The official student newspaper of The Hockaday School

The Fourcast

The official student newspaper of The Hockaday School

The Fourcast

The official student newspaper of The Hockaday School

The Fourcast

Fragments of beauty
In Focus
Fragments of beauty
Larkin Clouston and Elle MyersFebruary 29, 2024

Opinion
February Staff Standoff: Valentine's Day
Alexa Muñoz and Danya Risam-ChandiFebruary 27, 2024

Let Cupid Live - by Alexa Muñoz I have Valentine’s Day plans this year. And this is not the beginning of another malicious anti-Valentine’s...

Junior Jordan Lacsamana utilizes one of MBLs confocal lens microscopes as she observes squid embryos after staining them.
Features
Mastering marine biology
February 27, 2024

From dissections to monitoring fish tanks, the juniors and seniors who spent seven days at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woodshole,...

The DEI Divide
The DEI Divide
February 27, 2024
Lipstick and Ledgers
January 25, 2024

Movie: “Admission”

“Admission” directed by Paul Weitz

What’s the secret formula to getting in?

That’s the question thousands of prospective university students ask themselves, and that’s the question Princeton University admissions officer Portia Nathan (Tina Fey, “30 Rock”) asks them in the movie “Admission,” released nationwide March 22.

If I have to guess, the movie’s audience consists of anxious students currently in the college application process, anxious parents with teenagers currently in the college process and people anxious to watch Tina Fey and Paul Rudd.

For those there to watch Fey and Rudd: you’ll be disappointed. The storyline is trite, and the movie’s jokes are a failed attempt to elicit laugh-out-louds from its audience. I was simply left half-laughing, half-questioning the jokes.

Ah, for Hockadaisies and their parents nervous about Princeton’s admissions process: the movie is hardly worth watching, so I may as well let you know what you want to know.

As a junior currently browsing colleges and soon applying to them, it was intriguing to see the inner workings of college admissions offices, but I wasn’t even sure if the movie was accurate. Do admissions officers really sit for hours reading different folders of each prospective applicant, ultimately taking a vote by a show of hands, sitting around a table eating bagels for breakfast?

So I asked Associate Director of College Counseling Elizabeth Jones, who formerly worked in the admissions office at the University of Pennsylvania.

She confirmed the movie: officers do spend hours perusing every prospective student’s application. In the weeks directly leading up to decision announcements, they participate in a committee discussion, reviewing and discussing candidates. Finally, they decide on applicants with a group consensus, not a fiery debate like in the movie.

So what’s the secret formula to getting in? Spoiler: there is no secret. You don’t need to see “Admission” to realize that, either.

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