Thread by @AlecMacGillis

This revealing look behind the curtain of college admissions offices and why they continue to favor underwhelming rich students over promising low-income ones, despite all claims to the contrary, is so well done and so maddening.
nyti.ms/300RZhf

“Few enrollment-management people will admit this publicly, but we’re all sort of in the same boat. Admissions for us is not a matter of turning down students we’d like to admit. It’s a matter of admitting students we’d like to turn down.”

"Boeckenstedt’s chart shows an almost perfect correlation between institutional selectivity and students’ average family income, a steady, unwavering diagonal line slicing through the graph. With only a few exceptions, every American college follows the same pattern."

"There's popular & persistent image of admissions in which diversity-obsessed universities are using affirmative action to deny spaces to academically talented affluent students while admitting low-income students w/ lower ability in their place. The opposite is closer to truth."

"If you’re an enrollment manager the easiest category of students for you to admit are below-average students from high-income families. Because their parents can afford tutoring, they are very likely to have decent test scores, which means they won’t hurt your US News ranking."

"...They probably won’t distinguish themselves academically at your college, but they can pay full tuition. And they don’t have a lot of other options so they’re likely to say yes to your admission offer. 'These are the kids who will gladly pay more to move up the food chain'..."

"...'I call them the C.F.O. Specials, because they appeal to the college’s chief financial officer. They are challenging for the faculty, but they bring in a lot of revenue.'"

Read the whole piece. It's so damning.