Elite colleges and universities have made diversity a priority. A Pomona or Oberlin will trumpet, “Domestic students of color make up the majority of the admitted class at 52.3 percent.” The Ivy League is not far behind. Brown University proclaims: “Forty-seven percent of the members of this year’s admitted class…
Back in 2014, I was pleased to see my daughter earn a ‘5’ on her AP European History test (this will not be a complaint about victimization by standardized testing). Gratified, but curious about what a ‘5’ really means, I went searching for a translation: how good is that top…
The current admissions process for elite colleges is a mess. I’m not here to defend it. My goal: to expose the problems with Steven Pinker’s proposed solution. I take Professor Pinker to be an eminent member of the scientific elite: he’s published dozens of papers and books, and he’s been…
I wrote this essay for my daughter and her peers, to help them adjust to the rejection letter they are almost certain to receive from Princeton—or Harvard, Yale, and Stanford (collectively, HYSP). I hope it may help other parents too. I write as a Dad. My responsibility is to convey…