As we begin to review applications for admission for 2019, we would like to remind you of the campus policies regarding admissions confidentiality and third-party inquiries. Admissions officers may only discuss a student’s application with the applicant, the applicant’s parents/legal guardian, spouse or school-appointed counselor. Other individuals, including university employees without admissions responsibilities, are not permitted to inquire about a student’s application with a campus admissions officer.
A campus admissions officer is considered anyone with admissions responsibility, this includes not only admissions staff in central admissions units such as the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and the Graduate College, but also faculty and staff within academic college and departmental offices responsible for reviewing and making decision recommendations for applicants. A firewall has been placed around faculty, administrators, and admissions staff with admissions responsibility so that those without admissions responsibility may not influence decisions. Please review the Summary of University of Illinois Admissions Firewall Practices for a complete list of inquiries that are and are not permitted, as well as examples of scenarios and appropriate responses.
At the graduate level, it is important to note that those with admissions responsibility are allowed to accept information from an applicant’s recommenders in the form of formal letters, emails, and phone communications; however, you may not discuss the applicant’s admission status with the recommender. If you are contacted about an applicant’s admission status by a recommender, your responsibilities are to notify the recommender that while you may accept supporting information for the applicant’s file, you may not discuss the applicant’s admission status without expressed written permission from the applicant. Also at the graduate level, the Graduate College discourages any discussions with an applicant’s parent and/or spouse regarding the applicant’s status without the written permission from the applicant.
Some scenarios you may encounter, and the appropriate responses, include:
Scenarios/Responses
SCENARIO 1 A parent calls or emails you to ask when admissions decisions will be released, whether references are required, etc.
RESPONSE 1 You or your staff may discuss admissions process questions (e.g., deadlines, requirements, references are required, etc.) with an admissions officer as long as the name or details of a specific applicant are not discussed.
SCENARIO 2 You or your office receives an unsolicited call or email from parent asking about the status of their child's application for admission.
RESPONSE 2 You or your staff should encourage the parent to contact the appropriate admissions office.
SCENARIO 3 Someone other than the applicant or the applicant's parents/legal guardian, spouse or high school counselor calls to inquire about the status of someone's application for admission.
RESPONSE 3 You should inform the caller that such inquiries are impermissible.
SCENARIO 4 A parent of an admitted or current student calls or emails to check on financial aid, course registration, housing, etc.
RESPONSE 4 You are free to discuss this inquiry with the appropriate personnel because the student is already admitted and is no longer an applicant.
SCENARIO 5 You are at a football game or fundraising event and an alumnus asks you to check on the status of his child's application or offers to make a contribution if s/he is admitted.
RESPONSE 5 There is no violation of the firewall because you are not an admissions officer and no admissions officer is present. A violation would occur, however, if you attempted to pass any portion of the contact to a University admissions officer.
SCENARIO 6 A local or state legislator calls or emails asking if and when a constituent's child will be admitted.
RESPONSE 6 You may discuss process issues, such as deadlines, with an admissions officer and share those process details with the legislator. You may not, however, discuss a particular applicant with an admissions officer or share any information about a particular applicant with the legislator. You should tell the legislator that the applicant or the applicant's parents/legal guardian, spouse, or high school counselor should contact the appropriate admissions officer directly if they have questions.
SCENARIO 7 Your own child has applied to one of the three universities and you would like to check if his/her application is complete.
RESPONSE 7 You may contact the admissions office or an admissions officer because your rights as a parent supersede your responsibilities as an administrator.
SCENARIO 8 An applicant or applicant's parents/legal guardian, spouse, or high school counselor call or email to express their disappointment about being denied admission.
RESPONSE 8 You should notify the caller of the applicant's right to appeal if s/he has compelling new information relevant to the admissions criteria for consideration and direct the call to the appropriate admissions office.
Inappropriate activities or attempts to circumvent these policies should be reported to the Ethics Officer or reported anonymously using the anonymous report feature of the Admissions Inquiry Log
