Price of admission

Applying to College
1

<p>From Daniel Golden Harvard graduate Pulitzer Winner</p>

<p>Every spring thousands of middle-class and lower-income high-school seniors learn that they have been rejected by America’s most exclusive colleges. What they may never learn is how many candidates like themselves have been passed over in favor of wealthy students with lesser credentials—children of alumni, big donors, or celebrities.</p>

<p>Daniel Golden argues that America, the so-called land of opportunity, is rapidly becoming an aristocracy in which America’s richest families receive special access to elite higher education—enabling them to give their children even more of a head start. Based on two years of investigative reporting and hundreds of interviews with students, parents, school administrators, and admissions personnel—some of whom risked their jobs to speak to the author—The Price of Admission exposes the corrupt admissions practices that favor the wealthy, the powerful, and the famous.</p>

<p>In The Price of Admission, Golden names names, along with grades and test scores. He reveals how the sons of former vice president Al Gore, one-time Hollywood power broker Michael Ovitz, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist leapt ahead of more deserving applicants at Harvard, Brown, and Princeton. He explores favoritism at the Ivy Leagues, Duke, the University of Virginia, and Notre Dame, among other institutions. He reveals that colleges hold Asian American students to a higher standard than whites; comply with Title IX by giving scholarships to rich women in “patrician sports” like horseback riding, squash, and crew; and repay congressmen for favors by admitting their children. He also reveals that Harvard maintains a “Z-list” for well-connected but underqualified students, who are quietly admitted on the condition that they wait a year to enroll.</p>

<p>The Price of Admission explodes the myth of an American meritocracy—the belief that no matter what your background, if you are smart and diligent enough, you will have access to the nation’s most elite universities. It is must reading not only for parents and students with a personal stake in college admissions, but also for those disturbed by the growing divide between ordinary and privileged Americans.</p>

<p>“I didn’t want to believe that rich families and celebrities buy places for their children in America’s best colleges. But Daniel Golden’s evidence is overwhelming. This book should be read by everyone who cares about preserving higher education as a route for developing talent, not rewarding privilege.”
-Diane Ravitch, research professor of education, New York University, and author of Left Back</p>

2

<p>I read the book. It is depressing, no doubt about it. But it is also alarmist. You know how many spots are really, truly being bought at these schools--probably at the most 10/school/yr. That legacy advantage--it's more of an ED advantage. I was rejected from Princeton, the school that both of my parents attended, RD with average SAT scores of 770, 4 AP scores of 5, strong recommendations, at least decent essays, and top 2% rank. Were my extras great? No, they weren't, but they weren't terrible, either. Many people looked at my stats as a legacy and thought that there was no way I wouldn't get in--but I knew better, and they were wrong. </p>

<p>Are there advantages that the wealthy and the privileged have? Absolutely. But from my experience going through this process, and from my parents' perspective and middle/low class applicants 30+ years ago, I can tell you with reasonable certainty that these colleges are not becoming more aristocratic--they are simply becoming inundated with applications, and most people of every kind of group receive rejection letters.</p>

3

<p>It's also partly thanks to these mega-donors that schools can afford to give middle and lower class kids so much financial aid.</p>