The opacity of “Holistic Admissions” at Harvard again comes under attack this week.
If you’ve read The Chosen by Jerome Karabel, holistic admissions is no doubt anti-intellectual at its core. It was started by Harvard in the 1920s as a way to keep the “greasy grinds” aka poor smart Jewish kids who excelled in the SAT to dominate admissions. Preferences were given to athletic kids because Jews tend to be small in size and did not excel in sports. It’s also a way to disguise legacy preferences. These days holistic admissions also serves as a disguise in promoting liberal causes. It’s time for elite schools to stop hiding behind this opaque admission process that runs our kids ragged doing meaningless ECs instead of focusing on academics. Come right out and admit that racial diversity is their biggest concern, then go ahead and set a hard quota for each group corresponding to their % representation in the general population, i.e.
12% blacks
16% Hispanics
2% Native Americans
5% Asians
2% Jews
63% non-Jewish, non-Hispanic whites
Mixed race people can pick a preferred race. Make it clear that each group is competing against its own subgroup, then admit the top kids academically in each subgroup until the quota is met. It’s time to stop this holistic admissions charade. Academic institutions should admit based on academic ability, not athletic/musical ability or involvement in liberal causes.