Interesting article about some of the best & brightest American students not being accepted into Yale. Aside from children from wealthy homes who pay full tuition, how is it illegal aliens are getting accepted over American students?!?!?!

We MUST make sure there will never be a Dream act!!

Merit takes second place in admissions
Published: Sunday, January 02, 2011

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A lot of high school seniors may have gotten a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings.

These are the brightest of the bright kids seeking early admission to the college they have coveted through four long years of high school only to get a rejection notice.

The chances are slim to none they will ever really know what went into the decision that spoiled their holiday. It is enough to understand that the selection system is notoriously capricious and frequently dishonest, dedicated less to excellence than the building of endowments and the currying of favor with the influential.

Doing everything right in and out of the secondary school classroom frequently plays an insignificant role.

And it isn't always the "elite" private institutions that are playing this game. Thanks to a major Midwest newspaper it was discovered recently that the admissions office of a highly regarded state university had color-coded applications folders to designate those who were politically advantageous, likely to contribute generously, legacies, etc.

It is often a wretched process that regards young men and women as only a means to further a dubious agenda, one that in many cases rewards those who are academically undeserving.

The schools of the Ivy League have built enormous amounts of cash on this system. Haven't you heard of the gazillionaire's son who was so dumb that only Harvard and Yale would accept him?

Perhaps the best example of this disingenuous approach can be heard in a conversation a mother told me she had with her daughter who had applied for early admission to Yale from a Fairfax County, Va., public high school noted for its excellence and had been summarily rejected — no waiting list, no encouragement to apply later.

"I'm glad you tried," the mother said. "But we both knew that your chances were not good because there were considerations outside your control. You did all you could do."

The mother recited a sterling record of academic and extracurricular achievement. Continued...


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Her daughter has a 4.39 average, superb test scores, 2,300 on her SATs and 35 of 36 on her ACTs. From K through 12 she never had a B and the grading system in Fairfax County is among the nation's toughest with only a five-point window for an A, not the 10 points of most schools.

She plays in two bands, marching and concert, and was selected for a prestigious congressional internship. She also belongs to a community service organization, plays basketball and swims, and has a boyfriend. She is personally very attractive and appealing and interviews well, her mother said.

She said her daughter had taken it in stride, but with obvious disappointment. She just wasn't the daughter or granddaughter of someone who had gone to Yale where that often is most important. A large number of admissions come from that source.

"Look at George W. Bush," she said to me. "Do you think his prep school grades were near as good as hers? I of course don't know but I would wager a year's income they weren't."

Her mother also noted that she had not gone to one of the Ivy preps that aren't a bit better than the public school she attended but have that reputation and connections nevertheless.

If one needs further proof, I was explaining at lunch to a "Yalie" of my vintage that somehow it seems incongruous for the Ivies to claim such status in undergraduate education when they turn down such incredible achievers for applicants with far less on their resumes.

"It is a problem," he replied honestly. "I didn't have anywhere near a four point-average but I had both a father and grandfather on my application. I readily admit it. So did a large number of my classmates."

The moral of this tale is simple. Rejection can be a good early lesson in the unfairness that life often brings no matter how well one has performed.
The tragedy comes when our children follow our accepted prescriptions for success only to be told in the end that it doesn't matter.

E-mail Dan K. Thomasson, former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service, at thomassondan@aol.com.

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