<p>oh my god…that article was awful. Hmm…maybe publish that AFTER college decisions come out or not at all! As if we all weren’t already nervous enough. </p>
<p>“So here’s the bottom line for all those exceptional middle-class and lower-class high school seniors who will doubt their own worth when the near-inevitable rejection letters arrive: The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in you. The fault lies in the system, and the system isn’t going to change, because it benefits the people it is designed to benefit - people who understand how much a real meritocracy would threaten their power.”</p>
<p>Neal Gabler is just mean. I don’t really want to think that getting rejected to college is inevitable. Thanks for that boost of confidence.</p>
<p>He’s not being mean. He’s telling you it’s not your fault if you don’t get in, because the deck is stacked against you. That’s actually kind.</p>
<p>Many people on CC have their hearts set on these institutions, so they desperately want to believe that the system is fair to everyone. The truth is, it isn’t. Not that the admissions offices consciously want to admit only wealthy kids - they don’t - but the way the system works, with SATs and admits for special talent, it rewards the wealthy. Not wanting that to be true doesn’t make the article wrong, and it doesn’t make the author mean.</p>
<p>I just don’t see why this is such a shocker. I feel like basically all this article is saying is that wealthy people have more opprotunities and advantages since they can pay for such opprotunities.</p>
<p>that doesn’t mean that minorities and the poor have disadvantages, I was accepted into MIT this year via early action. I’m Hispanic and have a pretty low income (which I won’t post here). Actually many people argue that being a minority/disadvantaged actually gives you more of a chance in applications. Btw MIT doesn’t recruit athletes and I was never asked for a document about my finances before decisions came out.</p>
<p>Look…I’m lower middle class(recently…my family has been on welfare and state health insurance), a minority(Native American), only one parent is college-educated(didn’t go until I was 7) and have still been able to achieve…</p>
<p>I hate when people use excuses for not being able to get the most out of life. If you really want something, work for it. You can do well in school, go to a good college and MAKE something out of yourself…</p>
<p>all this nay-saying does nothing productive</p>
<p>I think Affirmative Action tries to make up for the discrepancy which is good, but people are put at a disadvantage if they are from any low-income background regardless of race. And my guess regarding MIT asking for financial info is that they were on the fence with my cousin since she was a pretty good student, but not someone who you would think MIT would take and they figured if she was a full-pay student they would take her. Of course this is just a guess not backed up by any real facts. Additionally, I really respect MIT for not recruiting athletes.</p>
<p>I just think it’s harder to achieve when you don’t have the money/connections for internships, ECs, tutors, and lessons. It’s possibly, but harder to do.</p>
<p>^Well, generally people turn in their financial aid forms with their application, and the financial aid forms should have family income info on it. The fact that MIT asked for a form sounds to me like one of the forms didn’t get turned in or got lost.</p>
<p>If they are need-blind why would financial papers go with the app at all? (This is a legit question not meant to be inflammatory. I really don’t have much knowledge of the FinAid process).</p>
<p>I don’t want to get into a pi$$ing contest with you. I only question the premise that more kids are being recruited for these unusual sports than for the traditional ones like football and basketball.</p>
<p>As far as I can tell, only 27 colleges or universities in the country even have polo teams.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the process is, either. I had assumed that for regular decision people would get the decision and the financial aid offer at the same time, necessitating the financial aid info to be turned in before the decision. People don’t really have that much time to make the college choice. It would be really tough if students turned in financial aid forms after they got the decision, then the colleges had to put together an offer for everyone and get it back to the student. There wouldn’t be much time for the student to make a decision.</p>
<p>need-blind doesn’t mean they pay for everything, it means they won’t take your financial status into account during decisions. The financial forms are required for them to figure out how much you are able to afford and they will pay the difference via grants, etc…and as far regular decisions I believe that’s how it goes but I highly doubt they would consider the financial status of the other 60% of the incoming class when they didn’t for early action.</p>
<p>But can adcoms see your financial info? Because that would mean we (students) are just praying their subconscious thoughts on our incomes to come to influence admissions decisions and to me that is not need-blind that is need-aware.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that Michael Moore didn’t write this article. It contains all of his usual bias, and apocalyptic overtones. </p>
<p>The most pathetic thing about the entire article, is how it implies that the Ivy League is subtly racist, or that African Americans are poor and disadvantaged, by showing that the majority of black students are immigrants or West Indian. So what? African Americans are given many opportunities to succeed, compared to immigrants, especially immigrants from third world countries. Just because your ancestors were American slaves, doesn’t mean that you get a free ride into Harvard or Princeton, and using the "Well I grew up in the “ghetto” excuse is just as foolish. </p>
<p>No, there’s not some big conspiracy in place to keep middle class people, “middle class.” It’s already well known, that athletes and legacies have hooks. The bottom line is, even with top notch scores, and all the passion in the world; you may very well be rejected by every Ivy.</p>
<p>I think the financial aid stuff goes to the financial aid office, which shouldn’t be manned by the same people as the admissions office. Admissions officers would have to willfully be lying about being need-blind if they were looking at it. This is all my own speculation, however.</p>