<p>I don’t think that there’s any question that when Chicago was admitting 50% of its applicants (more than a decade ago), it was taking more risks with the students it admitted. Or that lots of those risks paid off, but of course some didn’t – that’s the nature of risk.</p>
<p>I don’t have the sense that the teachers ever thought the students were dumb. But it may be easier now for them to assume that all of the students are really smart, as opposed to almost all of them.</p>