<p>It does because there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to suggest that elite school adcoms look at students who are obviously very bright and LAUGH at the suggestion that these kids might be excellent candidates for their classes. The very fact that they admit such high-achieving students tells us precisely that they value strong academic performance. However, within that world of high-academic performance, there are enough students with various other talents, interests, and / or points of view that they have the luxury of not making it all about high-academic performance.</p>
<p>And ONE MORE TIME. If the elite schools are indeed “laughing at” the very brightest, then where are those kids going to college?</p>
<p>When George Wallace stood in front of the schoolhouse door to keep Viviane Malone and James Hood from enrolling at the Univeristy of Alabama, he wasn’t objecting to their SAT scores and GPA. I guess ‘segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever’ is the kind of value exhibited by admissions officers that made us exceptional.</p>
<p>It is completely, utterly, totally, absolutley flat out wrong to say that there was a time in the past when race, gender and ethnicity were not factors in admissions at many if not most elite colleges and universities, including many state schools.</p>
<p>re: Stanford, a recent issue of The Stanford Daily (student newspaper) contained something on the front page about Stanford hiring a big name public relations firm (a recognizable name in the business) to promote the new NYC campus or branch or whatever. Stanford is rolling with $$$ so this doesn’t surprise me.</p>
<p>“many if not most elite colleges and universities”</p>
<p>I’ll go further – I don’t think there are ANY elite colleges founded before 1960 where race and gender were never major considerations. Take pioneers of integration like Oberlin, which was at least 100 years ahead of its time. We don’t have any equivalent institutions today; they were true radicals in going as far as they did. But they still had gender and race awareness that looks shockingly retrograde today. This goes so deep into our culture and history, nothing is untouched by it.</p>