<p>It’s no more of an achievement than administrators saying they want a 50 piece orchestra versus a 35 piece orchestra. The former decision will require more set asides for musicians, the latter, less. If a private college wants a target of X% students of one race in its freshman class, I see nothing wrong in that nor do I consider it reverse discrimination.</p>
<p>And the pooling system, (which is reality BTW) requires all admitees to meet a minimum standard. But one can easily understand why a non-pooled admitees would have a higher avg ACT or SAT – just because there is more to choose from. But I’m not going to convince you of any innocence in this system. </p>
<p>You may want to dismiss the system but the fact is that one of the things that makes the so-called “prestigious” colleges so attractive is that they bring in an incredibly diverse student body-- not just those applicants with the highest GPA/test scores. These very students are a large part of the school’s “greatness” – yet you’d propose they adopt admissions akin to IIT or Seoul University or Beijing University.</p>
<p>The funny thing is that THE VAST MAJORITY OF COLLEGES in the US admit students JUST LIKE IIT, Seoul or Beijing. They admit solely based on stats and stats alone. But they seem to be mysterious absent from those USNWR magazine lists. Hmmmm</p>
<p>Can’t have your cake and eat it too, I would think.</p>