Lesson: Mock Admissions Committee (2-3 sessions)
1. Key points/goals of the lesson
 To have students see a completed college application packet, as it is seen from the point of view of
a college, and understand all of the elements that colleges consider when looking at an applicant.
 To have students sit in the shoes of a college application committee, in order to understand the
ways that colleges are choosing among students, and how different aspects of students’
background and academic record come into play in choosing to admit or reject applicants.
 To give students a sense that whether colleges accept or reject students is not based just on
students’ merit, but on the profile of student that each particular college is looking for.
2. Background or important vocabulary
 Cumulative average (on transcripts)
 Extracurricular activities
 Students need to be able to find and interpret SAT scores on the College Board score report
 Personal statement (i.e. an essay about oneself)
 Common Application
 Letter of Recommendation
 Accept, Reject, Waitlist
3. Materials
 Application packets for 3 students (Karen, Cedric, Sonam) each containing a transcript, SAT score
report, list of extracurricular activities from the Common Application, 2 letters of recommendation,
and personal statement – you should have enough copies so that each group (see below) has a
full set
 College profile for University of Massachusetts at Amherst and information worksheet -1 per
student
 Candidate rating form – 1 per student
4. Instructions for implementing the activity
This activity should take 2-3 sessions.
Session One:
 As an opening activity, you might want to ask students to come up with 3 criteria that they think
college admissions committees consider when accepting new students.
 Tell students that for the next several sessions, they will be members of a college admissions
committee at the University of Massachusetts. This first day, they will familiarize themselves with
the university and learn about the selection criteria they will use in considering candidates.
 Break students into groups of 3. Give each group a UMass profile and information worksheet. Each
group should go over the profile and find important information about UMass, and what they should
consider when accepting new applicants. They should write down the criteria they will use and
discuss in their groups.
 Afterwards, open the discussion to the whole advisory.
Session Two:
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Have students review the profile information worksheet. They are now ready to begin considering
applications.
Give each group the packet of 3 applications: Sonam, Cedric, and Karen. Review with them the 5
documents that are included in each packet (a transcript, SAT score report, list of extracurricular
activities from the Common Application, 2 letters of recommendation, and personal statement) and
give out the Candidate Rating Form to each student. They can ACCEPT one candidate, REJECT
one candidate, and WAITLIST one candidate.
In their groups, students should take 20-25 minutes to look over the applications and fill out the
candidate rating forms. They can do this individually or as a group.
Each group of three should arrive at a consensus about which candidate to accept, reject, and
waitlist, and be prepared to explain/defend why they made that decision.
If there is time, groups can report on their decisions and discuss/debate as a whole class why they
made the decisions they did. If there isn’t time, this should be done in a third session.
5. Suggestions for debriefing the activity
 Ask students to write about one or a series of questions - use these or add your own:
o What were you surprised by in this activity?
o What’s one new thing you learned about college admissions?
o What will you do differently in relation to your own thinking about college based on this
activity?
 Have students pull together what their own college application would look like at this point – i.e. a
copy of their transcript, any PSAT, SAT or Regents scores they have, a resume or list of
extracurricular activities, a list of people they might ask for recommendations and what they think
those people might say about them, a short opening paragraph of a personal essay they might
write. Once they have pulled these together, have them look over their “application” and think
about how they look “on paper” and what they may want to work on adding or changing in the year
ahead.