Okay, take my kid and my feelings about it out of it (he's probably going to be top 10% anyway).
- For argument sake, say all universities decided that grades no longer mattered, that SAT/ACT scores in the top 5% guaranteed you admission - forget holistic reviews, forget anything else that goes into what makes a student. Only Test Scores. So kids who can ace a test in one sitting would get in over kids who have proven by making good grades that they can be successful in their studies day after day. Do you think that is a good way to pick college students? With only ONE aspect of who they are, and what constitutes them as a student, considered??
What if the one thing they decided to count was essays? So, only the best writers could get into college, leaving out mathmeticians and engineers. Would that be a good way?
The reason schools like UVA, Berkeley, Harvard, Yale (pretty much every other school in the country) use Holistic (meaning they look at the ENTIRE application - grades, testscores, activities, essays, etc.) is because they feel that it gives them a complete picture of the person, and they can have a more diverse and interesting mix of students, bringing different talents and assets to the university.
Now change that to the idea of ONLY using class rank and see what it would do to the makeup of the campus. Is that more fair? Is that a better way?
AND, Munchkin, as for your arguments -
1.
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I also understand why the law was instituted--since the Hopwood decision eliminated traditional affirmative action in the 5th District, they had to come up with a way to admit a diverse class.
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Hopwood was overturned:
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On June 23, 2003, the Supreme Court abrogated Hopwood in Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003) in which the high court found that the United States Constitution "does not prohibit the law school's narrowly tailored use of race in admissions decisions to further a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body." The ruling means that universities in the Fifth Circuit's jurisdiction can again use race as a factor in admissions (as long as quotas are not used, per Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003)).
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So race can now be used as a determining factor in admission - takes care of the need for the 10% rule
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To that end, it has worked. UT is far more diverse both racially and socioeconomically than it was 10 years ago. More high schools are represented than pre-1998,
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From the The Top 10% Law Report and its impact:
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Since the implementation of the Top 10% Law, there has been no significant change in the percentage of UT students from school districts classified as "rural" or "non-metropolitan" by the Texas Education Agency.
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AND from the Austin American Statesman
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Enrollment of Hispanics and blacks has not risen significantly since 1997
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This statement can be backed up by information on the University of Texas Common Data Set, but there's way to much to quote here.
AND
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and academic performance has improved, since the 10% admits do better in college than the others.
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From the report:
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While Top 10% students on average earn slightly higher grades at UT, the performance is not uniform throughout the Top 10%. Those students in the 6th through 10th percentile of their high school graduating class earn on average a grade point equal to students in the 11th through the 20th percentile.
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There is also no discernable difference in retention or graduation rates.
Look y'all, I've been involved with this for 6 years (when my oldest was looking at schools, ironically, he ended up at UF) - I know the statistics, I know the arguments for both sides, and based on a lot of study, I've come down on the side that college admissions should be based on more than ONE factor.
EVERY other TOP school in the country uses a holistic measure. If it was better to only use ONE factor, then schools across the country would be doing that - it would certainly cut down on salaries for admissions folks.
And, the University of Texas is desperate (see all the information regarding the President of UT's pleas to the legislature) to change the laws. If it was a good way to fill their school, do you think they'd be trying to change it???