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Good news from VP for Enrollment Roger Thompson

Michael Tobin has the report in the Emerald here:

University of Oregon sees 8 percent student growth, largest Pathway Oregon class

18 Comments

  1. Anonymous 10/04/2018

    Indeed, this explains why I can’t park anymore …

    • honest Uncle Bernie 10/04/2018

      Yes, the parking seems worse than it’s ever been.

      Maybe this is the fruit of doing away with “extreme decentralization”?

      • uomatters Post author | 10/04/2018

        Sometimes UO’s senior administrators complain to me about the relentless negativity of the comments on this blog. I’m beginning to think they may have a point.

        • happyduck 10/04/2018

          Since I’m guilty, here’s some (anonymous but sincere) repentance:

          This is one of the better jobs I’ve ever had. Great boss (or whatever we call them), nice work environment, nice people, beautiful campus, functioning bureaucracy. Pay is relatively low, but frankly the work isn’t overly demanding. Even the parking is fine once you learn how it really works.

          I’m not privy to senior-level politics, but as far as I can tell, the admins are doing a good job. Most of the problems they’re dealing with aren’t specific to UO, but rather follow from broad social and political trends. Demographic trends, PC politics, funding realities are the tune the admins must dance to, not one they get to call. Even the “scandals” here seem almost laughably minor. Nothing like some of the awful stuff I’ve seen in industry.

          Retention of faculty, staff, and students seems good, and that’s the ultimate test.

          Academic rigor might have fallen a bit since my day (probably in line with other similar universities), but the resources are far greater, and any student motivated to learn can go as far as they want here. If someone asked if I had any qualms about sending their kid, I’d say not at all.

          The one UO-significant problem I noticed was addressed completely, right after I complained.

          I enjoy this blog, and I think UO is better for having such back channels. But to be honest, I don’t worry much about the issues being discussed here, even though I’m glad that they are.

        • Dog 10/04/2018

          yeah we are all supposed to be UO cheerleaders at all times;
          also this complaint is waged by those that believe critical comments are negative.

          Yes, of course, there is inflammatory hyperbolic overtly negative
          rhetoric here some times but IAFB (it’s a fuckin’ blog)

        • honest Uncle Bernie 10/05/2018

          UOM — ok, I am willing to accept that the parking situation is not as I said — now, will you please tell me where they are hiding all the parking spaces?

          • Heraclitus 10/05/2018

            24th St and above. The walk counts as part of your HEM participation. At least that’s what I tell myself as the rain seeps in below my knees.

            • honest Uncle Bernie 10/05/2018

              Any UO lots south of 18th?

      • FormerEmployee 10/05/2018

        I’m going to share the worst kept secret for finding a good parking space anywhere on the UO campus:

        Show up earlier.

  2. honest Uncle Bernie 10/04/2018

    Any news from the VP for Enrollment about the quality of this year’s incoming class?

    It seems that Oregon State has been admitting students with higher SAT scores than UO. Does this continue?

    • Inquiring Minds 10/04/2018

      Equating “quality of student” with SAT score seems like a pretty shallow metric.

      • honest Uncle Bernie 10/05/2018

        Believe me, I am not behind the absurd “metrification” of everything on campus.

        I don’t think I made an “equation” but I do think that SAT scores are one pretty decent measure. Know something better?

        UO has often released the SAT scores along with high school grades in publicizing the incoming class. Are they still doing so?

        Also, UO continues to publicize itself as the state’s “flagship institution.” Or sometimes “flagship research institution.”

        Does the UO/OSU SAT comparison still support that? Or is it the other way around these days?

        Tell us it doesn’t matter, and that is in bad taste to ask, or wonder.

        And yet, I wonder.

        • hardnosedduck 10/05/2018

          SAT is a good proxy for IQ, which is turn a stable and very well-studied metric. It’s also pretty cheap to test and unbiased. (Links and/or refutation left as an exercise.)

          The implication might be that our average or cutoff SAT scores are a measure of how selective we are, or how smart or successful our graduates might be expected to be. Perhaps so. Perhaps not.

          Having been a student way too many times, I think there’s a better reason to publish, for the students’ own good. Which is that being one of the sharpest students at a school will lead to a very different college experience than being one of the dullest. Different students may react differently, but always bringing up the rear can be a demoralizing experience. And a lot of opportunities may not be available when one is just trying to pass the basics. And, of course, flunking out of a great school is a far worse outcome than flourishing at an even quite-mediocre one.

  3. honest Uncle Bernie 10/05/2018

    I quite agree, in most cases. As a wise colleague once put it, better to be in the top at UO than the bottom at MIT.

  4. hardnosedduck 10/09/2018

    Thanks for the links. What’s missing is the ability to see stats for combinations. So, for example, if I’m wondering whether UO admits any black males at all, I can’t see this in those numbers. (Blacks? Yes. Males? Yes. Black males? Still might be zero.)

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