Sampled colleges nationwide to determine whether admissions criteria differed significantly for minority groups. Results indicated minorities are expected to show evidence of quantifiable accomplishment. Noncognitive factors were less important. Private and Protestant colleges were more likely to consider motivation and admissions interviews. (JAC)

Study of freshman applicants and persistence at Arizona State University revealed that at first years end the ethnic composition of applicants and students was very similar. However, no admissions model that attempts to match some community's ethnic composition can be constructed to assure adequate representation of all minorities, although steps…

Looks at the problem in the Federal Republic of Germany over the past two decades of regulating access to higher education in the face of a growing demand for admission. (SJL)

It is argued that rationales justifying privileged admission to educational programs contain seeds of racial divisiveness and that they are undermining the integrity of the legal order and reducing courts to arenas of social, political, and personal conflict. (Journal availability: "American Journal of Jurisprudence," Law Building, Notre…

The most exclusive boarding schools in America were created by old established families in order to define their cultural identity and isolate themselves from "nouveaux riches" industrialists and lower-class immigrants. Data on graduates, however, suggest that these schools brought together children of new wealth with those of old families.…

It is argued that the Supreme Court's Bakke decision overturning the University of California's minority admissions program is good for those who favor affirmative action programs in higher education. The Supreme Court gives wide latitude for devising programs that take race and ethnic background into account if colleges are acting in good faith.…

Three landmark Supreme Court cases concerning affirmative action and racial discrimination within higher education institutions, and their interrelationships, are discussed: Hopwood vs. the State of Texas; Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke (1978); and Brown vs. Board of Education (1954). Treatment of the legal issues by the Center…

Presents a series of studies that show how applicant-reported biodata, together with standard academic criteria, were used to select candidates in one Canadian preservice teacher education program. Analysis of data from 1986-90 indicates that assigning equal weight to academic and personal criteria has several advantages. (SM)

Ten qualitative categories associated with excellence in medical education and practice are identified: character and integrity; breadth of knowledge; leadership; geographic preferences; gender, race, and religious preference; work habits and motivation to study; personality and attitude; personal orientation toward service; altruism; and personal…

Compares findings from 1978 and 1988 studies conducted to determine whether high school accreditation was a requirement for college admission, where policies were formed, anticipated changes in the emphasis on accreditation, and the practices of large, public, and private colleges admissions requirements for in-state and out-of-state students.…

In a University of Texas-Austin case in which four white applicants to the law school were rejected, a federal judge has upheld the college's right to consider race and ethnicity as admissions factors, but also outlined strict limits on use of affirmative action in assessing applicants, which could pose legal problems for some colleges. (MSE)

Examines the ethical conflict in community college nursing programs between the value placed on equal educational opportunity and the need for quality and high standards. Offers a defense of open admissions and open access and presents the case against open admissions. Suggests priorities for associate degree nursing programs. (37 references) (MAB)

Many colleges, Harvard among them, offer preferential admission to the children of alumni. The legacy preferential system perpetuates elitism and the status quo and places blacks and other minorities, whose parents were less likely to have gone to college, at a real disadvantage. (SLD)

Examines international trends in selection for higher education, as well as school-leaving examinations and university access in South Africa. Discusses tensions between educational quality and equity related to access. Describes equitable admissions criteria instituted at the University of the Western Cape, and some dilemmas encountered by…

A questionnaire was administered to 554 intellectually gifted women who attended a highly selective school for gifted females between the 1910s and the 1980s, to explore internal and external factors affecting educational and occupational choices. Differences in personality and attitude factors were found across decades of graduation and between…