<p>“I agree that Cornell should require the submission of standardized test scores, but I don’t believe that any more hurdles should be provided to transfer students than to high school seniors that apply, which seems to be the position taken throughout the thread.”
No it isn’t. Just make that a requirement and most people would be satisfied.</p>
<p>“Most high schools don’t rank their students. Only 45% of high schools report class ranks, which puts the other 55% into the same boat as the community colleges.”</p>
<p>“Many colleges say that the absence of a class rank forces them to put more weight on standardized test scores.” - This works with high school students, but for contract college transfers they don’t need to report test scores - so what is there to rely on if cc applicants choose not to reveal their scores? Hiding rankings is usually reserved for really competitive high schools, in which getting a 3.9 UWGPA really, really means something. Ccs do it because they simply don’t care, and most of the students don’t care either. When you get put with a bunch of apathetic kids and get put in a curriculum designed for those apathetic, it isn’t that hard to excel either.</p>
<p>"I certainly am implying that a community college student with a 3.9 GPA is just as, if not more qualified than a student from a no-name, inner city high school with the same GPA. " - Yeah a very very large percentage of kids from cornell who aren’t URM aren’t from no-name, inner city high schools. Cc students with 3.9 aren’t comparable with Cornell students (many of whom came from top publics and other privates) with a 3.9 in their high schools. One of my friends is taking 5 higher level courses @ the local cc such as higher level math (Lin. alg) and he literally spends no time whatsoever doing work (he’s doing this as he waits for his school’s first semester to start), and now he has a 4.0. Our high school was very, very different.</p>
<p>"So far I’ve seen no logical refutation to the point, other than the circular argument that it’s absurd because it’s absurd. Although you never stated that “community college students are idiots” it’s certainly implied and all but hammered down throughout the remaining portion of your post. "</p>
<p>I can say harry potter is absurd because it’s absurd. Can you disprove that we don’t live in a world with magic and wizards, and that all this happened but we were just magically made to not know about it? Can there be technologically advanced aliens on the moon watching our every move who are toying with our existence while hiding theirs? No, you can’t, because there is simply no way for you to disprove these statements without some convoluted methods that nobody on here is willing to go through in order to prove. Rather, use common sense. It’s just absurd.</p>
<p>If CC students with 3.9s are as academically qualified as say higher tier high school students with 3.9s (because they are where most 1st year cornell students come from), then how come nobody in the world acknowledges them for it? Is it a worldwide conspiracy? No, it’s just that you are thinking too much about it. CCs are at the bottom of the “academic food chain” and are simply known that way. You keep comparing CC students to a minority of cornell applicants - applicants from inner cities, applicants from schools that do not show rankings (which is a faulty comparison because most of those are competitive high schools) - by doing so you are already insinuating that they cannot compete when you consider the body of hs applicants as a whole.</p>