Posted on 10/31/2009 4:12:14 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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Across the country, selective public colleges and universities are taking a page from their private counterparts and implementing what is commonly called a holistic or comprehensive admissions process.
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At Santa Barbara, the comprehensive review process was implemented in the late 1990’s, and across the entire system in 2002. Susan A. Wilbur, the system’s director of undergraduate admissions, says it enables the selection committee to view applicants in light of their socio-economic and educational backgrounds.
“We call this ‘achievement in context,’ ” she says. “We don’t want to compare a student who’s attending a well-resourced school with a student who may be attending a high school that offers few or no honors courses. That would be an apples-to-oranges comparison.”
The broader lens tends to help students whose statistics — G.P.A., class rank, test score — are less impressive but who bring something extra to the table, say, a talent or success in overcoming an obstacle. “The pool of applicants who could benefit from holistic admissions is pretty large,” says David A. Hawkins, director of public policy and research at the National Association for College Admission Counseling, “and certainly that includes low-income, racial and ethnic minority and first-generation students.” Minority students tend not to fare well on admissions exams.
One catalyst for holistic review is the desire for a diverse student body without quotas. In 2003, the Supreme Court essentially gave universities a framework for taking race into consideration. One landmark decision favored the holistic process used by the University of Michigan’s law school; another found its undergraduate admissions method, which used a system that gave points for race, unconstitutional.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
she went to 4 years at an ivy league school and didnt realize she got in and got financial help there because they thought she was hispanic....
I for one am glad she beat their racist system...but it still pisses her off........
Getting in is one thing...the real concern ought to be how many graduate!
The broader lens tends to help students whose statistics — G.P.A., class rank, test score — are less impressive but who bring something extra to the table, say, a talent or success in overcoming an obstacle.
These are the enemy within who have destroyed the foundation of education. I have a talent, I can balance spoons on my nose, YOUR IN! I have overcome an obstacle, I got up today and tied my shoes by myself! Say it for what it is affirmative action, racial profiling! The chenges we need, have to come from the bottom up.
If they don't look too closely, perhaps there's hope for our 16 year old son. We chose a traditional southern name in honor of his grandfather's Tennessee heritage. The combination could easily be assumed to be African-American, especially since there are descendants of slaves carrying the same last name. (He's also a small part Cherokee . . . ).He's busted his shoes all his academic career, so he'll certainly gain admission in a decent school. Financial aid is likely an altogether different matter . . . I've never been one to ask for handouts, but if a politically correct university "accidentally" gave him money intended for less academically qualified affirmative action candidates, I don't think I'd be too upset over it. Lord knows we've paid the freight for plenty of under-achieving folks in all phases of life already. If our taxes were lower, it would be lot easier to pay for college for our two.
According to the Bureau of the Census, by 2023, half of the children 18 and under will be minorities, as classified by the USG.
In theory this approach is not inherently unsound.
Take two kids, each of whom scored 2000 on their SATs.
Student A is from an upper middle class family, attended private school and had SAT prep classes, even a private tutor.
Student B is from an inner-city school and a dysfunctional family.
B’s accomplishment is considerably greater than A’s, given the headwind he faced as compared to the tailwind the other enjoyed. I would have no problem with recognizing B’s accomplishment by admitting him in preference to A.
In practice, of course, this policy will be a way to continue racial quotas under terms that are harder to contest. Race, in its truly bizarre present day American definition, will not be one factor among many considered, it will be the primary one.
This is a precursor to why the feds took over the student loan system. They will use criteria like these to give money to minority students instead of whites. It’s a part of Obama’s reparations program.
Almost nobody who gets into an Ivy does not “graduate”...I mean, look at Gore and Obama.
We still don’t know how The One got into Columbia or Harvard Law...still no access to his grades nor his senior thesis...for that matter...to his long form birth certificate.
Wouldn’t you think the media would be the least bit curious?
Your exammple isn’t quite accurate, because what these schools are doing is looking at Student A, who scored 2000 on his SAT, and Student B, who scored 1400, and concluding that Student B is more qualified for admission.
Make sure your kids use the hyphenated name (her maiden-yours)
naw....I won’t do that....and I got 3 in state colleges now....Oy.
God bless you and the missus.
But the way it’ll most likely work is:
If Student A is from an upper middle class family, attended private school and had SAT prep classes, even a private tutor, but comes is a non-Asian minority race, and
Student B is from an inner-city school, or an impoverished Appalachian hilltop, and a dysfunctional family, but is obviously white (or of Asian descent), then
A’s accomplishment will still be assumed considerably greater than B’s, given the fact that academic liberals almost always seem to consider the color of the student’s skin over content of the student’s character. They would have no problem with agreeing upon A’s commendable accomplishment by admitting him in preference to B.
Theres much less ranting on this thread than i suspected so i’ll take a chance and post.
While not in favor of racial or gender bias for winning a job or gaining a spot in school i know people who’s children went to some very prestigous prep schools solely because one of their parents went there and gave plenty of cash along the way. These children inevitably end up in ivy league schools simply because of where they went to H.S. The kids i’ve met from these establishments are certainly no smarter than your average kid but due to circumstances in place before they were born end up in he best of schools. Theres no question in my mind that they need to be looked at differently,in a harsher light,tan other children attempting to enter the same schools.
My first reaction when reading about the holistic approach was that it was giving cover for admissions to become entirely subjective and subject to the prevailing whims of Political Correctness.
I’m pretty certain Cho Seung Hui ( Virginia Tech) was a product of this.
These children inevitably end up in ivy league schools simply because of where they went to H.S.’’’
That may be true, but it is not illegal. Racial discrimination is illegal. Racial quotas, diversity is what these preferences are all about, racial discrimination. None of this ‘holistic’ charade would be necessary except for the fact that it is covering for illegal discrimination.
BINGO!! My son is having a terrible time getting a student loan, and he is in the honor society.
never said anything about legality,only that they’re no more intelligent than the next kid.
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