Margaret Spellings, Columnist

America's Got Talent (and Not Just in the Ivies)

Employers can nab top-tier talent by looking far beyond top-tier institutions. And they can help fix the college admissions mess in the process.

March 26, 2019 at 11:00 AM UTC

By Margaret Spellings

Margaret Spellings is a senior consultant at the policy nonprofit Texas 2036. She was formerly president of the University of North Carolina System and served as secretary of education in the George W. Bush administration.

Look harder.
Photographer: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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It’s a powerful myth that our college admissions process has superhuman predictive powers. If you make the cut, you’re the talented 1 percent; miss it, and you’re relegated to the second tier.

I think it’s hogwash, though I’ll admit I’m biased, having spent my undergraduate years as a commuter student at the University of Houston, one of our nation’s many engines of upward mobility.