Few have asked to see admits files

Few University students have taken advantage of a federal law which gives them the right to examine their admissions records, Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said last week. Stetson said 175 students have requested to see their application summaries, which include admissions officers' evaluations of them, since the office began making them available in 1990. In that year, Harvard University was ordered by the U.S. Department of Education to open up their admissions records to students. The ruling said all enrolled students had the right to inspect their "educational records" under the Family Educational Records Privacy Act of 1974, better known as the Buckley Amendment. "When the ruling came out, we immediately began to provide the information as requested," Stetson said. "We started to get token interest and then it picked up." Stetson said students have generally requested their forms based on curiosity. "They're just curious," he said. "Curious to see what was said and how it was said." To receive their "reader rating cards" – the application summaries – students must complete a form adhering to the standards set by the Buckley Amendment. Then the application materials are retrieved from storage and, by law, must be delivered to the student within 45 days. Admissions officers' ratings about students are deleted before students are shown their records, Stetson added. In a Daily Pennsylvanian trial of the system, however, the admissions office took over 60 days to retrieve the material. Stetson explained that the material was gathered from storage well before the 45 day limit set by law. He attributed the delay to an office move. While the dean said he doesn't mind giving this information to accepted students, he would be against extending this privilege to rejected students. "It would harm the privacy of the selection process," Stetson said. He added, though, that his office is glad to sit down and talk to rejected students to go over their applications with them. Stetson said he is sure publicity will generate interest in the admissions records. "This story will prompt more interest and this is fine with us," he added. "There is nothing in a student's reader rating card that we would be hesitant to provide." The admissions office maintains records on students for six years, including the year in which they apply.

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