Catching Up

After the whirlwind of the last weeks, I've spent the last days trying to catch up on other things than admissions -- like following up with faculty whom I am in the process of hiring, working on the article that I write about here (but don't actually write!), etc.

I have had only one set of parents come in upset that their child was not admitted. "We just don't understand it: our daughter's in the top ten percent at her primary school." I tried to counsel them and ease their pain. Wisely, they weren't satisfied with the balm I offered and asked to see the actual test. When I showed them their daughter's entrance test answer sheets they replied that the writing was not their daughter's. And then I noticed the number on the test: 195.

There was a glitch somewhere along the line, and we had ended up with two 195's. I'd solved the problem by adding an "A" to the number to distinguish the two. The problem was that in the space provided on the answer sheets, candidate 195A wrote not the examination number issued by us for this examination but the national examination number. I did what I thought was good detective work, but in fact I switched scores between the two students. The girl ended up with the score of a boy who had the worst performance of anyone on the test -- and he with hers (rather higher in ranking!).

The parents were ecstatic to find this out -- as was I because it means one more girl in the school. As soon as they left I realized what I was faced with: calling the parents of the boy who was moved in the opposite direction from chosen to not chosen. I decided the best thing to do was just to send an SMS, explain that there was a clerical error and that they should come to my office. The father came this morning. I was ready for ugliness and was warned by folks that there most certainly would be. Not only no ugliness but instead understanding and gratitude that I had reached out in such a professional way. Whew!

Other parents have stopped by thanking me for he decision. The fact of the matter is that decisions were all made blindly. Names only appeared at the very end of the process. It is nice, nonetheless, to have a chance to meet parents of our future students.

Not everyone who stopped by to say thank you was a parent. The superior general ("mama mkuu") of the St. Gemma sisters stopped by thankful that one of their sisters will be among the students in Form One. Yep, you read that correctly. Many sisters come to religious congregations from the villages, having finished only primary school.

Just moments ago four mothers whose daughters have received tuition assistance at St. Ignatius Primary School came by to thank me in the absence of Sossy for all the help they've received over the years. They were very gracious. Couched, of course, in their expression of gratitude was a plea for continued help now at the secondary level. I thanked them for coming in and for their gracious words and explained that though financial aid decisions were not mine to make, grants would be prioritized and that I was certain their own history at SIPPS would be factored in.

Crazy, exhausting, but ultimately rewarding days. Now to get back to writing the article that refuses to write itself.

One final comment about the entrance test. I spoke with two faculty members and Sr. Euphrasia from SIPPS. They mentioned that our admission's test scores almost perfectly matched the academic performance of the students at school. This made me happy: If you're going to use examination to make admissions decisions, it's good to have one that parallels actual performance, no?