Resources
Sign up to get our monthly newsletter.
-
Science & Research
Measurements for the Success of Assessment Tools Part II: Validity
For an admission tool to be useful in assessing applicants it must first be reliable. However, that is not sufficient – the tool must also be valid. In a previous blog post on “Reliability“, we discussed the various types of reliability and how they…
-
Admissions
How Interviews Could Be Misleading Your Admissions Process
The academic admissions process is generally broken down into two categories: 1) academic performance, and 2) personal and professional characteristics. Academic performance for medical school admissions is measured through GPA and MCAT, which have both been proven to be valid assessment tools. But the…
-
Science & Research
Measurements for the Success of Assessment Tools Part I: Reliability
Competitive academic programs use a variety of admissions tools to evaluate candidates and decide who to accept. For these admissions assessments to be effective, the first step is demonstrating they are reliable. The concept of reliability is a fundamental psychometric measure of the reproducibility…
-
Admissions, Science & Research
Why Personal Statements in Academic Admissions Are (Mostly) a Waste of Time
It’s one of the biggest challenges of academic admissions: how can admissions departments form a holistic assessment of a candidate, one that takes both academic performance and personal characteristics into consideration? Unlike academic performance, for which there are statistically reliable predictors for future academic…
-
Admissions, Science & Research
Reference Letters in Academic Admissions: Useful or Useless?
In the world of academic admission tools, the reference letter is an old favourite. For the better part of a century, college and university applicants have been asked to supply a letter written by a mentor, boss or teacher that testifies to the applicant’s…
-
Admissions, Science & Research
Worth It? How to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Academic Admissions Assessment Tools
Anyone working in academic admissions knows how overwhelming it can be to sift through hundreds — or tens of thousands! — of applications, looking for the very best. Academic admission assessment tools can simplify the process, by ranking applicants based on a defined set…