The Price of Admission Quotes

“Reinhardt, a German immigrant, told me that the selection of white legacies over Asian scholars reflects a disturbing trend in American society. “When I got to the USA in the early 1960s, this country had become, by virtue of the GI Bill, pretty much a meritocracy,” h”
― Daniel Golden, The Price of Admission (Updated Edition): How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges--and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates

“From 1979 to 1988, it concluded, Harvard admitted only 13.2 percent of Asian Americans, compared with 17.4 percent of whites. Applicants from California and those intending to study biology—two disproportionately Asian American groups—had lower admission rates as well. Accounting for most of the admissions gap between white and Asian applicants, federal investigators concluded, was “preference given to legacies and recruited athletes—groups that are predominantly white.”
― Daniel Golden, The Price of Admission (Updated Edition): How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges--and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates

“It provides a convenient excuse for arbitrary decisions: asked why it rejected a student, a college can say that he or she looked wonderful on paper but didn't fit into the mix. The image of a fair but fickle process also pumps up the applicant pool:”
― Daniel Golden, The Price of Admission (Updated Edition): How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges--and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates