Presents seven basic assumptions to help 17-year-olds distinguish themselves in today's highly competitive college selection process: the student is in charge, students must make a friend of their advocates, choose eight first choices, SATs and ACTs don't get you in, the college market is not a tight market, personalize the process, and be…

Affirmative action was a strategy adopted by an expansionist federal government to hasten integration, meant to be temporary and thought to be innocent. It has become a system of racial preferences and should be ended. It is unconstitutional, is inappropriate for the complex racial distribution in this country, promotes racial resentment and…

Different groups have had different experiences under affirmative action, and it is time to rethink the meaning of the policy for its intended beneficiaries. For White women and Asian Americans, policies should now focus on increasing upward mobility and advancement within institutions once entry has been gained. For Blacks, Latinos, and Native…

Among all college applicants, the disproportionate number of qualified Asian students presents special problems to admissions officers. There is the "model minority" segment and the underside--the economically and socially deprived who are candidates for affirmative action programs. (MLW)

Asian Americans are charging that the nation's most prestigious colleges are limiting their access with informal quotas. Admissions deans and directors must discard stereotypes, take steps to guarantee a more sensitive assessment of Asian-American applicants, and not cap admissions for that group. (MSE)

For 25 years, professionals concerned with undergraduate admissions have gathered in Cambridge to discuss topics of interest. Writing recommendations, selective admissions, prediction equation in the selection process, radical students, financial aid, enrollment management, etc., are discussed. (MLW)

The nation's best interests are served by selective admission to higher education. Selection should be based on scholastic aptitude, measured more accurately by combining high school grades and aptitude test scores than by either alone. Neither scores nor grades is flawless or badly flawed enough to be disregarded. (MSE)

A major new project, sponsored jointly by the College Board and ETS, which aims to clarify which personal qualities can best supplement academic measures to predict a student's success in college, is reported. Three types of studies that will be undertaken are admissions studies, validity/retention studies and assessment studies. (Author/MLW)

It is argued that, despite a tendency toward standardization of student evaluation, it is possible to use college admission requirements to support academic rigor without creating barriers to admission. There is evidence to support use of special recruitment and admissions programs and alternative testing methods. The College Board's role is…

In the current anti-affirmative action climate, colleges should review their admissions policies and redouble their efforts to admit a diverse class. Colleges have a right to determine what percentage of the students will be admitted automatically. Admissions officers violate the law only when they use race as a proxy for other legitimate…

An economist discusses whether strategic use of student financial aid to achieve sound fiscal goals in higher education is at odds with the competing goal of equity. Overemphasis on efficiency will cause higher education to lose sight of its mission; while it should not shy away from rational consideration of expenses and revenues, it should…

Testing can serve an important function in the selective admissions process, but the emphasis should be shifted from measurement to assessment of learning, from people evaluation to program evaluation, and from a concern with aptitude to a concern with accomplishment. Such changes would help testing improve teaching and learning. (Author/JMD)

Until society has addressed underlying factors in racial and minority-group inequities, it should attempt to make progress toward equity at all educational levels, including colleges and graduate and professional schools. Analysis of newly available empirical data suggests that following race-neutral policies at selective colleges would have…