, Columnist
College Admissions Will Never Be Fair
If we recognize this, we can build a better system.
The prize.
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Some parents will do anything to get their kids into the college of their dreams. They think it’s totally normal to spend thousands of dollars on tutors, SAT prep and college-essay advisors, and to use whatever influence they have to get an edge. In some circles, not trying to game the system is even seen as parental failure.
Understandable as such behavior may be, it also works against one of the primary purposes of education and college in particular: to improve the lot of kids who aren’t lucky enough to have rich and influential parents. So how do we strike a better balance? How do we build a system that fosters social mobility while accepting the reality of parental gaming?