Colleges and universities are looking beyond grades as they consider applications. The character and conduct of prospective students are also being viewed as important to the selection process.
In part, they are responding to parental anxiety about sending their children off to campuses that are virtually small cities, to live in tight quarters with people they don't know. Crime statistics, which federal law requires every college to report, indicate that campuses are no more crime-ridden than in the past. But in the wake of the shooting rampage last Monday by a student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, such concerns would seem sensible.
The Common Application, used by 320 colleges and universities, including Syracuse, has added a discipline question for the first time this school year. Under the new rules, students and guidance counselors must disclose if students have been convicted of a crime, including a misdemeanor, or committed a school violation leading to "probation, suspension, removal, dismissal or expulsion."
Colleges are free to do background checks and inquire about run-ins with the law. In some states juvenile records are sealed. However, it could be easy for admissions officers to find out about a student's problems with the law by using MySpace or a search engine like Google. Of course, they are not allowed to ask about mental problems due to the disabilities act.
A concern is the lack of consistency in high schools when dealing with discipline problems. Some students might get a more favorable report just because they are in a school that is not that strict about handing out tough consequences. The section provided by counselors is in essay form.
Some counselors are aggressively recounting wrongdoing, others gloss over it and omit penalty information. Parents, too, have been known to negotiate more favorable punishments for their children, including trying to have violations expunged from records.
The discipline question added to the Common Application will give students something to consider during their high school years. I once had a parent show up and demand to see her child's permanent record before he moved on to high school. She wanted to make sure that none of his behavior reports were included. If students realize that colleges are looking at the social aspects of their high school days, maybe they will reconsider some of their decisions about breaking the rules.