Talk:College admissions in the United States
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[edit] Information Should be added
The ACT, which is the preferred test for the middle section of the country, is not mentioned here at all. Also, not all colleges require seperate aplications. Case in point, colleges who accept the Common App.Ruairi irish 00:48, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
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Some of this content is not my writing, but copied from college admissions.
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I think the assertion that Harvard University derives most of its prestige from its graduate and professional schools is biased. Regardless of how Harvard, Yale, or Princeton actually do stack up, Harvard's preeminent reputation was set long before any of these universities had graduate schools, by virtue of its age if nothing else. And Harvard (along with Yale and Princeton) held a unique place in American popular culture in the early 1900s even as their graduate schools were catching up to the standards held by Hopkins and Chicago. Maybe Harvard doesn't deserve the reputation it has, but I don't think that in most people's minds its stature derives from its graduate schools alone.
[edit] NPOV
The fact that you wrote this all yourself is...well, impressive. I'm gonna try editing some stuff for NPOV risque language. EagleFalconn 06:30, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
- Yes, please do, this is intolerably POV as it is. (eg "now more the province of less successful people who have failed to rise in life and must cling to the name of successful institutions.") There really ought to be more citation as well. 68.124.22.75 22:54, 10 February 2006 (UTC)
The entire lead paragraph is about the role of "class" in college admissions, not the actual process itself. Then there's a whole section about class that's completely unsourced and way too opinionated. (Also, the writing is disorganized and very poor.) I think this article needs some serious rewriting, and much of what's in it now probably needs to be deleted. Yaguar 11:55, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] POV
When discussing the amount of applications submitted by students from their respective classes the author lacks empirical evidence to support his information, and seems to be extrapolating on his/her own experiences with high schools students and the relation of their economic class to their attitude towards applying to college. Although some of these attitudes might be prevalent in the U.S. amoung the classes mentioned, they are more stereotypical in their assertions, and should not be placed in an article in an encyclopedia unless they are labeled as such.
Example:
"Upper-class students usually apply to four or fewer, and may boast about how few applications they wrote or how little (if at all) they prepared for the SAT."
Armcpeek 04:10, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
- The bit on the correlation between social class and number of applications can probably disappear, though it seems to be accurate. Since getting into top undergrads is very difficult for middle-class students-- even perfect SATs and top high school grades don't suffice-- and very easy for well-connected "upper class" students, it's actually true, but maybe not germane to the article. (Not everything that is true about a subject belongs in its article.) It's also not uncommon for people to brag about writing few applications, though not obvious that this is done to affect upper-class status; more likely, it's just general slacker boasting. Czar Dragon 20:57, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
This article is in dire need of citations. --Xtreambar 18:45, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
"college admissions offices generally consider it impossible to measure or compare the quality of students' extracurricular activities." What about recruited athletes?
== Easy for private school students to get into Harvard? ==
The statement admission into "Harvard is taken as an entitlement at the nation's top prep schools, [citation needed] even by mediocre students" is incorrect. No mediocre students get into Harvard unless they have unbelievable talents. Simply going to a fancy private school doesn't write your ticket into any of the most selective schools. In fact, most colleges are slightly biased against private school students; as they are over-represented in the application process. This statement is biased and should be removed. 216.57.86.131 03:02, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Biased writing
I think this entire paragraph needs to be removed or seriously rewritten:
"The college admissions process is intrinsically unfair, despite what major universities say. Many students sacrifice their adolescence to gain acceptance to these prestigious schools only to learn that those sleepless nights and solitary Saturday nights were in vain. Often, these students end up attending colleges where they are overqualified because they cannot gain admission to schools that are at their level. Thousands of qualified applicants are turned away every year on the whim of an admissions bureaucrat. It is widely agreed that the system needs to be reformed, but in the last 20 years, universities have become so powerful that it is unlikely such reforms will ever occur."
This paragraph was probably written by a frustrated rejectee, and while it is probably true, it is highly subjective and its tone is not suitable for an encyclopedia article. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.50.250.229 (talk) 15:40, 3 February 2007 (UTC).
I have removed this. It is a blantant violation of Wikipedia's NPOV rule. --LHon
