Opinions about a Prestigious University Admitting Some % of Students Randomly

4 pointshabnds3y ago3 comments

Considering what college admissions in the US has turned into today, I've wondered for a few years whether a prestigious university could benefit by specifying that 5 or 10 percent of students would be choosen at random if meeting some basic standard like a 600 average SAT score and successfully graduating high school.

I think it would give opportunities to those who are less traditionally qualified and have an additional benefit of adding a seed of doubt to many highly qualified first years that maybe they had gotten randomly rather than "earning" their spot.

It would also acknowledge the fact that places like ivy league schools get as much as 20% of qualified applicants but accept much fewer than that, making admission, for many, essentially a lottery, rather than something they've earned.

3 comments

theRealMe3y ago

If you let 5-10% of people in randomly, that means that 5-10% of people that would have earned their way in, won’t get in. Sucks to be them I guess.

Also, allowing people that don’t put in the effort or just aren’t smart enough into a high-expectations environment sounds like a recipe for disaster. Take somebody that could have potentially struggled, but gotten a degree from a regular state university and turn them into someone that fails out of an Ivy League isn’t exactly helpful.

Sure, some WILL succeed, but my guess is more won’t.

cafard3y ago

If memory serves, I heard the head of the Stanford Philosophy Department suggest this for graduate admissions 45+ years ago. Now, how I happened to hear such a person speak at my own college, which was not in Stanford's league, I do not remember; how he happened to talk about graduate admissions I really cannot explain.

readonthegoapp3y ago

i like the idea.

there are so many stories of kids who were awful at school, then one day, things just clicked, and... we're now starting to wake up to this idea of 'multiple intelligences'.

p.s. maybe this should be an 'Ask HN:...'?

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