College admissions officers like to throw around words like “well rounded”, “student leader” and “driven” when describing their ideal applicant. Personal essays, clubs and sports, volunteer work, internships… what does all this “supplemental” criteria really amount to on your college application? And somehow, this hodgepodge of qualities is supposed to set you apart from the masses as amongst the best and the brightest of students, the one with the shiniest future.

Or at least, that’s what college admissions officers would have you believe. Malcolm Gladwell, author of the New York Times bestseller “Outliers“, wrote an article for the New Yorker chronicling the change in college admission procedures for Ivy League schools. Back in the day, like the 1920’s, students merely needed top grades to get into these selective universities. If you got the score, you got in. Then, according to Gladwell, admissions officers started to notice a rather “unsavory” trend: more and more Jews were entering the prestigious halls of the Ivy League. Oy Gevalt!!!

Blatant anti-Semitism aside, Gladwell sees the Ivy League’s desire to keep out the “undesirables” as a major turning point in the history of college admissions. From that point on, colleges looked for more than just grades, but for “personal qualities” that singled students out as the “right kind” of student (i.e. WASPs). The personal essay, the interview, the reliance on extracurricular activities were all introduced as a way to screen applicants. Hey, what better way to keep the hebes out than introduce a requirement for excelling at sports? Because clearly Jews don’t know how to throw a ball. And thus, the vision of the well-rounded, athletic applicant was born.

Gladwell’s argument presumes that at the time these changes in admissions practices were happening, a predominance of Jewish students in the venerable old Halls of the Ivy League would weaken the legacy that Harvard, Princeton, and Yale had worked so hard to achieve. The introduction of social selection through the college admissions process became tantamount to branding. Elite colleges wanted to maintain their elite statuses, and so - like Lexus and Rolex - they targeted elite audiences. Says Gladwell, “No good brand manager would sacrifice reputation for short-term gain”. Ivy League institutions are not just elite because of the quality of the education, but because of the perceived status of its students. And what better way to ensure the status of one’s applicants than by screening them to begin with?

Today’s admissions officers may not be screening out Jews, but they are still manipulating admissions criteria in order to favor certain traits. More schools than ever are shunning standardized tests in favor of a more “holistic” approach to the college application, like Sarah Lawrence College, Bard College, or Bennington College. There argument is that SATs and ACTs are not a good predictor of a student’s abilities. But is this always advantageous? The SAT was originally developed to provide an unbiased judge of a student’s academic potential. Schools that only look at “qualitative” measures may be giving preference to more privileged students. Regardless what any school says officially, admissions officers prefer applicants who’ve had elite internships, and years of specialized activities, like a piano prodigee or devoted dance. And what do these illustrious credentials require? $$$

Interning at your Dad’s Fortune 500 company will look better than working at a Starbucks. Going to a competitive high school with stellar college prep will lead to a better essay. And students with the time and money to study an instrument or go on foreign exchange will always be ahead of the curve. Beating the admissions game often simply comes down to having the resources to compete.

College admissions officers are in the business of making sure their student body meets the standards of the school’s own legacy. Whether this means seeking out athletic WASPs, like in the 1920’s at Harvard, or intellectual creative types, like at Bard College, college admissions might not be about what you know, but who you are.

POSTED BY Bloggin' with Robin IN Admissions Process, Applications, Articles, College admissions essays, In the News, SAT and ACT

09.17.09

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