Thoughts about Statistics, Misconceptions, and Stupidity in Admissions

mathboy98
Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:18:52 +0000

Hey all - nice to see a thread about general philosophy of admissions (and how to look at it) going around.

I laud the OP’s view that the student, not the university, is the ultimate.

One thing I like to mention is that I believe scores end up being a bad measure of ability because in part of a watered down AP and Collegeboard curriculum, which could be improved. My views, to those interested and not already involved, are expounded upon in the Stanford forum, under a thread about the “mystery” of private school admissions.

As a note, don’t expect to go find me expressing radical views that our admissions system has it all wrong and stuff. It’s a pretty balanced view, but has one consistent message, which is that the notion that high scorers “are all the same beyond a point” is fed by existence of a substandard overall curriculum level in many high schools, unreflective of many rigors of college.