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I'm going to buy a gun
Apr. 23rd, 2003 08:38 amIf one more person refers to Michigan's admissions system as a "quota" I am going to freak out, drive to Walmart, buy a gun and go on a rampage.
Whatever else is wrong with the system, it is not a quota. A quota would suggest that every year we size up the applicant pool and decide how many points to give underrepresented minorities so that we get a certain number of them. That doesn't happen. Maybe when they developed the 20-pt bonus plan, they had key numbers in mind, but since then the system hasn't changed. Meanwhile, applications fluctuate. The number of minorities U-M admits goes up and down with the quality of the overall applicant pool. We worry when we admit few, and we're happy when we get to admit a lot, but we don't change standards for these students on an annual basis to achieve some critical mass.
People can bitch and whine about it or applaud it all they want--I respect their right to have opinions and express them freely. But when they should not speculate as to what it is that happens in the admissions office--too often they guess wrong.
Here is a key point for the pundits and media types: there is a difference between your opinion and matters of actual fact. If you can't tell what that difference is, hang up your pen or your microphone until you get it. Otherwise, you're misinforming your public.
I am soooooooooooo sick of reading/hearing/thinking about this issue.
Whatever else is wrong with the system, it is not a quota. A quota would suggest that every year we size up the applicant pool and decide how many points to give underrepresented minorities so that we get a certain number of them. That doesn't happen. Maybe when they developed the 20-pt bonus plan, they had key numbers in mind, but since then the system hasn't changed. Meanwhile, applications fluctuate. The number of minorities U-M admits goes up and down with the quality of the overall applicant pool. We worry when we admit few, and we're happy when we get to admit a lot, but we don't change standards for these students on an annual basis to achieve some critical mass.
People can bitch and whine about it or applaud it all they want--I respect their right to have opinions and express them freely. But when they should not speculate as to what it is that happens in the admissions office--too often they guess wrong.
Here is a key point for the pundits and media types: there is a difference between your opinion and matters of actual fact. If you can't tell what that difference is, hang up your pen or your microphone until you get it. Otherwise, you're misinforming your public.
I am soooooooooooo sick of reading/hearing/thinking about this issue.
