<p>If you could do it, how would you do it? What metrics would you look for? How would you measure them? Would you use grades? The SAT? Would you look at EC's? Race? Socioeconomic conditions? Income? Holistic evaluation? Essays? Sky's the limit; what would you do and why?</p>
<p>I think holistic evaluation based on what the individual has accomplished in his/her lifetime is best. That would include academics like grades/sat and also ECs. I would NOT have people list race, income, etc. It shouldn’t matter what your background is, but rather what kind of person you are.</p>
<p>Before you venture down with your opinions, let me ask you this: “Who is your employer and who is your constituency? What is their mission?”</p>
<p>Or is this a fantasy exercise where you get to create, from the ground up, some utopian university? If so, then what are your goals? How will you achieve those goals? What is your ideal student body? How will the pursuit of that student body maintain your institutional goals and financial plans?</p>
<p>Not so simple. What’s fair in scenario 1? Ask your boss. What’s fair in scenario 2? You decide – but do you have to close down after 2 years? That’s the bigger question.</p>
<p>But I’m sure this will devolve into why race or athletic preferences should or shouldn’t be considered. This is actually a repackaging of a common theme…</p>
<p>The problem is it puts students with $ at an advantage. They have money to pursue ECs. They probably don’t have to go to a paid job after school/weekends. They can afford private test prep to increase their test scores. They can attend good private schools, or live in the best public school districts.</p>
<p>But less affluent kids with part time jobs are equally valued as an EC…</p>
<p>If this is truly a fantasy exercise, I would do this: Interview each and every candidate before a panel of experts in the arts, sciences and humanities. Ask each applicant to describe how they would go about solving a particular problem. Ask them what they hope to learn in college and how they expect it to change their lives. Have them bring grades and test scores and allow them to discuss how these reflect their abilities. Then have this expert panel sort the applicant to any of a set number of campuses in the state, tier 1,2,3…</p>
<p>Interviews are given little or no weight to college admission decisions, but I think they are the most important component.</p>
<p>Ideally, high schools will have consistent curricula* and grading standards, so that high school record could be used as a reliable academic record without needing standardized tests to expose high school grade inflation and lack of course rigor.</p>
<ul>
<li>This does not mean that every student takes the same courses. But it should mean that a student who completes (for example) a precalculus course in any high school learns the material to a standard such that s/he is ready for calculus in college (this is not generally the case now, since many students need remedial course work in precalculus math before taking calculus in college).</li>
</ul>