Making Caring Common regularly publishes reports that examine barriers to caring and ways in which adults can help children overcome those barriers.

Posts in College Admission

Innovation and Justice: Reinventing Selective Colleges

COVID-19 has been disastrous for colleges across the country. But it has also created extraordinary opportunities to reshape a higher education system that is wildly inequitable and in dire need of reform.

A new white paper from Harvard’s Making Caring Common project makes the case that America’s selective colleges can and should educate far more—and far more diverse—students by doubling or even tripling their class size. Rather than gaining status from how few students they admit, these colleges should tout a far more just and democratic metric—how many students they educate.

College Admission, All ReportsAli CashinApril 27, 2021College Admission, Access and Equity

Turning the Tide II: How Parents and High Schools Can Cultivate Ethical Character and Reduce Distress in The College Admissions Process

Our new report calls on parents and high schools to put young people’s character and well-being at the center of a healthier, more sane college admissions process.

Three years in the making, Turning the Tide II: How Parents and High Schools Can Cultivate Ethical Character and Reduce Distress in The College Admissions Process, offers guidelines for high schools and parents in promoting ethical character. It also describes how some high schools and colleges are working to promote greater ethical engagement among high school students, level the playing field for economically disadvantaged students, and reduce excessive achievement pressure. The report also includes a pioneering statement from admissions deans seeking to advance Turning the Tide’s goals.

College Admission, All ReportsAli CashinMarch 17, 2019Parenting, K-12, College Admission, Moral and Ethical Development

Turning the Tide: Inspiring Concern for Others and the Common Good Through College Admissions

It's time to say, "Enough."

Turning the Tide: Inspiring Concern for Others and the Common Good through College Admissions marks the first time in history that a broad coalition of college admissions offices have joined forces to collectively encourage high school students to focus on meaningful ethical and intellectual engagement. The report includes concrete recommendations to reshape the college admissions process and promote greater ethical engagement among aspiring students, reduce excessive achievement pressure, and level the playing field for economically disadvantaged students. It is the first step in a two-year campaign that seeks to substantially reshape the existing college admissions process.

College Admission, All ReportsAli CashinJanuary 20, 2016College Admission, Access and Equity, Moral and Ethical Development