Alyssa Bell Period 6 9/19/08
Unfair and Biased College Admissions A question like, “What type of college is best for me and what will it take to get there?” is one of the many kinds of frequently asked questions from junior and senior high school students looking to pursue higher education. With hundreds of different types of colleges it can be quite difficult since each college’s admissions process is relatively diverse. Colleges like Wesleyan University have admissions officers who individually go through and examine each application carefully. From reading The Gatekeepers by Jacques Steinberg it is clear that applicants tend to receive better ratings based on a few prejudicial aspects such as the following: racial and cultural background, education of parents, and the high school attended by the candidate. As mentioned by a website called justcolleges.com, “The [application] essay is really the one opportunity you get to talk about who you are” (1). It is the college’s way of getting to know a potential student without meeting them. If a college is so concerned with the personalities of the students who attend their campus what is the point of considering all the prejudicial facts that could make up their student body? Only when people score exceptionally well on everything do admissions officers begin to look at what a person has to offer. Jordan Goldman was a student at a high performing school and was applying to college at Wesleyan University as a backup. Jordan was nearly in the top ten percent of his school with fairly high SAT scores. When he was 7 years old he befriended a disabled boy and has been best friends with him since. In Jordan’s personal application essay he wrote about the story of how he met this boy and their friendship which touched the hearts of the admissions officers deeply at Wesleyan University. Ralph Figueroa was the first to notice Jordan’s lack of prejudice and said that “it touched [him] that a kid could be so unselfconsciously good and have it be so natural” (Steinberg 163). Jordan was not only accepted but placed in the “hot prospect” (the list of students in which the college wishes to inform them of their acceptance early). Rebecca Jannol is another student with phenomenal moral standards who wrote her essay about her experience with an illegal marijuana brownie that she consumed and later confessed to the school about. While Becca’s transcript read of mostly A’s and B’s her average GPA was not outstandingly high and “[t]he committee had voted to reject Becca Jannol’s application to Wesleyan” (183). This example from The Gatekeepers proves exactly how college’s place grade point average before morals. The facts that I now know about college admissions processes have altered views on my own application process and made me realize that colleges with such elevated standards do not fit my personality. Becca Jannol was not only rejected because of her grades but also because the college feared that she would be bringing a drug problem to their school. However when some strings were pulled by Ralph Figueroa (one of the admissions officers at Wesleyan) she was given a second chance and was able to visit the school only to find that “[the dorms] smelled like weed everywhere” (232). The committee had been very hypocritical to be concerned about the few bites she had of the marijuana brownie in which she confessed to. I would feel uncomfortable being apart of a campus with admissions officers who work in such a way as this. As Ralph suggested one night at a college workshop, “students should be ‘true to who [they] are’ rather than ‘write what [they] think the college wants to hear” (37). Obviously Ms. Jannol took that advice seriously and was in a way, punished for it.
To add to my opinion of colleges similar to Wesleyan, studies have shown that the larger the learning environment the more difficult it is for people to learn. Freddie is a student interviewed on a website who explained his large school to have teachers who “only have room for the motivated ones” (whatkidscando.org 1). Ivy League colleges and other top colleges have quite large campus’s with vast numbers of people in each class, therefore restricting one on one contact with professors. In order for me to retain information easier it is essential that I have access to professors and am able to establish a relationship with them. Wesleyan has failed The Intimacy Test for me just as for Ralph, Grinnell “[failed] The Tortilla Test” (Steinberg 22). Although college committees unfairly prejudge probable students to their campus they also base their decisions on categories such as: “ability to succeed in a rigorous and broad-based academic program, genuine intellectual curiosity, and demonstrated social involvement” (Wesleyan.edu 1). Throughout my high school career I failed to take college seriously and did not prove my ability to do such tasks. Although I believe that I am fully capable of doing so, being able to be accepted to a college with such high principles would be extremely difficult, if even possible. In which case applying to a 2-year institute in the South Bay would be the most logical option, especially because doing so would allow more time to decide which type of university would appeal to me most.
Works Cited
“Learning in a new key.” What Kids Can Do. 2003. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 10 Sep. 2008
<http://www.whatkidscando.org/specialcollections /student_learning/portfoliohome.html>. Steinberg, Jacques. The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College. New York: Penguin Group, 2003. “The Purpose of the College Application Essay.” Just Colleges: The Complete Portal. Just Colleges. 10 Sep. 2008 <http://www.justcolleges.com/college/coll_purpose.htm#top>.
“Undergraduate Admission: Applying.” Wesleyan. 2006. Wesleyan University. 10 Sep. 2008 <http://www.wesleyan.edu/admission /applying/index.html>.
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