From January through mid-March, the admissions staff will hide out in our offices
and read files during our holistic file reading process. There are six
main areas that we look at in
our file reading process, and this post covers the last two areas,
focusing on a student’s work ethic and integrity/maturity.
Work Ethic
Scene from the movie Rudy
Ara Parseghian: What’s your problem, O’Hare, what’s your problem?
Jamie O’Hara: Last practice of the season and this ***** thinks it’s the Super Bowl!
Ara Parseghian:
You just summed up your entire sorry career here in one sentence! If
you had a tenth of the heart of Ruettiger, you’d have made All-American
by now! As it is, you just went from third team to the prep team! Get
out of here! Rudy
One area of
admissions that is not always talked about, but which has a great impact
over the entire file, is the idea of work ethic and integrity. When you
watch the movie “Rudy”, you see a young man that, while not possessing
the greatest football skills, is able to translate sheer will and
determination to get onto the football field and play at least one play
for Notre Dame (although his academic drive is at times less than
desired). When I am reading a file, I am trying to get a sense of who
this applicant is, what they do with their time, and the effort they put
into the things they participate in, from class work to sports to
activities. Do they put in the time and sweat equity to get the work
done well, or just get done with the job? Do they put forth the effort
to make an A, or are they happy to settle for a C? I am looking for
clues, be it in the recommendations, the essays, the commitment of time
and/or the difference between potential and results, that will show me
what a student’s work ethic is like. I often see phrases such as “this
student has a lot of untapped potential” or “this student is an
overachiever”. We prefer the overachiever, the one that has
taken what they have been given and gone beyond everyone’s expectations.
Maturity/Integrity/Respect for Others
Tied
in with work ethic is the idea of personal maturity and integrity. When a student is faced
with a dilemma, how do they handle themselves now, and how will they
handle themselves at UGA? Do they take responsibility and handle issues
in a mature fashion, or do they blame others? One telling item (though
by no means the only one), is how a student deals with
discipline/conduct issues. I have looked at the large majority of files
where there is a conduct/criminal issue, and it is very telling as to
how a student reacts. Some will take full responsibility, and focus on
both making amends and getting back on track. On the other hand, I have
seen student’s make the same mistakes over and over, relying on someone
else to get them out of their situation. Maturity also
shows up in a person’s interaction with others, be it teachers, friends
or classmates. These students will be studying in UGA’s
classrooms, living in the residence halls, and being a part of our
community, so interaction with others is important.
Several years ago, I read a great book by Robert Fulghum called “All I
Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten”, and a portion of it
applies to the last part of File Reading:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
In
looking at applicants, we are looking at future members of the UGA
community. They will be living in the residence halls together,
studying together, dating, hanging out, and generally interacting with
the people in the UGA community 24/7. In light of this, I want to know
how they interact with other people in their own community right now. Do
they play nice with the other kids in school, are they respectful to
people from other cultures, backgrounds, socioeconomic groups, how do
they treat teachers, etc. In other words, how well do they get along
with others?
We look at recommendation letters, essays,
personal notes, and other indicators to get an understanding of this.
It does not always come through clearly, but we many times can see this
through the comments in the overall application. I am not saying that
this is the biggest part of the file review by any means, but it does
come into play, especially when we see very positive or very negative
situations.