4 ms·

The whole purpose of the "extracurricular" nonsense that is included in US college admissions is racial and ethnic screening. The original targets were the Jews

The whole purpose of the "extracurricular" nonsense that is included in US college admissions is racial and ethnic screening. The original targets were the Jews but now it's the Asians.

room500 6y ago
That is a strong statement. The ideal for college admissions should be to get a set of students that have the best possible chance to succeed. Unfortunately, a high school student doesn't have much experience with which to base that determination. Extracurriculars are supposed to show that the student is well-rounded and driven - attributes that have been shown to be positively correlated with success in college and careers. How would you want colleges to try to determine if a given student will be successful? Because straight academic scores are not the full picture of a person.
- maxharris 6y ago
  https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/harvard-s-jewish-problem https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/harvard-s-jewish-proble...
- username90 6y ago
  > Extracurriculars are supposed to show that the student is well-rounded and driven - attributes that have been shown to be positively correlated with success in college and careers. If extracurriculars are so important then why doesn't colleges require them to graduate? Why is their admission criteria so different from their graduation criteria? They ought to look similar. If grades are enough to graduate they obviously don't value other things and therefore should just look at grades of incoming students. If however grades aren't enough to say that a person is a good individual then why do they choose to graduate unbalanced people who only got good grades but suck at extracurriculars? Don't they care about their output at all?
  - room500 6y ago
    Ironic that you chose a story about Yale, but Yale Law/Medicine famously doesn't have grades. Grades are the easiest way to show that the student is participating, but it isn't the only way.
    - o_class_star 6y ago
      Yale Law doesn't have to use grades because it's the top law school and it can push 100% of its students. It's the same with top graduate departments, which have grades but rarely actually give anything below a B. Lower-ranked law schools have to use grades so the top students can actually distinguish themselves and get decent jobs.
jkingsbery 6y ago
I don't have data either way. Do you have a citation?

The whole purpose of the "extracurricular" nonsense that is included in US college admissions is racial and ethnic screening. The original targets were the Jews but now it's the Asians.

room500 6y ago

That is a strong statement. The ideal for college admissions should be to get a set of students that have the best possible chance to succeed. Unfortunately, a high school student doesn't have much experience with which to base that determination. Extracurriculars are supposed to show that the student is well-rounded and driven - attributes that have been shown to be positively correlated with success in college and careers. How would you want colleges to try to determine if a given student will be successful? Because straight academic scores are not the full picture of a person.

maxharris 6y ago
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/harvard-s-jewish-problem https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/harvard-s-jewish-proble...
username90 6y ago
> Extracurriculars are supposed to show that the student is well-rounded and driven - attributes that have been shown to be positively correlated with success in college and careers. If extracurriculars are so important then why doesn't colleges require them to graduate? Why is their admission criteria so different from their graduation criteria? They ought to look similar. If grades are enough to graduate they obviously don't value other things and therefore should just look at grades of incoming students. If however grades aren't enough to say that a person is a good individual then why do they choose to graduate unbalanced people who only got good grades but suck at extracurriculars? Don't they care about their output at all?
- room500 6y ago
  Ironic that you chose a story about Yale, but Yale Law/Medicine famously doesn't have grades. Grades are the easiest way to show that the student is participating, but it isn't the only way.
  - o_class_star 6y ago
    Yale Law doesn't have to use grades because it's the top law school and it can push 100% of its students. It's the same with top graduate departments, which have grades but rarely actually give anything below a B. Lower-ranked law schools have to use grades so the top students can actually distinguish themselves and get decent jobs.

jkingsbery 6y ago

I don't have data either way. Do you have a citation?