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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The entire US educational system in this country is broken.  It is no longer about helping a student reach their potential, but instead painting a mosaic of how some school administrators believe America should look.

I get that universities are businesses and need slots for athletes and other needs to create a school community but [b]some percentage of each class should be set aside for pure merit based admission[/b].  I know it won’t happen, so more and more Americans will go to school in the UK where admission is merit based, get a degree in 3 or 4 years from a quality university for less than one would pay for a mid-level SLAC.

For those that choose to stay in the US just understand that admissions are random, and based on the “needs/whims” of the university and not a reflection of the quality of the applicant.  [/quote]

Pure merit by your definition I presume.

Understand that top colleges do admit on merit. The issue that you have is that their definition of merit isn’t your definition of merit. [/quote]

Even they admit it is not based on merit. AOs are open about this and, in fact, emphasize this point.

Their priorities are to be diverse as in being able to represent all 50 states, x number of countries, male/female balance, represent different races, etc.

None of these are wrong, but it is not pure merit, when you also have these additional constraints.

At MIT, women have a far lower bar compared to men. At SLAC's with some majors, men have a lower bar compared to women. Does not mean the people being admitted are not qualified, but at the margins a slightly weaker candidate is admitted over a stronger candidate to achieve the balance they were seeking. [/quote]

Every kid picked deserves admission in the schools view. The criteria might differ from what you believe to be the correct one (solely ranked by academic strength and nothing else) but they all are seen as meriting admission by the institution.[/quote]

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