Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Evil Admissions Director

In my more inhumane moments, I fantasize about what it would be like to be an evil admissions director at a college or university (I applied to Carleton early decision, so it's not a vendetta against not being admitted to my favored college. But it might be pre-emptive revenge against forthcoming law school rejections). Some of my ideas are rather banal (like placing Dante's slogan "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" above my office door), others are more twisted (like putting packing foam in rejection letters). But most recently, I've come up with one that is both sadistic and substantive: Asking in the interview for the applicant to explain, as best s/he can, why s/he should not be admitted.

It actually serves a useful purpose--it shows the applicant can argue under high stress situations for a side they disagree with, and shows how well they recover when flustered. So it's evil for a reason.

Then, when they're finished, I can lean back on my chair and remark: "That was really compelling. Thank you, I think that will really help in our decisionmaking process," and end the interview.

Of course, I'm a bad person.

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