Earlier this month, The Chronicle of Higher Education featured an interview in which Inzer discussed what led her to a career in college admissions and what made her stay in the profession for so long.
In “‘There’s No Secret Sauce’: An Enrollment Leader Looks Back at 35 Years,” Inzer described how education has changed her life and fueled her career. A career that included 20 years at Hamilton and one, she said, that has “been about being the bridge between students and their future, helping them figure out what that is, and trying to help them de-stress.
“This process has become more complicated, more nuanced, more difficult to manage for families, and for us,” she said. “But that has always been part of why I’ve stayed with this.”
Inzer commented on Hamilton’s need-blind admission decision and other programs that were developed to help students from all backgrounds succeed. She noted that while going need-blind was right for Hamilton, “need-blind admissions wasn’t the goal. Access was the goal, and this was just a tactic to get there.”
Our Financial Aid Promise
Hamilton meets the full demonstrated need of all students, and practices need-blind admission for first year domestic applicants, meaning that a family's ability to pay our tuition and fees will not be a factor in their admission decision.
“Sure, you want students with high test scores, more students from further away, and who are more diverse and whatever else. But we also wanted to admit the right students who are a good fit. And we saw all of those things improve after this decision,” Inzer said.
In a June article, “A Year of Subtle and ‘Seismic’ Shifts,” also in The Chronicle, Inzer weighed in on student diversity and the effect of the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting colleges from using race as a consideration for admission.
When asked how Hamilton’s decision-making process was affected by not being able to see race and ethnicity information on applications, Inzer said, “it made us better. Because we couldn’t rely on that check-the-box data, it made us more thoughtful about what an inclusive selection process looks like.”
Earlier in June, Inzer and Scheutzow were guests on an episode of the “Getting In: A College Coach Conversation” podcast. The discussion, titled “A Deep Dive on Hamilton College,” focused on what makes Hamilton special, as well as access to higher education in general.
Among the topics they talked about were the value of a liberal arts education and how Hamilton’s many qualities – including the open curriculum and residential campus, internships and off-campus study, and the many guest speakers who come to campus – all work together to, as Inzer put it, “bring the world to Hamilton.”
Scheutzow discussed Hamilton’s “generous” financial aid resources, and how this helps make the College accessible to students from families at all income levels. Inzer also explained the role of the need-blind admission policy in the process of admitting a diverse class, and how it allows Hamilton “to change some lives.”
Expect Opportunity
Ensuring all students have equal access to all that Hamilton offers is our most enduring value. That’s why we have funds that enable students to conduct research, attend and present at conferences, provide stipends for unpaid internships, and more.
The episode concluded with a summary of some of the programs that help make Hamilton students succeed, including summer research opportunities, Career Center services, and the alumni network that can help students interested in internships.
