GMAT Essays (AWA)

"In the past few years, Fern Valley Institution has suffered from a decline in both enrollments and admissions applications. The reason can be discovered from our students, who most often cite poor teaching and inadequate library resources as their chief sources of dissatisfaction with Fern Valley. Therefore in order to increase the number of students attending our University, and hence to regain our position as the most prestigious university in the Fern Valley Metropolitan area, it is necessary to initiate a fund-raising campaign among the alumni that will enable us to expand the range of subject we teach and to increase the size of our library facilities"

Discuss how well reasoned....




The argument states that the Fern Valley University has suffered from a decline in enrollments and admissions applications due to poor teaching and inadequate library resources. In order to increase the enrolments, the management aims to initiate a fund-raising campaign among the alumni that will enable the university to expand the range of subjects and increase the size of its library. Although the argument has some merit, it has several flaws that seem to undermine the validity of its conclusion.

The solutions suggested by the management do not seem to appropriately address the issues cited by the students. According to the students, the quality of teaching is poor and hence an increase in the range of subjects in unlikely to solve the issue at hand. An introduction of new areas of study will not help to increase the quality of education. Moreover, the inadequate library resources would most nearly mean an inadequacy of reference and other educational material. An increase in the size of the library facility might not be helpful in solving the problem. Moreover, the viability of such a plan needs to be checked not only in terms of money but other resources such as an adequate place.

The management aims at initiating a fund-raising campaign, which implies that according to the management, a lack of funds is responsible for the problems faced by the students. Such an assumption by the management clearly seems unjustified. The management needs to conduct an internal audit to get a deeper insight into the issue at hand and key factors such as the management of the library and training of teachers shall be looked into.

The management has also assumed that the fund raising campaign will be successful in solving all their financial needs. A proper budget of the future expenses needs to be made and the management on the basis of the past response of such events, if any, needs to anticipate an amount that they expect to raise from such an event. In case the event is not expected to raise the required amount of resources, other alternate sources of funding need to be planned. Moreover, the management might need to take some steps other than solving the problems that they are facing, such as advertising, and favourable publicity to enable the university to regain its former glory and reputation.

The management has seemed to make a lot of assumptions that clearly cannot be justified. Hence, a significant amount of planning is required by the management to address factors that they have seemed to ignore in the past. This will enable them to take an informed decision and to ensure that the college is able to reach its former position.