Across the United States, higher education institutions increasingly employ a holistic review of prospective students’ application materials. In a holistic review process, admissions offices consider a student’s personal and academic context when reviewing applications for admission. A key feature of a holistic review is a student’s application essay, or personal statement. However, admissions offices rarely standardize their essay review process and very little research exists regarding whether student essays predict successful outcomes in college. This paper summarizes a quality improvement study conducted within the University of Vermont Admissions Office. It examines the extent to which non-cognitive student characteristics present in student admissions essays (e.g., grit, creativity, intrinsic motivation, leadership, community engagement, cultural fluency) are correlated with pre-admission factors and subsequent college outcomes. The study involved developing a new essay scoring rubric and evaluating the usefulness of this rubric by scoring 320 undergraduate admission essays. Findings suggest that the rubric is useful in identifying evidence of non-cognitive factors in student essays, but that overall scores do not strongly correlate with pre-admissions characteristics or first-fall college GPA. The study supports the practice of holistic review and provides insight into how admissions offices can begin to operationalize the review of essays and non-cognitive factors in their admissions processes.

While the number of individuals in the United States between the ages of 25-44 with a bachelor’s degree has been increasing, so too has the number of individuals who have started college and dropped out. Higher education has numerous societal and individual benefits that are not being actualized because there are simply not enough individuals with bachelor’s degrees in this country. Nontraditional students (NTS) are entering higher education at increasing rates but at higher risk for drop-out; therefore, it is essential to learn more about this population to improve their rates of persistence. This study examines the life experiences of 35 NTS accepted to a bachelor’s degree program in a college of continuing education. This is a bounded case study of a specific group of students that utilized a content analysis of their application essays to understand their sentiments when (re)entering higher education. Themes stemming from the research questions, essay prompt, and theoretical lens were explored but allowed for others to emerge as well. Applicants shared many personal life experiences that contributed to their goals and motivations for achieving a bachelor's degree. Ambitions for earning a bachelor’s degree were spread across the personal and professional realms, including both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Most applicants had previously attended college prior to applying to CCE while two were applying to college for the first time. Twenty-one of the 35 applicants demonstrated a clear progression to self-authorship. This study has numerous implications for practice for admissions and various student support departments on campus. Through the collaboration of these offices, institutions can create a continuity of care surrounding these students and champion them to a degree. / Educational Administration