Here’s an idea - How about Cornell (or any other school) using SAT scores (or ACT) admit whichever students are best capable to succeed at Cornell regardless of what color their skin happens to be? Does color of hair count?
Here's a reply: most colleges in the USA already practice that policy. But here's the rub: Why do people want to go to Cornell despite what you deem is a flawed or injust policy? Why does society laud the so-called top-20 colleges with so much esteem and prestige -- if they are so inherently flawed or unfair? Certainly many have immense resources and great faculty. Given.
But a large part of it is the composition of the student body which has been crafted by what each schools values. And clearly, the one-dimensional quality of test scores is not sufficient in the adminsitrators' eyes.
So you can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't say "I want to go to Cornell and enjoy all its greatness" and then in the same breath decry the methods that Cornell has (successfully, I argue) used to attain that greatness.
You want stats-driven admissions? Plenty to choose from. Europe and China too. You want a degree from a top-ranked private school? Then you submit to their rules.
Don't like the rules? Then do your darndest to make your flagship state school a top notch school.
Solutions abound, you see.
Finally, your criteria is too thin. "Best able to succeed at Cornell" -- I would posit that everyone they admit is able to succeed at Cornell. But Cornell sits in the cat-bird seat where a multiplicity of candidates who are clearly qualified to succeed apply. Then they can cherry pick and craft the exact student body they want.
Don't bother doing anything interesting with your life, don't have a life outside of test prep, or even bother to take stimulating courses. Just hire an SAT tutor and spend three years grinding to get that perfect 2400.
One of the best things about going away to college was the interesting mix of people that comprised my class. It would have been so much less valuable as an experience if I'd spent 4 years with nothing but privileged suburban white kids who scored well on standardized tests (like me).
Sue: American corporations fully agree with you. Note the gist of the numerous Friends of the Court briefs submitted with the current UoT court case before the Supreme Court. The job market demands people with prior familiarity and ease in a multi-cultural society.
Location: Southern California -> Cornell '16! Go Big Red!
Posts: 1,954
^^
That would be a valid point, except that many of the URMs here happen to be privileged suburban kids... The notion that only white people can live in suburbs and be well-off is absurd.
The notion that only white people can live in suburbs and be well-off is absurd.
Absolutely true.
But the notion that affluent suburban black kids, affluent suburban Korean kids and affluent suburban WASP kids all grow up in the same milieu and all have the same life experiences would be equally absurd.
Nope, I'd prefer a holistic admissions process. In some cases I might prefer the private school legacy, depending on what else he had to offer, in some cases the first generation Asian kid, but once a certain "strong enough to do the work" threshold has been passed I hate to see lines drawn based strictly on data.
"Per the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, scoring 700 or higher in math puts you in top 1% of AAs (class of 2016) and the same for 700 or higher in verbal (not composite, but one test or the other). Scoring 650 or higher = top 2% in math and same for verbal (not composite, but separate scores). Therefore, if you can bump up your scores to the 650 range for both CR and M, you should be a very competitive candidate for the top schools, including Cornell. Good luck! "
I don't think that's quite right. The data you are quoting about 700 and above scores is from College Board. The top one percentile leaves about black 2000 black kids with the same or better score. JBHE publishes data alluding to admit rates of black students to "top schools". The admit rate for black students at Cornell for Fall 2011 is 19 percent with the overall admit rate being 18 percent. It's hard to know what to make of it, but I agree it seems a black student with 700's or above IS very competitive. 700 is top 5 percent for girls, and top 9 percent for boys, overall.
I love how T26EF defends AA so relentlessly. Race shouldn't be a factor at ALL but I can see why you defend it so much, when someone has a unfair advantage over someone they barely ever want to relinquish that advantage.
