To experience the thrill of getting into college, a student must first complete a college application, a process that can be notoriously lacking in joy.
The Common App, a non-profit organization with over 1,000 institutional members working to equitize the college application process, offers a dose of happiness for hopeful students when they finally hit the submit button on their applications: a small shower of confetti sprinkles across their screens in celebration.
But Common App wanted to find a more tangible, simpler way to connect prospective students with joy while focusing on equity, said Jenny Rickard, president and CEO of Common App.
Jenny Rickard, president and CEO of Common App.
So, two years ago, they began a pilot program inspired by Idaho's Direct Admissions initiative. First, Common App partnered with three Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Tennessee, Maryland, and Virginia, then expanded to New Jersey and six institutions. Common App reviewed the high school performance data of students who had created an account but had not yet completed their applications. Common App then sent emails to those students who qualified offering direct admission to one of their partner institutions.
The results show that students who received direct admission, particularly students of color, first generation, and low-income students, were three to four times as likely to apply to the admitting institution and sent out more applications overall than the control group which did not receive direct admission. Qualitative analysis of students’ responses to direct admission showed that they experienced a boost of confidence and excitement about their future: joy.
“We found strong evidence that the impacts of this intervention were most significant for Black, Latinx, and first generation—nearly 9% of Black and 8% of Latinx students responded to a direct admission offer by submitting applications,” said Rickard.
