Racial Preferences By Any Other Name…
Colleges and universities either prohibited by law from factoring race into admissions decisions, or those that prefer a subtler approach to admitting applicants based on race, do so by measuring personality, leadership qualities, life experiences, creativity, resilience, and other “noncognitive” factors.
According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, some schools claim that using noncognitive assessments are improving minorities’ odds of admission. No kidding? Northeastern University in Boston has gone so far as to develop the Torch Scholars Program to assess “leadership potential” and evaluate how an applicant has “overcome adversity.” As expected, average SAT scores for the program’s so-called scholars are 200 points below the typical student.
