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What If Colleges Used Only Test Scores to Fill Campuses?
Wall Street Journal ^ | June 23, 2019 | Douglas Belkin

Posted on 06/23/2019 5:55:34 AM PDT by reaganaut1

As Americans debate the roles of wealth, race and access in higher education, researchers at Georgetown University wondered: What would the nation’s most selective colleges and universities look like if they admitted students solely on the basis of SAT scores?

Their answer: The most prestigious U.S. campuses would be wealthier, whiter and more male—leading researchers to question the role standardized testing plays in a fair, comprehensive admissions process.

More than half the students now enrolled at the top 200 colleges and universities would lose their seats to students who performed better on the test—and the median SAT score would rise by 70 points to 1320, the study found.

The biggest losers in this reshuffling were black and Latino students, whose numbers would be cut nearly in half, to 11% of all students from 19%. The share of Asian students would slip to 10% from 11%. The principal winners were wealthy white male students, whose ranks would increase. But a large number of white students would lose their seats and be replaced with other white students.

“The affluent have extraordinary advantages in college admissions,” said Anthony P. Carnevale, director of Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, which performed the analysis. Until 2005, Mr. Carnevale was a vice president at Educational Testing Service, which is a client of The College Board and administers the SAT.

Many elite colleges consider a range of factors such as grades, extracurricular activities and teacher recommendations in what they call a holistic admissions approach. They also try to build a diverse student body and might look for students from underrepresented ethnic or racial backgrounds or geographical regions.

The holistic admissions process has come under fire following the disclosure this spring of the biggest cheating ring federal prosecutors say they have ever seen.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: bellcurve; collegeadmissions; sat
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To: reaganaut1

Their article proves systemic discrimination against men. That women wouldn’t be the majority on campus if men weren’t discriminated against from the very beginning.


61 posted on 06/23/2019 8:10:50 AM PDT by tbw2
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To: reaganaut1

Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Hindu would top the list. Plain Whitey in the middle. America’s spoiled minority in last place.

Exams have shown that consistently for years.

We are no longer a meritocracy, so forget it.


62 posted on 06/23/2019 8:12:04 AM PDT by I want the USA back (The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. Orwell.)
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To: Cowboy Bob

They’re referring to children of alumni and athletes being replaced by merit candidates of the same race.


63 posted on 06/23/2019 8:12:05 AM PDT by tbw2
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To: HangnJudge
My family was so typically hillbilly, they put my great uncle in a movie, Where The Lillies Bloom. Uncle Ray is in the opening scene behind the horse and plow.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072401/

64 posted on 06/23/2019 8:12:44 AM PDT by seowulf
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To: Mariner

Not really. The SAT is fundamentally an intelligence test, not a knowledge test.


65 posted on 06/23/2019 8:12:59 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: HangnJudge
My family was so typically hillbilly, they put my great uncle in a movie, Where The Lillies Bloom. Uncle Ray is in the opening scene behind the horse and plow.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072401/

66 posted on 06/23/2019 8:12:59 AM PDT by seowulf
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To: reaganaut1

Sounds like the wealthier, white male is being discriminated against with his high scores in favor of “diversity”.


67 posted on 06/23/2019 8:15:50 AM PDT by battletank
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To: seowulf

Beautiful!


68 posted on 06/23/2019 8:16:54 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: frog in a pot
"I learnt along time ago that just 'cause its wrote down on paper don't make it so."

That sounds just like something my Dad would have said.

69 posted on 06/23/2019 8:18:36 AM PDT by seowulf
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To: reaganaut1

My impression was that they were going to do away with college testing and rely on grades and readiness experience. That SAT and other testing has been proven not to be good a picking university success.

Frankly, the USA “university for all” system is a racket. General book and expository learning was great for success in Thomas Jefferson’s time. It also helped employers pick capable young people out of the mix in the 1930s-80s.

In the digital age, if you’re gong to spend $50k to get your middle class kid started on a career, ged Ed at a university is not the best bang for your buck. (Exceptions in some professions where college is actual training.) One advantage right now in 2019 are the internships that require the kid be enrolled full time in a 4 year uni. My son is taking advantage of those. But another way todo the same thing is to try and network a few years earlier and get to know some people in your child’s desired industry. Then get them an unpaid internship in the biz, even fetching coffee, sweeping floors, running errands.

I just met a man yesterday who decided to go to college at 50. He got straight As. He was not distracted by beer or chicks. He went to learn specific things to help him in his work. And he could afford it himself.


70 posted on 06/23/2019 8:22:18 AM PDT by Yaelle
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To: outofsalt
If Colleges were rated on student productivity and employment, most of them would close their doors.

There are an awful lot of colleges in America and a lot of them will be closing their doors whatever they do.

Those that survive will be helped by giving students access to internships that lead to work.

Some schools that people think are useless and give out worthless degrees are actually very good at using their connections to put students on the road to employment.

They may lose their edge as other schools get into the game, though, but since the internships tend to be unpaid, those rich kids' schools will still have an advantage over other colleges.

71 posted on 06/23/2019 9:28:17 AM PDT by x
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To: reaganaut1

The differences of SAT/IQ scores within races and genders is much greater than the differences of scores between races and genders.

Sometimes I wonder if I am racist or sexist, then I find myself happily working with ‘different’ people and realize it is because they are well mannered, knowledgeable, and rational (aka classy).

And it is also true that I often find myself frustrated and embarrassed working with my own race and gender. What I see at Walmart makes me want to wear a disguise.


72 posted on 06/23/2019 9:29:42 AM PDT by Born to Conserve
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To: Clioman

“Well, there goes the football team...”

Not to mention the basketball team.


73 posted on 06/23/2019 9:57:35 AM PDT by myerson
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To: reaganaut1

Illustrates how silly the notion of “white privelege”


74 posted on 06/23/2019 10:15:50 AM PDT by Chauncey Gardiner
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To: Mariner

“Our entire society has been reworked to enable these kids to achieve the pinnacles of success.”

Since minorities are unable to meet standards that white males have been meeting for generations those standards have to be dumbed down to be passed by people with an average IQ of 85.


75 posted on 06/23/2019 10:40:54 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (The first step in ending the war on white people is to recognize it exists.)
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To: reaganaut1

But then who would major in Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, Latino Studies, Black Studies, Diversity Studies, and all the other majors that don’t prepare students for the real world, leaving them with huge debts and their only hope for a government job.


76 posted on 06/23/2019 10:55:16 AM PDT by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: tbw2

I’m not sure if it was ironic or cynical that Ted Kennedy, in the 2000s, made noises about eliminating “legacy” admissions.

I’m sure that he expected the rules not to apply to his klan.


77 posted on 06/23/2019 10:56:53 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: 9YearLurker

That sentence stunned me. But then I thought, “Asians are suing universities over Affirmative Action”. So perhaps those running the study are trying to muddy the waters.


78 posted on 06/23/2019 1:55:48 PM PDT by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016)
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To: napscoordinator

Yes, and some others here have made the likely good point that Native Americans and Pacific Islanders may be being lumped into that group to pull their scores down.


79 posted on 06/23/2019 1:57:10 PM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Cowboy Bob

No. Because a lot of poor whites are taking seats from middle to upper middle class applicants. Not enough spots to give to poor whites. That’s what makes college admissions so insane. They are giving 70 percent at least to unworthy students of all shades and economic factors.


80 posted on 06/23/2019 1:58:45 PM PDT by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016)
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