<p>Mathboy:
- I get your graduate example. And that’s great for him. But that’s graduate school, a whole different ball game. I’m talking undergrad, fresh out of high school. There’s no way to earn enough money by yourself to make your record shine as much as those with more advantages do.
- You say that they need to admit those who they ‘know’ are talented. They do. It’s not even a debate. As I’ve said before and I’ll say again, the vast majority of the people who apply to HYPSM are VERY VERY talented and could handle the work and excel. So the idea that this 40 point score difference, that award, or this EC makes one person talented and the other not talented doesn’t make sense.
- “I just do not favor admitting a student without significant evidence of potential to match another’s, or just to intrinsically promote diversity.” - Neither do I. Never argued that that should be done. And like I said before, and I’ll say again, most of these applicants are ALL talented, all have potential, and one more award, AP, this that, whatever, isn’t what ‘proves’ they are inferior to another person.
- I think we all are just assuming too much in all of these cases. We assume it was the diversity factor. We assume it was his essay. We assume all of this when we have absolutely no idea why he was rejected. At all. There’s absolutely no reason or grounds on which to guess.
- On your student A, student B. Admissions doesn’t work that way. It’s not a side by side comparison. It never it is. It’s not ever student A or student B. It’s not choosing someone over someone else (and I think this is what people really need to understand). It’s choosing one person, and separately, independently, not choosing another. And that’s it.
And yea those types of interviews would be great. I’m not saying college apps are perfect. I’m saying there is more to life and students and admissions than test scores, and a good amount of it can come down to (what appears to be) chance or luck. And we all deal with it. Without whining about how ‘unfair’ it is. Grow-up. Transfer if you must. Go on to a great school and we’ll see ya in 10 years when you make your first million. Lol, honestly!</p>