[zulu314]

Here in France, elite STEM schools run a series of highly competitive exams that consist of a series of written tests and oral interviews over several weeks. These are brutal, students basically prepare for them for 2 to 3 years and there is no alternate way to trick your way in. Not if you're a billionaire.

The system is far from perfect: only a teeny tiny fraction of students who make it are from poor/underprivileged backgrounds (some do). Yes it is infinitely easier to prepare for these exams in a middle class family than in a ghetto.

Yet it still seems an order of magnitude MORE FAIR then checking whether daddy is a big donor to the school. Or having SATs that are so ridiculously easy that we're gonna have to fallback on whether you were a member of the theater club.

[JoeAltmaier]

I think that's half of the system that Colorado is opposing? Test scores (not so easy) reflect income more than aptitude. Not just the 'legacy' checkbox.

[zulu314]

Hard test scores reflect some sort of aptitude at least. The fact that higher income students get them is a second order effect with many many causes that need to be addressed separately.

Legacy checkbox reflects absolutely nothing other then nepotism.

[JoeAltmaier]

...and this Colorado bill is addressing it head-on, by diminishing test scores in admissions decisions.

[threatofrain]

But they're dealing with the problem at the stage of the pipeline which they can address, which is a bit late as inequity begins to solidify long before.

Some children will have AP credits and some wont. Some children will have completed calculus and others won't have started. By this time, years of advantage and disadvantage have already accumulated. These differences in student profile will interest both in-state and out-of-state colleges.

zulu314 is pointing out that tests can be meaningfully designed for predictive value, and I would additionally wonder whether universities all around the world will follow suit by diminishing test importance?

[paxys]

You are talking about admissions for highly specialized schools, which exists in America as well. This article is concerning regular public universities.