<p>I’d like to ask a serious question, because there have been several replies in this thread that refer to “underrepresented” groups without explaining how “underrepresentation” is demonstrated. </p>
<p>If a medium-size privately operated national research university takes applicants from all over the country, and indeed all over the world, but has a plurality of its applicants living within 500 miles of the university (a fairly common pattern), should the university </p>
<p>a) balance “representation” by the world population of all college-age young people? </p>
<p>b) balance “representation” by the national population of all college-age young people? </p>
<p>c) balance “representation” by the regional population–within a specified distance from the college–of all college-age young people? </p>
<p>d) balance “representation” by the world population of all college-age young people who have completed secondary education? </p>
<p>e) balance “representation” by the national population of all college-age young people who have completed secondary education? </p>
<p>f) balance “representation” by the regional population of all college-age young people who have completed secondary education? </p>
<p>g) balance “representation” by the world population of all college-age young people who are as academically qualified–determined by that college’s rules–as the least qualified admitted students from the year before? </p>
<p>h) balance “representation” by the national population of all college-age young people who are as academically qualified–determined by that college’s rules–as the least qualified admitted students from the year before? </p>
<p>i) balance “representation” by the regional population of all college-age young people who are as academically qualified–determined by that college’s rules–as the least qualified admitted students from the year before? </p>
<p>j) balance “representation” by the actual group composition of that college’s applicant pool that year? </p>
<p>k) simply admit students based on the college’s judgment of academic qualifications, as long as its admission procedures admit some representatives of every major ethnic group officially recognized in the United States? </p>
<p>There are quite a few possible standards here, with different possible results, and it’s not usually clear to me which standard participants in the discussion are appealing to when they call one group or another “underrepresented.” Underrepresented by how much? Which students actually apply to which colleges?</p>