New undergrad application lacks ethics

Applicants for next year's incoming class will face an easier task than this year's entrants. According to Admissions Dean Willis Stetson, one essay question was dropped from the new application and another was changed, and the application's format was revised to improve contact between the applicant and the admissions office. The dropped question, often referred to as the "ethics question," gauged applicants' responses to current social issues by having them discuss one of two Latin quotations. The first, Leges sine moribus vanae, roughly translated as "laws without morals are meaningless," is the University's motto, and applicants were required to evaluate it "in the context of an academic, social, or personal situation or experience." The second quotation translates as "We will find a way or we will make one," and applicants had to relate it to "changing values and contemporary society." The questions were added to the application only two years ago, and while they may be applied to issues which have become priorities on campus, like diversity, Stetson said the University could transmit its standards for ethical contact better after students were accepted than it could on the application. Stetson added that the questions did not prompt interesting or significant answers. "The answers were kind of bland," he said. "We didn't find out more about them [the applicants] than we already knew." College freshman Sonya Stadnick said friends warned her against applying to the University because of the application's difficulty. She said it was harder than others she completed. "There were a lot more questions and they were a lot more specific," she said. "They weren't the general questions I was asked by the other colleges." The tone of the questions is less formal in the new application, and the required length for essays was changed from 300 words to one page to give applicants a more flexible framework. The new application also includes a checklist of steps required for applying to the University and suggests that applicants send in the form with their biographical information as soon as possible so they can establish a relationship with the admissions office and be paired with an alumnus for an interview. The University lowered the fee for applying from $60 to $55 in order to make its price comparable to the other Ivy League institutions, according to Ann Greene, administrative assistant to Stetson.

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