<p>I think Mini is correct that the overall enrollment figures for the middle income students are dismal --- but I'm not sure that I would agree with him as to the intent that leads to that result. (I am using "middle" literally here - not to reflect lifestyle but to reflect family earnings). For one thing, I don't know what the percentage of middle income applicants are in relation to the overall applicant pool; and I don't know what the yield is for students in that group who are admitted. The problem is that once the EFC starts to exceed costs of attendance at an in-state public, it can be hard to justify attending the private college. </p>
<p>There are a number of admissions practices that do work to favor the well-to-do, ED being the most obvious. Heavy reliance on SAT scores is another factor. Most of the middle income students are coming from public schools where intense test prep is simply not part of the school culture. Although I was being somewhat facetious about my "smartest students" </p>
<p>But when my kids applied to colleges, I saw no evidence of any sort of discrimination. Maybe my kids were just lucky, but I think that the actual admissions decision is probably handled fairly -- its just that there are not all that many slots in each class open to the unhooked RD applicants, and upper income students probably apply to the elites in far greater numbers.</p>