The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, November 13, 19863
Cashwell gleans nation
for cream of student crop
In 1959, Richard Cashwell was a
senior, a Morehead Scholar, a
fraternity member, and due to the
seven-men-to-one-woman ratio at
UNCat the time, he often called girls
a month in advance for a weekend
date. Today, he is the director of
undergraduate admissions, a post he
has held for almost 20 years.
"The atmostphere and personality
of the school is much the same, but
the social situation is a whole lot
better he says. "There are a lot more
girls."
Although most students forget the
admissions office as soon as they
receive their acceptance letters, the
office is open all year, catering to
about 26,000 visitors each year.
Members, of the staff visit high
schools, attend PTA meetings and,
of course, review applications.
Cashwell has been in the admis
sions office reading applications since
1964. Although frantic applicants
might believe that admissions deci
sions are in the hands of a giant
machine that looks only at SAT
scores and extracurricular activities,
Cashwell explains that the admis
sions procedure is a little more
complicated.
"The admissions office is respon
sible for evaluating and admitting all
undergraduate degree candidates by
the rules established by the Board of
Trustees, with the advice of the
Faculty Committee on Undergradu
ate Admissions," he says. "The board
sets minimum criteria, the council
gives advice on the philosophy of the
admissions process, and then we, the
professional staff, make the
decisions."
Cashwell admits that most stu
dents believe SAT scores are the only
important admissions criteria. "The
classic question I receive is 'What do
my SAT scores have to be to get in?'
Youngsters don't understand that it's
their high school grades and the
difficulty of their courses that are
important."
Cashwell also asserts that there are
no "political admissions;" all appli
cants go through the exact same
process.
"What I mean by political admis
sions is that there isn't a list floating
around that gives the development
office so many slots, or the president
(CD. Spangler) so many slots," he
says. "Mr. (Mebane) Pritchett over
at the Morehead Foundation can't
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Cashwell says he is proud of the
integrity of the admissions office and
the good relationship it has with the
outside agencies that recruit appli
cants, like the athletic department
and the Morehead Foundation. But,
he adds that there is always room
for change.
"We need to develop a system of
additional contacts with groups of
(high school) students. I'd like to see
more minority kids, more very good
students, and more math and science
students who reject Carolina, because
we don't have an engineering
department."
According to Cashwell, many
minority students decide at the junior
high level that they can't afford to
go to college and thus don't exert
any effort in high school toward
creating a good application package.
"The crux for any student is the right
courses and the level of performance.
We have financial aid, but we need
more (pro-college) education at the
junior high school level."
Cashwell also says he believes that
many math- and science-oriented
high school students don't have the
proper education about engineering
"Many don t understand the duf
ence between being a cherr
researcher and an engineer
blindly follow the logic that "if thS
good in math and science, they
should be an engineer and thus don't
apply to UNC."
To help bring about the changes
Cashwell wants, the admissions office
has commissioned the making of a
video about the University. Cashwell
says he feels this video has been
needed for some time. "We hope that
the video will provide students who
can't come to campus or who are just
beginning their college search as
much information about Carolina as
you can put into 20 minutes. . . . We
want to show prospective students
what the University is all about."
Cashwell cites other important
advertisers. "The basketball team
. helps get our name around. UNC is
known nationally and internationally
because of basketball, and, if that
helps attract good students, that's
great."
However, Cashwell said in his
opinion, the best admissions repre
sentatives are students. "How you
talk about Carolina at home over
vacation, or once you're an alumnus,
effects the interest of prospective
students in applying."
But with effective advertising
comes popularity and, in admissions
terms, more applications. The office,
located on the ground floor of the
Monogram Club building on Coun
try Club Road, is full of admissions
files and their readers. Cashwell says
he expects another record-beating
year in applications, but he says,
"That's why we're here."
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