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Holistic review is widely practiced in graduate admissions. However, despite its prevalence, there is a need to understand how practitioners approach holistic graduate admissions, how its practice relates to institutional priorities, and its potential implications for equitable access to graduate education. This exploratory mixed method study captures the perspectives of graduate enrollment management (GEM) professionals on the (a) consideration of applicants' personal attributes for evaluating their potential for graduate degree completion, and (b) alignment between applicants' personal attributes with strategic institutional priorities. Applicants' professionalism and integrity were reported most important when evaluating applicants' potential for graduate degree completion. Applicants' multicultural competency was reported most important for the institutional priority of increasing graduate student diversity. Participants' overarching perception of holistic review was that it provides important flexibility during the application evaluation process. Implications for practice are discussed including the need for institutions to (a) make the consideration of applicants' personal attributes transparent to applicants by defining the attributes and aligning required application materials to these attributes and (b) create internal methodologies to ensure reliable and consistent evaluation of applications.
Holistic review refers to the consideration of a variety of cognitive and non-cognitive qualities of admissions applicants (Bastedo 2021; Bastedo, et al. 2018). Holistic review is typically used to expand the predictive potential derived from variables historically considered in graduate admissions: undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and standardized test scores such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT; Kent and McCarthy 2016; Michel, et al. 2019).
Traditionally, graduate admissions models have emphasized quantitative measures of applicants' prior academic achievement and ability as evidenced by their undergraduate GPA and standardized test scores (Kent and McCarthy 2016; Michel, et al. 2019). However, research suggests that quantitative measures such as standardized test scores may not reliably and accurately predict success in graduate school and may disadvantage underrepresented student populations (Bleske-Rechek and Browne 2014; Kent and McCarthy 2016; Miller and Stassun 2014). In response, researchers and practitioners have called for the use of holistic review to evaluate a broader range of criteria in the admissions process including, but not limited to, applicants' non-cognitive attributes (e.g., Kyllonen 2005; Kyllonen, Walters and Kaufman 2011; Michel, et al. 2019; Sedlaček 2005, 2017).
Many higher education institutions claim to...