What would you say about a college...

[DGS49]

...that aggressively eliminated all demographic information from the application process, and evaluated all incoming students anonymously, strictly on academic merit? Specifically,

The application is submitted under the applicant's SSAN; no name is requested or allowed.

Any reference to gender is prohibited. For example, if you played for the girls field hockey team, the entry would be "Varsity Sport, 4 years."

References to religion are prohibited. If you went to Brooklyn Yeshiva, the entry would be "Private High School, enrollment ###."

Any reference to race or ethnicity is prohibited.

Any reference to citizenship or visa status is prohibited.

Application essay must be purged of this information, as well.

Students are evaluated entirely on test scores, grades, honors, accomplishments, and relevant outside activities. "Interviews," if any, are conducted by internet chat.

(a) would any college today have the courage to implement such a demographic-blind evaluation system?

(b) on what basis would anyone challenge the fairness of this system? and

(c) would you want your kid to apply there(assuming it was a reputable school at a manageable cost)?

 

[candycorn]

Sounds perfect.

A—I hope so.

B—I couldn’t challenge the fairness of the system. However by “relevant outside activities” I would hope that would include information to the flipside of the coin. Criminal records, disciplinary actions taken against the applicant, etc…

C—Yes.

I would say that the Internet Chat should be done via “escrow” where the questions and answers are submitted to a 3rd party before the principals can read the questions/responses to eliminate any information. Such as prefacing an answer with, “As a Latina, I was ………..”

Does such a college exist?

 

[Skull Pilot]

are you seriously suggesting that people be judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin?

You must be a racist

 

[MarathonMike]

That would be a very logical, unbiased process. But since colleges are Liberal institutions controlled and funded predominantly by rich Democrats we know that will never happen.

 

[Marion Morrison]

That would be a very logical, unbiased process. But since colleges are Liberal institutions controlled and funded predominantly by rich Democrats we know that will never happen.

Except when they're controlled by leftists and funded by taxpayers.

 

[DGS49]

The point of the exercise would be to preemptively prevent any accusation of bigotry, favoritism, or any sort of "privilege."

Then, when the demographics of the freshman class comes to light, let 'em whine.

 

[anotherlife]

This doesn't make sense. Credit files don't contain family information, so you can't calculate how many more years of student loans your student can get and pay the college. Repeat customer base is important.