[randomnumber53]

Most colleges are moving towards need-blind admissions too, debunking the common complaint that they don't admit low-income students because they'd rather admit students who can pay.

It is also important to note that these types of policies are more common the more elite a university is.

[philwelch]

Of course elite universities don't make admissions decisions based on income. They make admissions decisions based on things like "child of an alumnus", "high SAT scores", or "good grades at a private prep school", none of which are known to correlate with income /s

[aianus]

Intelligence is one of the most genetically inheritable traits. Combined with environmental factors it's no wonder SAT scores and grades would correlate highly with parental income.

[dragontamer]

100% environmental.

We had an "elite" SAT training program at my high school. (A very smart teacher ran it). Learned 100 words per week, by straight up rote memorization. Mastered math formulas to the point that you could do them without understanding the theory. Studied for the test, not for the concepts.

We all weren't learning anything useful. It was basic rote memorization, no concepts, no nothing. Students were pronouncing "Epitome" as "Epi-tom" (instead of "e-pit-tom-ee"). But it don't matter, as long as you recognized the unfamiliar words and memorized dictionary definitions... and then practiced analogies for 2 to 3 months at a time... you will get it.

We learned how the SAT was graded, how to pick out easy questions. How to skip the harder questions that mattered less for your score... and focus your mind (while it was still fresh) on the more important questions. We even learned patterns to hypothesize which of the sections wasn't gonna be graded. (one section of the SAT is not graded. It is a baseline for next-year's SAT)

After the SAT, most of us forgot the meanings of those words. But we got the score we needed to get into college.

Those who study the SAT have a supreme advantage over those who don't study it. Everyone who took the class shot up by like 200 points in both Math and Reading.

The teacher was very frank. It was a "study for the test", "beat the test" attitude. And frankly, it worked. I'm pretty sure anyone who went through the training I did would have scored 1300 minimum on the 1600 test.

Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Male, Female, Christian, Jewish, Muslims. Everyone you can think of was in this class, and everyone got significantly better at taking the SAT.

[hey-there]

> Intelligence is one of the most genetically inheritable traits.

Interesting. Do you have any sources for that?

[gradstudent]

> Most colleges are moving towards need-blind admissions too

Need-blind? Like, purely based on merit? I don't think that's helpful. If the point is to help disadvantaged kids, their scores need to be weighted by their circumstances.

[mirithekiwi]

As far as I understand it, they ignore FAFSA information but could probably still get an idea of the kid's background based on school, personal statements, etc. I'll admit, it sounds like this wouldn't be as effective for helping disadvantaged students. On the other hand, I think it gives schools plausible deniability for admitting a high number of students who wouldn't need financial aid, giving the school more money.

[randomnumber53]

That is still an issue, but it is better than purposefully weighting admissions toward applicants who can afford full tuition.

[Lawtonfogle]

What happens when those circumstances have disadvantaged a child in a way that cannot be recovered (for example, I've seen a documentary on over medicated children who were screwed up by the medication so badly that they still have clear issues even years after being taken off).

[Prosciutto]

Please google "need-blind admission lie"