Bad College Admissions Policies

There are people who urge college-admissions committees to let disadvantaged students be admitted with lower test scores or other academic indicators. Those who say such things seldom even attempt to see what the actual consequences of such policies have been. The prevailing preconceptions — sometimes called what “everybody knows” — are sufficient for them. Factual studies show that admitting students to institutions whose standards they do not meet often leads to needless academic failures, even among students with above-average ability, who could have succeeded at other institutions whose standards they do meet.

Thomas Sowell, Backward-Looking “Progressives”