American Universities Must Choose - Do They Want to Be Equal or Elite?

Applying to College
1

Interesting article.

https://time.com/5676174/universities-equality-eliteness/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20190915&xid=newsletter-brief

2

One of the points is that when merit is emphasized or redefined in the context of competitive college admissions, wealthy parents will use money to help their kids gain more merit, however merit is defined. Not a surprise.

3

They want both. They want the most talented, most academically capable young people regardless of SES.

4

But some may also want to preserve their high SES environment, since some of their traditional employers of new graduates apparently prefer those with high SES socialization (i.e. that the graduates were from high SES backgrounds, or have been immersed for four years in an environment with mostly those from high SES backgrounds).

5

The author fails to say what admissions scheme they would prefer in its place, a pure lottery?

6

I actually like the idea of a lottery system. Set a minimum standard for apps and then toss everyone in the lottery. Take X number of full pays first in a separate lottery- there is just no getting around the fact that full pay students are necessary, and then lottery out the rest of the spots.