Thread by @JonBoeckenstedt

Thread: The privileged need to be worried about *something* related to college admissions. And as it's become increasingly clear that they might not have a chance to take the SAT/ACT, or to only take it once, there's something new.

Now it's "What will replace the SAT?"

wsj.com/articles/colle…

This doesn't mean, of course, "What will replace the SAT at 1500 colleges and universities." That answer is easy: Nothing will. Because it's not necessary.

The question really means, "What will replace the SAT at those 50 colleges the NYT, WSJ and other obsess over because we obsess over?" If you suggest I have cause and effect mixed up, I'll grant that you might be correct.

I suspect that if you go to one of the 400 prep schools that feed the 50 aforementioned colleges, you really have nothing to worry about. Your chances are still slim, but they're not any worse. These schools know your school. They know the counselor. They created the system.

There might be a German word for a phenomenon you hate that benefits you. This is one of those. My wife (who worked in admissions for a decade at two selective institutions) is a college essay tutor.

The requests are coming in fast and heavy.

To make it worse, I tell her to raise her rates, which she won't do. She wants to work with the kids who can afford her more than with the kids who can afford anyone. And she tells me how baffled kids from the other schools are about the essay.

And Jeff Selingo's Atlantic article included this gem.

I went to that university's website. No hint that something like this might doom you.

Earlier, in the WSJ, Jeff wrote this

Huh. I call this the invisible moving target. It's a great technique for managers who--for whatever reason--want people to fail. Just as the objective is never clear, neither is the reason for failure.

You just fail. As planned.

Before we go any farther, no, you bad mind readers, this is not, in fact, an admission by me that tests would be better or fairer or more objective.

Don't @ me.

It's another example of how the process is stacked for kids with the connections.

If you don't believe me, ask yourself this: Why are the kids who do so well on standardized tests (wealthy students) suddenly freaking out even more?

Because that advantage has been taken away. And even though they still have all the advantages, guess what?

They're afraid.

I've written before in my "There is no such thing as need blind" blogpost that almost every single factor colleges (those colleges) favor (except diversity) gives advantages to kids with the wealth and power and privilege. Taking just one of those things away puts them on edge.

This is what's wrong with college admissions. This is what we need to fix: An expensive, esoteric, cryptic, unfair system that ensures those with advantage get to wield it unfairly.

Test optional is just the first step. We need to keep going.

Oh, and #EMTalk