Arthur Wang: UC application should include optional letters of recommendation

Looking for a job? Consider becoming an admissions officer after graduation, because UC Berkeley is bracing for the possibility of having to review up to 160,000 additional pages of application materials to select the fall 2016 entering cohort.

That’s because the campus quietly introduced a new policy earlier this year that allows students applying during the fall the option to submit two letters of recommendation. Though it will be the first University of California campus to do so, the move is hardly surprising given the fact that Berkeley is the top-ranked public university in the country by US News and World Report. Many selective private schools and some public institutions require letters of recommendation, usually submitted through the Common Application.

Recommendations add an extra layer of complexity and thoughtful consideration to an admissions calculus that remains focused on grades and test scores. And while letters may be used as yet another way to splice one 4.3 GPA applicant from another, they also highlight exemplary individuals and scholars who happen to be middling students to the admissions committee. Sometimes, it is the latter group that can “enrich” and “diversify” the campus environment.

UCLA is looking into the idea of following Berkeley’s lead, said campus spokesman Ricardo Vazquez. It most definitely should, as the schools are equally as selective and sought-after, and it would both strengthen and possibly diversify the student body. The consideration of letters would address the shortcomings of UC’s so-called holistic review without compromising the quality of admitted students.

Though the personal statement on the current application tries to account for the “numbers aren’t everything” idea, they can be subject to embellishment and exaggeration. It is also notoriously difficult for 17- and 18-year-olds to write about what paltry life experiences they have. The application also has a section for students to describe exceptional circumstances, but these are intended for drastic situations, such as personal loss, unemployment and mental illness.

Letters of recommendation written by teachers, peers or professionals are largely immune to the tactics of personal-statement writing and should be seriously considered alongside grades in the “holistic review.” They provide an important balance to our almost-singular obsession with statistics and “metrics” of student competence.

I applied to UCLA as a senior with the expectation that I could get in. I had glowing recommendations from teachers and a positive counselor evaluation, making it clear that I had what it takes to succeed at a UC school. However, my GPA was relatively poor, induced by passions for writing and intellectual inquiry that could not be reflected adequately on the application. Ultimately, it was a high GPA in community college that got me into UCLA – yet one must wonder if I really changed that dramatically in just one year to transform from an easy reject to shoo-in acceptance.

The lack of a letter submission or counselor evaluation option meant that UCLA never learned of this significant facet of my admissions profile. Though my GPA essentially ruined my chance at admission, an option to submit evaluations of character would have at least given me greater peace of mind and an understanding that my rejection was not simply based on a lack of straight As.

Meanwhile, admission to the top UCs remains very much a numbers game. Admitting a sub-4.0 weighted GPA student to Berkeley or UCLA is essentially unthinkable under current circumstances – and perhaps rightly so, since high school GPA remains the strongest predictor of success at the undergraduate level. Students with sub-4.0 weighted GPAs are admitted at rates around 6 percent at both schools, a number probably inflated by admitted athletes.

Many selective schools, both public and private, already implement letters of recommendation by way of the Common Application to better whittle down competitive applicant pools, especially at elite schools like UCLA and Berkeley that receive enough exceptionally qualified applicants to fill an entire entering class – and then some. At some liberal arts and Ivy League colleges in particular, they are used in “crafting the class” – a term referring to the imprecise art of selecting a cohort with the greatest synergy and diversity to create an intellectually vigorous campus climate.

It might be a concern that allowing letters would further stack admission chances for students from private schools, or wealthy public ones, as they benefit from smaller class sizes, more frequent interactions with teachers and even comprehensive college counseling. However, letters are but an optional component for UC admission, and it will be considered as one of 14 other admission criteria, including “geographic location” and the quality of one’s high school. But rather than suggesting an applicant grew up in a poor neighborhood, recommendations have the capacity to discuss how an applicant developed in talent and character in spite of it.

As much as we hate to admit it, college admissions are more of an art than a science, and should be as much an evaluation of character as an evaluation of academic credentials. After all, I am probably able to write this column as a UCLA student because of my GPA, instead of my passion for writing, classrooms be damned. Letters of recommendation are one way to improve and advance a delicate craft.