James S Murphy Profile picture
Sep 29, 2019 16 tweets 7 min read Read on X
Most (all?) schools should be test optional, but that decision should be based on facts. Louis Menand is just wrong in this @NewYorker piece. Not sure what the basis for his claim it. Grades are better at predicting GPA and graduation, to be sure, but the gap is not large. ImageImage
If Professor Menand wants to call out something gross about the tests, he might look at how his employer uses them in academic ratings. Harvard thinks that there is a real difference between a score in the 790-800 range, one in the mid-700s, and one in the low 700s. Image
Let's just throw in here that the margin of error on the SAT is +/- 30 points, so that we should be really careful about looking at a 760 or a 790 as telling us anything different about an applicant. It's why the obsession with the 700s/1400s (1500s!) is so deeply harmful. Image
That obsession is a boon to no one but the test prep industry.
More errors from Luke Menand in this @NewYorker review. You can dispute the conclusions to be drawn from the CB study of grade inflation (I have in print) but it's just not true that grade inflation has been uniform. Grades have gone up more at private schools than at publics. Image
This claim is questionable too, or at least speaks to the issue of drawing to heavily on Chetty for precise claims. @OppInsights looked at one, maybe two, cohorts. This claim about @Princeton is true for that cohort, but Princeton now has the highest Pell rate in the Ivy League. Image
While I'm here, I'll just add that Menand's reading of @DSMarkovits Meritocracy Trap is so bizarre that I'm not sure he and I read the same book. Image
One of the most important points @DSMarkovits makes is that the problem with Varsity Blues etc. is that it suggests the big problem is that elite institutions are not living up to the ideal of meritocracy, when in fact the real problem is meritocracy itself.
Menand sounds like Betsy DeVos in some sections, echoing nonsense about the demand for advanced skills in the 21st century workplace. Here's the thing--one of @DSMarkovits key points is that once upon a time industries took professional development seriously. Image
They trained workers to do new tasks. Nowadays, companies put that onus on individuals, essentially telling them to go get *another* degree (and more debt) to get the training we want but won't pay for.
In another low moment, Menand suggests that @DSMarkovits offers no solutions to ameliorating the meritocracy trap . . . and then he lists some solutions offered up by Markovits. Image
On this point, I absolutely agree. The obsession with @Stanvard_U is wrong-headed, and the real answer to college access is more funding for K-12 and public higher ed. Image
One of they key things that people looking at college admissions don't get it the people who work on the academic side and people who work on the admissions side of universities are not just not in contact; they have little clue what the other side does.
Menand thinks low admit rates are signs of greater access, but does he know that Harvard contact about 100K people each year, encouraging them to apply? The vast majority of those students will not have a chance in the application process. ImageImage
Perhaps the nadir of this article are its bizarre defenses of legacy preferences. The point of getting rid of legacy preferences is NOT that it will open up a ton more spots at a school. It's that legacy is unethical on its face. ImageImage
As always, apologies for typos. #editbutton

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More from @James_S_Murphy

Nov 16
This is such good reporting from the @harvardcrimeson:

There are about 27,000 high schools in the U.S.

Over the past 15 years, 1 in 11 students at Harvard have come from just 21 high schools.

So 9.1% of Harvard students come from 0.07% of US schools. @nytdavidbrooks Image
This is no accident. It's a stated priority of Harvard admissions.

The longtime dean of admissions said they're in the business of creating 100 year relationships with schools. He said this in a trial where Harvard was, believe it or not, trying to show it's fair. Image
Legacy, too, plays its role, as these are the kind of schools where wealthy alumni send their kids.

Here's a link to the Crimson piece: interactives.thecrimson.com/2024/news/feed…
Read 6 tweets
Jul 31, 2023
Some pointers for people who work with students on college applications:

1. The @usedgov will be releasing resources to colleges and universities addressing lawful admissions practices by Aug 15.

2. Don't listen to anyone's advice on how to advise students too much until then.
3. Yes, the @CommonApp opens tomorrow, but students can get to work on everything but the essay while we wait to see what ED says.

4. Chances are, little changes for students or their applications due to the SFFA decision.
5. Students should not be afraid of identifying themselves by race & ethnicity anywhere in their application.

6. Students can & should check the race/ethnicity box. It's up to colleges to redact that info if they don't want readers to see it.
Read 8 tweets
Mar 12, 2023
2023
College freshmen no longer know how to read literature.
2013
College freshmen no longer know how to read literature
1999
College freshmen no longer know how to read literature
Read 5 tweets
Mar 10, 2023
What's extraordinary about the @usnews Best Colleges reputation wurvey is that ANYONE FILLS IT OUT AT ALL.

Let's take a look 🧵
The most heavily weighted single factor in the Best Colleges rankings is Undergraduate Academic Reputation, which USN calls "Expert Opinion." Image
Here's the thing: there is absolutely no way the presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions they send the survey to can be qualified to answer the questions, let alone claim expertise. Image
Read 13 tweets
Mar 6, 2023
Let's talk about some dumb stuff people say about test optional admissions. 🧵
This might take a sec, so here's the tl;dr:

TO policies, in and of themselves, are neither a cure-all for what's wrong with American higher ed nor the end of what's good about it, but the evidence points to their doing some good and no harm.
Let's define TO first.

A test-optional policy is one that allows applicants to decide whether they want their test score to be considered. It does not "get rid of tests" or "ban tests."

Almost every 4-yr college in the US is currently test optional.
Read 28 tweets
Mar 4, 2023
When your flex shows just how weak you are. Image
For decades, colleges, med schools, and law schools have all made the point that standardized tests exist to show readiness to succeed in college or grad school.
Rankings were one of the incentives to focus on scores well beyond the readiness threshold and overemphasize tests. That emphasis has excluded lots of people who were highly qualified to become lawyers and doctors.
Read 4 tweets

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