How corrupt are Ivy League admissions?

[bogibogi]

<p>A thought provoking analysis of elite school admissions. Author Ron Unz proposes an intriguing solution to the randomness of holistic admissions.</p>

<p>The</a> Myth of American Meritocracy | The American Conservative</p>

[NJres]

<p>Wow, that is a long article! I drifted off after the first few paragraphs.</p>

[intparent]

<p>Hoo boy, here we go again… this article was discussed at length on a different forum (not CC) that I frequent. The thread was eventually shut down by the moderators on that forum. If you dig in and read this article, it is seriously anti-Semetic, and the methodology used to reach its conclusions is flawed. For example, it argues that Jewish applicants are “overadmitted” to top Ivy league schools (based on analysis of last names between the NMSF listings and admissions listing). The methodology does not take into account that there is some self selection to where NMSF kids apply. For example, there are four total, all non-Jewish, NMSFs in my D2’s class. None have chosen to apply to a HYPS. The methodology basically assumes that ALL NMFs apply to top Ivies, though.</p>

<p>Really… don’t waste your time or posting energy on this article.</p>

[Hunt]

<p>I was actually shocked to read that article–that somebody who apparently has reasonable credibilty would write something so anti-Semitic.</p>

[dodgersmom]

<p>Thanks for the heads up, intparent!</p>

<p>The author barely makes it halfway through the second paragraph before he begins lauding the accomplishments of Henry Ford . . . and things go downhill from there. Increased Jewish enrollment at Ivy universities is blamed first on Jewish control of the media (where and when have we heard that before?) and then on Jewish control of the universities themselves: “all three of Harvard’s most recent presidents have either had Jewish origins or a Jewish spouse.”</p>

<p>The author, his publication, and the organization behind them all have an agenda . . . and it’s hardly hidden.</p>

<p>Stay away. They don’t deserve your attention or your support.</p>

[Hunt]

<p>Well, I have a Jewish spouse who uses mind control on me, so there may be something to that part.</p>

[dodgersmom]

<p>Damn it, Hunt - that was supposed to be a secret!</p>

[Marian]

<p>On the other hand, I use mind control on my Jewish spouse.</p>

<p>It still amazes me that people are startled to find out that members of ethnic groups who </p>

<p>(1) include a lot of reasonably affluent people and </p>

<p>(2) typically place a high value on academics </p>

<p>would be overrepresented at selective universities.</p>

<p>I mean, duh!</p>

<p>My alma mater, Cornell, was about one-third Jewish when I went there in the 1970s. I don’t think things have changed much since then. It’s kind of hard for me to consider this situation abnormal.</p>

[bethievt]

<p>My Jewish spouse doesn’t help with the housework much. Let’s have a witch hunt. Or is that warlock for a guy? This stuff is just awful!</p>

[bogibogi]

<p>Yes, it is a long article, but worthy of a read, especially with some of the anti-Asian sentiments expressed on these boards. I saw it as an objective numerical comparison of Jews and Asians in college admissions.</p>

[skrlvr]

<p>Somewhat contradictory to claim this:</p>

<p>

The overwhelming evidence is that the system currently employed by most of our leading universities admits applicants whose ability may be unremarkable but who are beneficiaries of underhanded manipulation and favoritism. Nations which put their future national leadership in the hands of such individuals are likely to encounter enormous economic and social problems, exactly the sort of problems which our own country seems to have increasingly experienced over the last couple of decades.

</p>

<p>So one result of this corrupt system is exactly the sort of problems that we are experiencing now…</p>

<p>And then to state this:</p>

<p>

The notion of top universities only selecting a slice of their students based on purest academic merit certainly seems to be the standard today, and was so in the past as well. Karabel recounts how during the 1950s and 1960s, Harvard reserved about 10 percent of its spots for “top brains,” while selecting the remainder based on a mixture of different factors.

</p>

<p>And I’m sure the 20s, 30s and 40s were no different. Yet the US economy in the 50s and 60s was quite good, at least in terms of real growth of wages, etc.</p>

<p>What gives now? Why are the horrible admissions practices of mid-20th century (and before) America less impactful on the economic scence than the horrible admissions practices of early 21st?</p>

[Sue22]

<p>Not impressed. “Those nasty Jews are stealing places from kids like Amy Chua’s.” Oops, Amy Chua’s kids ARE Jewish.</p>

[Bay]

<p>I googled the author, Ron Unz, and apparently he is Ukrainian-Jewish. Not religious, though, according to sources I read.</p>

[bovertine]

<p>

I saw it as an objective numerical comparison of Jews and Asians in college admissions.

I find the “Last Name” analysis almost absurdly unscientific and lacking any control or verification.</p>

<p>The rest is a rehash of the same stuff endlessly debated on here, including the two books by Karabel and Golden which have countless references on this website. But apparently you must like it since it appears you posted two threads about it (one about a week ago), despite the fact it is mentioned twice in another thread.</p>

[Hunt]

<p>Maybe Jewish families are willing to send their kids to Ivies full-pay even if it’s painful to meet the EFC. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s true.</p>

[bovertine]

<p>

Maybe Jewish families are willing to send their kids to Ivies full-pay even if it’s painful to meet the EFC. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s true.

Although I hadn’t thought of it, this is an example of one of the things I meant by the analysis “lacking controls”.</p>

[blueiguana]

<p>I’m glad to see others could not get through this article either, and I got through a good bit of it. I really tried, but wow! I’m not going to bother copying and pasting the most offensive and egregious statements I found, people can read for themselves. I can’t image something with this much bias could possibly be taken seriously.</p>

[sevmom]

<p>Yes, the last name thing is ridiculous . We have one of those common last names that many Jewish people can have but many non-Jewish people ,like us,have as well.</p>

[skrlvr]

<p>And then to claim this;</p>

<p>

The overwhelming evidence is that the system currently employed by most of our leading universities admits applicants whose ability may be unremarkable

</p>

<p>which may be true, but if you look at the ACT spread, 75% of the Harvard entering class has a 31 or above, which is in the 97 percentile. So there may be some unremarkable students admitted for all those corrupt reasons, but 3/4 of the class is in the top 3% of all test takers. Is that unremarkable overall?</p>

[Sue22]

<p>On the bright side, one of Unz’s sources is our own mihcal1!</p>

<p>28 College Confidential, September 16, 2011:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13210307-post724.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13210307-post724.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;