The New Yorker has an interesting piece by Louis Menand, The Thin Envelope: Why College Admissions has Become Unpredictable. Especially in light of this week's affirmative action ruling by the supreme court.
I'm not totally sure how I feel about the use of race in admissions. Especially in business school admissions (my most recent experience) it seems to me that asking any information that does not speak to the immediate qualifications of the student should be questioned. Given my professional career, academic performance, personal qualities, why should which box I check in the "race" category change my chances of entry? This is a particularly personal question to me; given my mixed ethnicity, I have the right to make such a choice. I don't see how such a system can claim to be both internally consistent and equally fair to all races.
I found one section of the Harvard Business School application even more dubious, if not downright offensive -- the one where they ask where your parents went to school, and what they do for a living. As someone well into my career, what reasonable meaning could my parent's occupation possibly have? How could it possibly be an indicator to my personal integrity, professional skill or experience. My only thought is that it may be an indicator of how much I'm likely to donate to the school, or how famous (and/or well connected) my parents are. Is that any better or worse than say, asking how many generations my family has lived in this country?
