The Process of Admissions for Elite Colleges

Alia Wong from The Atlantic recently wrote a three-part series on the process of admissions for elite colleges Elite College Admissions (Story one: The Absurdity of College Admissions, Story two: Where College Admissions Went Wrong, and Story three: The Commodification of Higher Education).

Wong outlines how college rankings have “helped shape a world in which students are seen as consumers, and colleges and universities as commodities.” She explains that elite college rankings and the admissions process are deeply embedded practices of our national history. In story one, she shows that the current motivation to look beyond standardized-test scores is rooted in early 20th century anti-Semitism.

Critics of elite college admissions have stated that the process has negatively affected “American culture, often distorting kids’ (and parents’) values, perpetuating economic inequality, and perverting the role of higher education in society as a whole.” Wong’s findings confirm that in the race for admission into Ivy League schools, wealthy students have a far better chance of gaining entry than low-income students.

This is troubling news for students whose families rank lower on the socioeconomic scale. Low-income students, who are already at a disadvantage early on in their education, have been told since they were young that a prestigious college education is a ticket for entry into the middle class. But if selective colleges favor those with means, low-income teens will have to continue to settle for less and end up with less in the long run.

Wong writes in her article that the competitive and perfection-obsessed process of elite college admissions has become so bad that educators and administrators have recently pledged to rethink the entire process. They are concerned that the admissions process “tempts teens into a dark, dangerous spiral that sucks the learning out of education.”

Indeed, teens learn early in highschool that they must subject themselves to an admissions mania in order to attend an elite school in the future. Students are pressured to “pad their resumes and tout superficial experiences and hobbies,” as well as aim for individual success and happiness, without concern for others. Richard Weissbourd, a senior lecturer at Harvard’s education school, is one of the directors of the school’s Making Caring Common project and is the author of research that was one motivation for it. He conducted a survey in which he asked over 10,000 middle- and high-school students what mattered most: high individual achievement, happiness or caring for others. Only 22 percent said caring for others.

Critics of the admissions process wonder how the highly competitive and selective environment affects children’s psychology. New York Times’s columnist Frank Bruni says that students admitted into top schools “are emotional wrecks or slavish adherents to soulless scripts that forbid the exploration of genuine passions.” Colleges have taken note and realized that the admissions process is partly to blame for this.

Bruni says that right now is a pivotal point for colleges. “Colleges are becoming more conscious of their roles — too frequently neglected — in social mobility. They’re recognizing how many admissions measures favor students from affluent families.” In fact, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and other educators and administrators have released a work called “Turning the Tide,” which reflects on the wrongs of admissions and calls for a revolution, with specific suggestions. The SAT or ACT is optional in the admissions process for a growing number of colleges. And late last year, over 80 colleges–including all of the Ivy Leagues–announced the formation of the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success, which will include an application process partly intended to diversify student bodies.

As elite colleges let go of their exclusive legacy and broaden qualifications for what constitutes a worthy student, perhaps then we will see a true revolution in the college admissions process.