701 - Holistic Admissions in Practice: Effect of rubric weight on underrepresented student eligibility and selection

Although holistic admissions review has been used to improve admission rates for underrepresented students, there is no standardized approach and success rates vary. This retrospective study examined holistic admissions data for a California associate degree in nursing program for three consecutive years. Despite the inclusion of experience and attribute criteria, when academic metrics accounted for 73% of the total score, Asian- and White-identifying students had the highest rates of admission. After adjusting the weight, the academic metric domain accounted for 43% of total points and there was no statistically significant difference in overall scores by racial identity group.

The AACN, IOM, and RWJF recommend increasing nursing workforce diversity to reduce health inequities in the US. Although holistic admissions review has been used to improve admission rates for underrepresented students, there is no one standardized approach and success rates can vary depending on method of implementation.

This retrospective study examined admissions data for a California associate degree in nursing program for three consecutive years. Admissions rubric scores were used to compare performance for applicants by racial identity groups on each individual rubric criterion; experience, attribute, and metric domains; and overall scores before and after an adjustment to domain weight.