Interview

For my expert interview I talked to Dr. Herbert Davis who is the Associate Director of admissions at UNC. He is one of the top people at the admissions office so he was a great resource and it was a privelege for me to talk with him. Unfortunately, during this year all of the counselors are extremely busy reading applications so it was difficult to set up an interview and so to make it more convenient for him, I made it clear that I only would ask four questions and need less than ten minutes. Unfortunately this greatly limited the amount of information I could get from him. I asked the questions in the following order and below is a summary of his answer.

1) How large of a factor is affirmative action at UNC?

Race is only a small part of what is considered when looking at a student's overall diversity. Although diversity also includes factors such as socioeconomic background and whether its a first generation student so other things besides just race are taken into account. But above all we look at academic track record and demonstrated leadership. So if a candidate's academic record is not up to par, it doesn't matter how diverse they are, they won't be admitted to the school.

2) How are counselors trained to address the affirmative action policy?

All of the counselors stand by the universities diversity code which is clearly listed on our website. They are not supposed to allow race to be a determining factor, but instead at best it is a contributing factor to a candidates overall diversity profile.

3) Has the policy evolved since the Michigan case when it first became a national issue?

The only thing that has really changed is how we display it. We now make sure that it is out there and public so there is no confusion as to what our practices are. Making sure its public also forces us to keep to this standard which is good for both the candidates and our counselors as they strive to form fair and consistent admissions practices.

4) Do you see a possibility of it changing in the future?

No I think UNC has found a policy that works for us. We are committed to establishing diversity at Carolina and so I think a candidates overall diversity will always play atleast a small factor in our consideration of each candidate. Diversity enriches each student's experience and its not something we take for granted here at Carolina.



Again I think the interview was fairly useful but could have been better if I would have had more time to ask more questions, like what he thought of other schools practices and ask him about other studies I had read. But overall it was good and it definetly helped to reinforce some of policies that were listed on the UNC website.