Friday, January 23, 2004

Abusing legacy arguments 

Michael at Highered Intelligence administers a mighty fisking of an op-ed on legacy admissions, particularly at Texas A&M. Money quote:
College admissions have become a nervous breakdown because (a) kids who shouldn't be going to college have been told it is their only measure of self-worth, and (b) because students apply to dozens and dozens of colleges. Applying to college is actually a VERY different creature than the SAT. The SAT is far easier than applying to college: a single afternoon. Fraught with anxiety for some, yes. But it's nothing compared to whoring yourself out for recommendations and community service medals. It's a minor inconvenience when measured against the way students drive themselves to exhaustion in extracurricular activity upon extracurricular activity.

Getting rid of the SAT and making the process more "subjective" won't make applying to college easier. It will make it a zoo.

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