, Columnist
College Admissions Shouldn’t Be Trusted to Humans
Random selection would save a lot of money and trouble, and improve diversity.
Just make it random.
Photographer: Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg
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After yet another spring in which millions of American kids endured the anxiety of discovering whether their chosen colleges had accepted them, pundits are yet again lamenting the absurdity and social ills of the process. Why should a cabal of admissions officers hold so much sway over high-school students’ self-esteem and access to the elite?
Allow me to offer a radical solution: Fire the functionaries and use random selection instead.