worked at an
    institution with a Carnegie Classification of Baccalaureate Colleges:
    Diverse Fields and therefore was removed from the study.

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