Okay, finally getting the chance to sit down and fukk with this thread.
I'm not sure the best way to approach this topic, because it's multifaceted as hell. What I'm leaning toward is explaining each step of the process, the advantages and disadvantages that different groups have, what - if any - way someone can manipulate the system to correct for disadvantage... And of course I'm hoping anyone applying to an elite college/university, anyone who has family or someone close to him applying in the near future, or anyone simply interested in better understanding the process will ask questions so this can be more of a conversation than anything else.
Here's what I'm bringing to the table, so we're clear: I worked as a dean of admissions for a number of years at one of the best colleges/universities in the nation. As such I read thousands upon thousands of files, attended countless (mostly pointless) conferences about admissions, traveled extensively to private and public high schools across the country, read everything I could about the process at elite schools and contrasted what I read with my personal experiences. So I have a very informed perspective.
However...
I don't know much about admissions outside of elite institutions of higher learning. I can't tell you much about how the admissions offices work at public universities, junior colleges, community colleges, for-profit colleges, etc.
The college admissions process for elite institutions makes a liar out of everyone. I was fortunate enough to have one wonderful colleague who was generally brilliant, extremely observant, critical in his thinking, and who did the sort of constant self-sorting most individuals are either too lazy, too afraid, or too alienated from their own selves to do. He was my saving grace - we spent hours over the course of my tenure in the office discussing every aspect of the process, from the specific ways we handled/mishandled it on our end, to the more general, grand social realities and ramifications the process clarified for us along the way. I have very strong and very informed opinions about the entire thing, and I have no idea how to discuss the process without letting my insights color that discussion.
Elite college admissions is, at its root, a story of class warfare. In a society like ours, where a relatively tiny percentage of citizens run the show in most meaningful ways, the term "class warfare" has been distorted and misapplied to the grumblings of the general public in response to the actual day-to-day insidious forms of class warfare that have been in place for so long we accept them simply as par for the course.
If anyone has questions, post them. Otherwise I'm going to saute some onions and garlic, throw some fresh okra in the pan, add diced tomatoes and cajun seasoning, let that ho simmer for half an hour while I whip up a batch of rice, enjoy my home-cooked lunch, and then start posting about admissions.
) im just gonna say what I tell my cousins and what I would tell myself.
