3 ms·

What does this do that knowing where the student went to school and how much their parents make (both things that colleges know) doesn't? It seems like yet ano

What does this do that knowing where the student went to school and how much their parents make (both things that colleges know) doesn't? It seems like yet another opaque metric to be gamed by the people with the resources to spend optimizing for those sort of things.

Wowfunhappy 8y ago
Yeah. I'm very much in favor of affirmative action and similar measures, but this really seems like the wrong place for it. This move feels almost as though it was intended to stir up unnecessary controversy.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  >This move feels almost as though it was intended to stir up unnecessary controversy. "Adversity score" is precariously close to "diversity score" which would certainly store up controversy.
- jedberg 8y ago
  > This move feels almost as though it was intended to stir up unnecessary controversy. I mean probably not, otherwise they would let the students see the scores. I think it was put there to help the elite colleges defeat the lawsuits against them by being able to say, "see, we used an objective measure of hardship from a third party!".
jeffdavis 8y ago
"Level the playing field" is an over-used and under-defined expression. Do you level the playing field before you start or in the middle of the game? What is the purpose of college admissions -- to award a select few or to match students with colleges where they are most likely to succeed?
- threatofrain 8y ago
  The goal of admissions is to accept students who enrich their college in one way or another.
  - jeffdavis 8y ago
    What about the student?
    - AcerbicZero 8y ago
      The value of the diploma is directly linked to the value of the college. When you break it down a college diploma is only worth as much as the reputation of the college.
      - jeffdavis 8y ago
        What about the education itself? Do the awesome professors actually teach? Are the social circles at the college going to lead the student where they want to go in life? What about potentially-burdensome loans at the end of it? I think we need to get away from the idea of college admissions as a tournament with Harvard at the top. "Good" depends on many things and different students may best be served by different universities.

Wowfunhappy 8y ago

Yeah. I'm very much in favor of affirmative action and similar measures, but this really seems like the wrong place for it. This move feels almost as though it was intended to stir up unnecessary controversy.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
>This move feels almost as though it was intended to stir up unnecessary controversy. "Adversity score" is precariously close to "diversity score" which would certainly store up controversy.
jedberg 8y ago
> This move feels almost as though it was intended to stir up unnecessary controversy. I mean probably not, otherwise they would let the students see the scores. I think it was put there to help the elite colleges defeat the lawsuits against them by being able to say, "see, we used an objective measure of hardship from a third party!".

jeffdavis 8y ago

"Level the playing field" is an over-used and under-defined expression. Do you level the playing field before you start or in the middle of the game? What is the purpose of college admissions -- to award a select few or to match students with colleges where they are most likely to succeed?

threatofrain 8y ago
The goal of admissions is to accept students who enrich their college in one way or another.
- jeffdavis 8y ago
  What about the student?
  - AcerbicZero 8y ago
    The value of the diploma is directly linked to the value of the college. When you break it down a college diploma is only worth as much as the reputation of the college.
    - jeffdavis 8y ago
      What about the education itself? Do the awesome professors actually teach? Are the social circles at the college going to lead the student where they want to go in life? What about potentially-burdensome loans at the end of it? I think we need to get away from the idea of college admissions as a tournament with Harvard at the top. "Good" depends on many things and different students may best be served by different universities.