TRUE FACT: Student applicants to Harvard University will soon be answering a new question as part of the admissions process: “Reflect on a time when you strongly disagreed with someone about an idea or issue. How did you communicate or engage with this person?” (Harvard Crimson, August 4th online).
Given Harvard’s influence in higher education, it’s not surprising that other schools are scrambling to add similar queries to their applications. Here are five of the more provocative ones:
Mississippi State University: “Imagine that your fraternity/sorority has just participated in a Civil War reenactment of the Battle of Vicksburg. As you socialize in costume at a reception following the event, a student comments, ‘You know, I think slavery was wrong then and it’s wrong now’.
“What would you say in this awkward situation?”
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: “Imagine that your boyfriend or girlfriend whispers to you immediately after having sex: ‘You never express any emotion or tenderness when we’re together. It’s almost as if you view me as a machine whose sole purpose is to provide you with physical pleasure. And you never blink’.
“Would you respond to this hostile remark as you proceed to put on your clothes, leave the room, and end the relationship? If so, what would you say?”
Oral Roberts University: “God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ walk into a bar, where they find the Virgin Mary totally hammered, performing a karaoke version of Donna Summer’s ‘Bad Girls’.
“What feedback should they give her when she finishes singing?”
Carnegie-Mellon University: “Your History professor’s teaching assistant, in a desperate attempt to win your affection, reveals to you all of the questions on the upcoming final exam. What would you do, and why?
“Use the information, then dump the TA after one date.
“Use the information, then claim you have a sexually transmitted disease right before you’re scheduled to go on a date with the TA.
“Blackmail the TA by threatening to ‘tell all’ to the professor if you’re not paid $500 every other week for the next six months. Date the TA if he/she is attractive.”
Dartmouth College: “You wake up in your luxury dorm earlier than usual one morning and realize that your family’s obscene level of wealth has provided you with opportunities and advantages that the vast majority of people on this planet do not have. What would you do, and why?
“Smile, go back to sleep, and write a thank-you note to your parents later in the day.
“Smile, get up, have a saffron smoothie, and go to the gym.
“Frown, experience guilt, and send a check for $100 to Doctors Without Borders.
“Frown, experience extreme guilt, and send a check for $125 to Doctors Without Borders.”
Moral of the Story: Now is the time to come up with a probing question for your undergraduate applicants, before the federal government does it for you.