Application Materials, Admissions Processes, and Access to Postsecondary Education

• In Event: 35.080 - Sheraton Roundtable Session Five - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 35.080-3 - Communicating What We Value: Institutional Responses to Increasing Diversity

Abstract

This study investigated how academic programs have addressed access in their application materials, based on a systematic review of materials spanning 1997 to 2017 from Ontario’s 20 provincially-supported universities. Many programs had created application categories that were intended to improve access for under-represented groups; these were distinguished from a default category by having different requirements and/or admissions processes. Semi-structured interviews with staff and faculty involved in admissions suggested that programs that viewed themselves as competing for applicants from under-represented groups believed that how these categories were differentiated was especially important. Although creating application categories signalled programs’ intentions to improve access, how the categories were differentiated varied widely and how admission decisions were made was often vague.

Authors

• Grace Ryu, University of Toronto

• Traci Cook, OISE/University of Toronto

• Rashmee Karnad-Jani, University of Toronto

• Ruth A. Childs, University of Toronto - OISE