4 ms·

Let’s say there’s two high schools, one is the ritzy private school (Eagleton Academy) and the public school that has a lot of poorer students (Pawnee High). Ha

Let’s say there’s two high schools, one is the ritzy private school (Eagleton Academy) and the public school that has a lot of poorer students (Pawnee High). Harvard needs a way to distinguish between students across schools. An A at Academy, after all, might be harder to achieve than an A at High, after all, Academy is a world-class institution. So, Harvard needs to tune its algorithm to factor that in. So, the A+ prodigy at High might not stand out against a sea of B+ students at Academy, after all, Academy is much more rigorous. Enter standardized testing: the prodigy gets a 2400 and the B+ students at High get ~2000s. Suddenly the prodigy can actually catch the attention of the Harvard admissions.

abduhl 5y ago
Yes, but the prodigy at Pawnee High happens to be Asian and we're full up on them so we take the B+ students at Academy whose parents went to Harvard. Sorry, we've been advised by legal to say that we're not really "full up" because that would imply we have quotas and also that we only consider race peripherally and only ever as a plus factor. It just so happens to not be a plus factor here, while it's a default plus factor for some other candidates.
- ajsnigrutin 5y ago
  I'm glad I live in a country where only grades and standardized tests are taken in account, and colleges don't even know the race or background of anyone.
  - boppo1 5y ago
    Where? Seems like DEI is turning up in most western universities.
    - ajsnigrutin 5y ago
      Slovenia. But the system is pretty much the same in other former socialist countries (atleast the end results... some colleges have specialised entry exams in some countries or even a combination of both, but in the end, the students are sorted by whatever score they get (based on grades and exam scores, not race or whatever), top X get acceppted, and only the cutoff score is published - everyone with that score or more is accepted, everyone below is not). This may be a leftover of socialism though, because in yugoslavia everyone was considered equal to everyone else.
      - kwere 5y ago
        equality > equity
  - ip26 5y ago
    If it was literally just grades & test scores it would be easy, but once you include personal essays & extracurriculars, inevitably inferences can be made about the applicant.
jcranmer 5y ago
Your hypothecation doesn't match my experience. The prodigy at High will come across as a prodigy: not only will they have the better GPA, they're also more likely to have the nice "extra factors" that play well in admissions--class valedictorian, leadership in student council or maybe other clubs, etc. By contrast, the mediocrity at Academy has a worse GPA, and is unlikely to get nice statuses in those other extracurricular activities (who will be snatched up by the prodigies at Academy). So for the mediocrity at Academy to be marked as better, the admissions officer has to know of Academy and its reputation... and that's less common than you might think, even for the most-highly-ranked exemplars of Academy. The other factor to bring up is that mediocrities at Academy are often competing against the prodigies at Academy; many schools don't want to admit too many people from Academy and will have a cap on the number of admissions. [Yes, I did go to such an Academy, so I have some personal experience on the matter.]
- thehappypm 5y ago
  The prodigy might be valedictorian, but might not. Maybe this student is gifted at math and gets all perfect math SAT scores and subject tests and mails in the rest of their classes for easy A’s.

abduhl 5y ago

Yes, but the prodigy at Pawnee High happens to be Asian and we're full up on them so we take the B+ students at Academy whose parents went to Harvard. Sorry, we've been advised by legal to say that we're not really "full up" because that would imply we have quotas and also that we only consider race peripherally and only ever as a plus factor. It just so happens to not be a plus factor here, while it's a default plus factor for some other candidates.

ajsnigrutin 5y ago
I'm glad I live in a country where only grades and standardized tests are taken in account, and colleges don't even know the race or background of anyone.
- boppo1 5y ago
  Where? Seems like DEI is turning up in most western universities.
  - ajsnigrutin 5y ago
    Slovenia. But the system is pretty much the same in other former socialist countries (atleast the end results... some colleges have specialised entry exams in some countries or even a combination of both, but in the end, the students are sorted by whatever score they get (based on grades and exam scores, not race or whatever), top X get acceppted, and only the cutoff score is published - everyone with that score or more is accepted, everyone below is not). This may be a leftover of socialism though, because in yugoslavia everyone was considered equal to everyone else.
    - kwere 5y ago
      equality > equity
- ip26 5y ago
  If it was literally just grades & test scores it would be easy, but once you include personal essays & extracurriculars, inevitably inferences can be made about the applicant.

jcranmer 5y ago

Your hypothecation doesn't match my experience. The prodigy at High will come across as a prodigy: not only will they have the better GPA, they're also more likely to have the nice "extra factors" that play well in admissions--class valedictorian, leadership in student council or maybe other clubs, etc. By contrast, the mediocrity at Academy has a worse GPA, and is unlikely to get nice statuses in those other extracurricular activities (who will be snatched up by the prodigies at Academy). So for the mediocrity at Academy to be marked as better, the admissions officer has to know of Academy and its reputation... and that's less common than you might think, even for the most-highly-ranked exemplars of Academy. The other factor to bring up is that mediocrities at Academy are often competing against the prodigies at Academy; many schools don't want to admit too many people from Academy and will have a cap on the number of admissions. [Yes, I did go to such an Academy, so I have some personal experience on the matter.]

thehappypm 5y ago
The prodigy might be valedictorian, but might not. Maybe this student is gifted at math and gets all perfect math SAT scores and subject tests and mails in the rest of their classes for easy A’s.