[troutmskreplica]

Sorry, but I don’t think your idea of meritocracy is very much in line with what most Universities are looking for.

That’s why they have things like essays and consider extracurricular activities. Most of the selective Universities specifically exclude people with high grades and very little else that they were involved in.

Moreover, I recall reading at some point that at least some of the Ivy’s, during at least the first half of the 20th century, specifically avoided students with the highest grades in favor of those who were more like a B+ average and were more social, which they determined through the very subjective means of interviewing students on campus. (I’m old enough that I recall some of my friends visiting Universities for such meetings, but I have no idea if they still meet prospective students like this).

[chillacy]

Afaik they do this because they wanted to avoid admitting so many Jewish students in the 1900s.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/09/14...

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/03/histor...

[troutmskreplica]

Sorry I cannot tell what “this” is since that article neither mentions downplaying grades or interviewing students.

I believe the specific things I am talking about were discussed in relation to introversion and The Ivy’s specifically wanting to lean toward extroverts who were well-rounded and had good social skills.