Re:College Cheating Scandal: An Admissions Officer Speaks Out
by tylerhou on Wednesday March 13, 2019 @04:17AM
(#19376716)
It's my impression that the admissions officers (AOs) at these T10 universities are smart and don't care too much "self-discovery" trips to Africa which the applicants' parents have clearly paid for. Volunteer work in general is not good ROI for admissions.
That said, I think AOs do put too much emphasis on research/publications. In my opinion, being able to do research in high school usually means that your parents have connections to whatever labs nearby -- and students do menial work to just get their names on a paper. There are high school students who do conduct groundbreaking, impactful research, but they are much rarer.
Re:College Cheating Scandal: An Admissions Officer Speaks Out
by strikelaserclaw on Wednesday March 13, 2019 @11:28AM
(#19379626)
like 15-20% of Harvard admits come from top 1% of household income. I think like 35-40% come from households making more than 300k.
- Live in a rich metro area? Now you have access to things like internships & research opportunities not available in low-SES areas.
- Parents have high-status jobs? Now you have access to experiences offered by your parents' friends and colleagues, for example, to do research at a local university lab if your parents are professors.
- Don't have to work summers? Now you can take a "finding yourself" trip or volunteer to build housing in Africa or whatever it is these days.
It's much easier to engage in extracurriculars that show how great/community-oriented/socially-conscious/talented at music/sports/research/debate/whatever you are when you grow up in an upper- or upper-middle-class family in a wealthy-enough neighborhood to parents with strong social and professional networks.
This is the social stratification that's perpetuated by elite school admissions processes, it's the top-20%, not the top-1%. It's not any less dangerous, and in fact may be more so -- and the income numbers alone don't tell the full story.
Lastly -- those wealthy enough to endow a chair don't need Harvard to perpetuate social stratification, they will simply inherit enough wealth to do so!