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Well, no school is perfectly meritocratic
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What about Caltech? No affirmative action. No athletic preference. Isn't this a much fairer system</p>
<p>sorry, but what is affirmative action?</p>
<p>Affirmative action is essentially giving an advantage to underrepresented minorities in the college admissions process (e.g. African Americans, Hispanics, etc.)</p>
<p>And I'd have to agree: I don't support it at all.</p>
<p>llortami- I don't know anything about Caltech's admissions but I kind of think they do admit minorities at a higher rate as does just about every school in the country. Athletics, I assume, are considered the say way they are at MIT which is with minimal consideration. I am praising MIT for this because they consider athletics and privileged "hooks" that aren't available to everyone with much less consideration than other schools (so I think), and because you can't just sneak through MIT as an athlete or privileged kid if you are unwilling to work hard, though you can at many other schools. Don't over think it. </p>
<p>I don't have the facts to back up what I said about caltech but I kind of doubt you do either considering your low post count and the fact that your other posts were not-well-thought-out and unnecessarily anti-MIT!</p>
<p>Ham, what do you mean by "privileged" hooks???</p>
<p>I think it's fair to say that MIT's admissions process is more of a meritocracy than any Ivy. "Hooks" (legacy, athletics, big-money donation, etc.) do play a role in admissions at many if not all Ivies. Harvard and Princeton are reasonably up-front about this. I saw somewhere that more than 70% of MIT students receive some form of financial aid, a higher percentage than at any Ivy (I think), and this is a marker for, at least, "financial" diversity; with the recent changes is elite-college financial aid and pressure from Congress, you'll see more of this as time goes on. There may even be a pernicious form of discrimination develop, as schools feel increasing pressure to give out more aid (and thereby accept a lower number of students who don't qualify for this aid).</p>
<p>"What about Caltech? No affirmative action. No athletic preference. Isn't this a much fairer system"</p>
<p>Not true. I have a friend who got a letter from Caltech volleyball saying that they could get her in. Although, she is very smart too. (Saludatorian)</p>
<p>Mcubed thank you. llortami is not legit anyways. </p>
<p>And by privileged hooks, I more or less mean kids who get in because daddy gave a building. I wouldn't have thought it actually happens, but it does, and I know because I go to an "exclusive" private boarding school ridden with kids that don't entirely deserve to be there but got in because their dad owns a fortune 500 company, they have a big legacy with the school, they play a sport well but are a complete jerk to everyone else, etc. We're talking about approximately 30-50% of the class. And the rest are largely good, deserving kids . (Note, I'm not ragging on my school, but I'm just pointing this out)</p>
<p>Also, my school sends a bunch of kids to ivies for crew. Fine. But think about it- (with a few exceptions), the kids that excel at crew usually have had training at some private place or club that costs a lot of money- public middle schools of course don't do crew. Hence even "athletic recruits" (who I STILL don't think should get in for athletics only) are largely (definitely not exclusively, I admit) coming from rich backgrounds. This is not equal opportunity and not meritocratic. Crew is just an example but this applies it applies to some other sports to a lesser degree. </p>
<p>It also just applies with academics- it is sad but rich kids are often the most well qualified because they've had the best education and the best opportunities. </p>
<p>Anyways, then they go on to ridiculous colleges that they don't really deserve to go to (Harvard, Princeton, Yale). In fact, I knew one kid who got rejected from Yale and wasn't even upset- he had his father call the admissions office [he either wrote a check, promised something, had political pull, or something else like that] and the kid was in the next day (true story). None of these kids ever go to MIT.</p>
<p>Financial diversity is something I TOTALLY believe in for the college experience, and that's another reason why in my opinion MIT is better than other places. I haven't seen enough financial diversity at my current school and hope to get away from that at least a little for my college experience. Kids who really earn it should go to great schools, and I've seen kids who have most definitely not earned it go to HYP. It's a shame because it is taking away from kids who really should go there. But again, they don't go to MIT. Too bad I have an 88% chance of being rejected, cuz it's a pretty great place IMO.</p>
<p>Sorry for my ranting, I'll stop now.</p>
<p>@ Mcubed23,</p>
<p>For your first semester/year it can kind of feel like that - a lot of your classes, or all of your classes, will be in that one big academic complex branching off from the Great Dome. But there's a lot more on MIT's campus than that, and once you start specializing in your major and taking higher level classes you'll be going to lots of different buildings and I doubt it will feel like high school.</p>
<p>Yeah, MIT's campus has a ton of buildings...they just all happen to be connected, that's all. Which just means you don't have to go outside when the weather is lousy. =)</p>
<p>And ham, I went to a public magnet school with lots of rich kids, and I just want to say "amen" to basically your whole post. I don't know anyone rich enough to get off the rejected list with the snap of their fingers, but I totally agree with your general comments on financial diversity.</p>
<p>yo man id love to get accepted to MIT so i can meet more kids who come from low-income families that are brilliant! cant wait (hopefully)... i mean one prime example was richard feynman.. the dude was raised in a poor family and got into MIT and did wonders... but yah ham nicely stated... MIT brings hope for the low-income bright students</p>
<p>fo sho man!!!</p>