10 Responses to “Who has the hardest time getting into college?”

1. Jo Aelfwine Says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

   I’m against affirmative action based on any criteria at all. The only ciriteria should be grades. There is a reason why the US is no longer ranked number 3 in the world. Heck, we’re not even in the top 20 anymore!

2. christine m. Says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 4:56 pm

   So much for finding McDreamy in college!

3. nb Says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 4:59 pm

   Should be based on qualifications, plain and simple.

   But if you’re having trouble getting in, try Univ of IL. All you have to do is grease some Trustee skids.

4. guitarist1957 Says:
   July 29th, 2009 at 5:32 pm

   As I recall, for federal financial aid purposes, schools may not discriminate on the basis of age, race, gender, faith, sexual orientation, etc. If schools are discriminating against any party because of one of these, they shouldn’t be eligible to get federal financial aid.

   That should change their tunes!

5. Ramon Says:
   July 30th, 2009 at 12:17 pm

   This is part of the quadruple-standard of higher education admission that is pretty much a lose-lose-lose-lose for any public school of higher education. Any admissions department has to balance race, gender/sex, academic qualifications, and adversity. Their goal is to include so many diverse types of students that their statistics (what students, parents, and irrational rating systems care about) even out enough so that their campuses look accessible and preferable. (The more students who apply, the more selective they can be and the higher their avg. GPA flies. The more students who enroll, the funding from the state. etc.)

   In doing so, however, they have to weight (unofficially of course) certain characteristics to get the right blend and balance to, essentially, attract more students. This is not a justification, but a reason.

   Now, as to the specifics mentioned, I wonder how many of these males that would otherwise not have been admitted drop out within 2 years… or just never graduate. What’s the unreturned cost of playing a statistics game? (Further clarification: I’m not going to go into “right” or “wrong” because these institutions can’t always make decisions on such balances. Instead, I have to ask, “Is it worth it?”)

6. Steven Says:
   July 31st, 2009 at 1:19 pm

   Any selection process depends on arbitrary criteria, grades included. Grading across schools varies, what is an “A” in one school will only be a “B” in another. The grades given in any school varies with the class teacher. Comparing grades between schools just gives the impression of fairness, not an absolute fairness. So what scale should be used: desire, past knowledge gained, etc.? And how should that be measured uniformly across all the applicants? Or is a certain mix of categories wanted and each category has its own set of criteria? What method of selection meets the current PC criteria?

7. E.W. Says:
   November 4th, 2009 at 5:16 pm

   Although not perfect, grades and standardized test scores are still two most objective criteria for college admissions. When my child was applying for college, he asked me “Why can’t you be a dysfunctional parent so that I have compelling life story to write about in my personal essay?” It might be a joke, but it seems that children are punished for being raised in a normal middle class family.

8. Equal Rights for Men Says:
   February 23rd, 2010 at 4:06 pm

   I have worked at three different public law schools over almost 30 years. At each of these law schools there was

9. Equal Rights for Men Says:
   February 23rd, 2010 at 4:19 pm

   I have worked at three different public law schools over almost 30 years. At each of these law schools there was a pronounced favoritism for women in admissions and hiring.

   At the law school I work at now we strongly favor women in admissions and admit them in much higher proportion than their credentials would warrant. A few years ago the Chair of our Admissions Committee told me we had not taken a white male off of the wait list for almost 2 decades. When I served on the Admissions Committee, it was always a big plus that a candidate was a woman and “added to diversity.” We have scholarships just for women and when our yield rate on women candidates drops too low we increase their scholarship offers.

   In faculty recruiting we also strongly favor women. This year we ONLY interviewed white women for faculty positions. The rationale was that in these tight economic times there would only be money from the University for hiring if it came from the fund set aside for “senior women and minorities.” Note that minority candidates did not similarly benefit in our hiring practices.

   The justification for this discrimination in favor of women and against men has always been that women are under-represented (less than 50%) of our student body and faculty. If men are now less than 50% of students at colleges and universities, if they now get advantages in consideration, I say “great.”

   The real solution however is to reform our K-12 educational system that is administered almost entirely by women and favors girls over boys. If boys had more role models and advocates in education, they would not have lower grades or test scores.

10. NewAssistantProf Says:
    March 29th, 2010 at 5:20 pm

    A friend and I were both on the job market this year after completing our doctorates in management. Despite having more publications, awards, and comparable teaching scores, she received more interviews than I did, primarily at good research schools looking solely for female or minority candidates. I still got a great job, but it is sad that educational institutions are so misguided, particularly given the equivocal research on the diversity – performance relationship.

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