[TheAdamAndChe]

> I hope future generations judge us harshly for this.

I understand it's annoying to jump through hoops to prove your intelligence, but what else are we supposed to do? There are already colleges like Western Governors University that provide fully accredited, self-paced, online college degrees. Are you wanting the top colleges to do this too?

You've got to question the impact on the college's social status that such a change would bring. People don't (generally) go to Harvard for the superior education, they go for the social status that being a Harvard graduate brings. If we make such a school globally accessible, wouldn't that dilute that status?

[canoebuilder]

What about making admission simply based on intelligence plus the interest/initiative to apply, instead of jumping through various hoops?

That wouldn't dilute status because only 1 percent of the population is in the top percentile of intelligence.

[TheAdamAndChe]

> What about making admission simply based on intelligence

How do you measure intelligence for school admissions? Wouldn't that introduce biases?

Also, there's an underlying assumption that college currently is about selecting for and advancing intelligence. What makes you think this is what college is for nowadays?

[canoebuilder]

>How do you measure intelligence for school admissions?

The same way psychologists and the military measure intelligence.

>Wouldn't that introduce biases?

Like what?

>What makes you think this is what college is for nowadays?

Colleges and Universities have historically been and should always be about the preservation and pursuit of knowledge. If that is what is being optimized for, then you should also optimize for intelligence because the two are inextricably linked.