Since Marx came along, Parker has been speaking out about a virtually taboo subject: how top universities already bend their standards for all kinds of kids. There are the affirmative action programs for minorities, which most elite schools still run. There are also so-called legacy admits, for whom Amherst reserves roughly 10% of its seats, says Parker. Alumni kids get red-carpet treatment, often including a personal audience with Parker. Yet they rank as twos, on average, he says – meaning that some score three or less and wouldn’t be admitted on their academic credentials alone. But top universities simply can’t ignore legacy donations. “The way you finance a place like this is with alumni contributions,” says Parker.</p>
<p>Then there are the athletic admits, who get 16% of each year’s slots. They rank even lower, just 3.5. Amherst reaches clear down to fives – meaning SATs of 1250 to 1300 – to snag some hot football and ice hockey players. Given the importance of sports to most elite schools’ images, athletic admits are a necessity, too. “If we don’t take any fives for football, the team will turn into a travesty,” says Parker. “With ice hockey, we’d be talking about not having a team at all.”</p>
<p>Bringing in more low-income kids would require added compromise. To meet Marx’s 25% goal, Amherst would have to take more threes, says Parker, meaning those who may have straight As but SATs as low as 1360. Even though Amherst already does so for minorities, legacies, and athletes, faculty members are worried. “This could be a radical departure that fundamentally changes the character of our institution,” warns physics professor David Hall, who heads the Faculty Committee on Admissions & Financial Aid.</p>
<p>Marx hopes to ease such concerns by finding more top-notch low-income applicants. Certainly, many students have never even heard of Amherst. So Marx is asking his admissions officers to visit more low-income high schools. And he’s enlisting Amherst students in a tele-mentoring program in which they walk seniors from those schools through the college application process. Marx also started using QuestBridge, a Palo Alto (Calif.) nonprofit that has enlisted 8,000 high school teachers to identify talented low-income students for elite colleges.</p>
<p>However noble his goal, Marx’s push for a new admissions policy may be opening a Pandora’s box. Some supporters think that to make room for poor kids, Amherst should rethink its rationale for letting in less-qualified legacies and athletes. “There is no principled reason to have a hereditary system” of preferences, says Hall. Moreover, “the athletics arms race excludes people who want to learn.” Others resent such views. Some faculty may see the athletes as “dumb jocks, but in reality they’re some of the smartest kids in the country,” says Peter Gooding, who stepped down last spring after 27 years as athletic director but has stayed on as soccer coach.