Education and Class

• Dear elite colleges, please stop recruiting students like me if you know we won’t get in – The Washington Post

  As many of us work to help align college aspirations with students’ dreams, elite colleges spend thousands of dollars to convince students they’ll never admit to apply, all so that they can brag of how competitive admissions were for the legacy and other elite students who are admitted.

  “I’m not alone. Each year, colleges reach out to thousands of students with fancy brochures and solicitous e-mails, inviting them to apply. They contact many more students than they’ll accept, buying names for less than 50 cents a pop from places like the College Board, which has data on students’ PSAT or SAT range, self-reported GPA, ethnicity, religion and potential major. (Students must opt in before their data is shared).

  Here’s why: Colleges want prestige, and a high ranking on the infamous U.S. News and World Report lists. One way to get it? Low acceptance rates, which come from lots of applications.”

  tags: socialclass

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.