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The Rice Thresher
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by Rachel Rustin thresher staff Time magazine took a behind-the-scenes look at Rice's Admission Office in an article about the college admissions process. The article, "Inside College Admissions," appears in the Oct. 23 Time and refers to the admission processes of Rice, Cornell University and Bowdoin College. Last spring, Vice President for Enrollment Ann Wright was asked about the possibility of having someone from the magazine sit in on admissions decisions. Time wished to gather evidence to help dispel popular myths about the college admissions process. Wright consulted members of the administration and the admission committee, and they decided that it would be a great opportunity for Rice to get national publicity. "We talked it over for quite a while because there are some risks in something like this. ... We wanted to be sure that they wouldn't misinterpret or wouldn't highlight anything that might be perceived as negative," Wright said. "Finally, we decided to go ahead because, after all, it's a wonderful opportunity to get national visibility for the institution." A member of Time's staff sat in on an admission committee meeting in which students were admitted through the regular admission program. An agreement was reached beforehand, stating that everything said at the meeting, especially the names of any applicants, would be confidential. Time also highlighted Rice in the side article "Yes, Your Race Still Matters." The article states that Rice "has had to reinvent its admissions strategies to maintain the school's minority enrollment" because Rice cannot consider race as a factor in admissions as a result of the 1996 Hopwood vs. State of Texas court decision. Members of the administration who worked with Time are happy with the coverage. "Certainly, Time magazine's calling Rice one of three top schools and [one of] three of the country's most selective schools contributes to national recognition," Vice President for Public Affairs Terry Shepard said. "And it is part of national media momentum Rice has been gaining - from the Kiplinger No. 1 Best Value to Newsweek/Kaplan's naming Rice as a 'hot school,' to multiplying appearances in publications from The New York Times to the Wall Street Journal, and from Continental magazine to Wired," Shepard said. Media Relations Director of Communications Margot Dimond agreed. "One of the things I'm pleased about is that they thought of Rice to call," Dimond said. "To me, that means we are doing a good job of gaining some visibility for Rice nationwide and that, to me, is a very positive development." Dimond said that there is a kind of "snowball effect" with this type of story and the media. "The fact that it presents Rice as a university worth trying very hard to get into is a very positive result of this article," Dimond said. However, there is no reliable way to predict how this national coverage will affect the number of applications that the Admission Office will receive this fall. While the number of applicants this year is higher than last year's number so far, there is no real way to determine exactly what caused the increase. Wright was also pleased with its U.S. News & World Report ranking among national universities that came out earlier this fall. Rice's ranking moved up from No. 14 in 1999 to 13 this year, and in 1998, Rice was ranked No. 18.
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