In college admissions, the direct approach may aid students AND schools

When states adopt direct admission—an approach that simplifies the college search process by automatically admitting high schoolers who meet certain criteria—college enrollment tends to increase.

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In California, proactivity is a plus

Milana Waggoner was already questioning whether she wanted to attend college when educators at Corona High School instructed her and her classmates to apply through a pilot program that gives them a guaranteed spot at most California State University campuses.

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Hawaii’s system catches the wave

When students at Farrington High School attend the annual kuleana fair, an event whose name is the Hawaiian word for “responsibility,” they play a game that simulates the financial challenges they’re bound to face in life.

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Confidence climbing in Wisconsin

The first time Eiziah Lieblein got a response to a college application, it came in a 9-by-12 envelope emblazoned with a black panther.

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Video: Milana Waggoner

The Direct Admit program is expanding statewide in California. Hear how it’s opening opportunities for students like Milana Waggoner and her peers at Cal State in San Bernardino.

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Video: Eiziah Lieblein

Eiziah Lieblein, incoming freshman at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee dreams big, thanks in part to securing an early spot at University of Wisconsin–Madison.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

There’s a memory common to most of us—perhaps painfully common: With our high school years winding down and graduation day approaching, we anxiously perused the daily mail, hoping for that long-awaited acceptance letter from our college of choice.

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The stories in this issue of Focus were reported and written by Jamaal Abdul-Alim, a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C., where he has covered higher education policy since 2008. Abdul-Alim broke into the news business in the 1990s as a crime reporter for the old Milwaukee Sentinel while an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He was a staff writer at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for a decade, served as a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan in 2008, and was a Spencer Education Journalism Fellow at Columbia University in 2014. He is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

Writing | Jamaal Abdul-Alim
Editing
| David S. Powell and Stephanie Wang
Editorial assistance | Ruth Holladay
Photos | Shawn Spence
Video Reporting: Grace Trahan
Video Production: Michael Jensen
Design | IronGate Creative

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