2008 Woodie Awards
Should diversity be a priority in college admissions?
Diversity should not be overriding factor
Cameron Fry
Staff Writer
Issue date: 4/9/07 Section: Opinion
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The decision-making process associated with college admissions was never meant to be a simple thing. The question of who is worthy of acceptance at a given university versus who is not has been the center of an increasingly hot debate over the past few decades.
What exactly are the determining motives that convince an admissions board to admit a certain student? Certainly several factors weigh in, such as diversity and ethnicity in addition to academic performance. But are there accomplished students, those who go above and beyond a given university's standards of excellence, being denied approval simply due to an overemphasis on diversity?
Without question, diversity plays a significant role in the makeup of a university's student body. I, for one, believe maintaining a mixed inflow of students with diverse ethnical backgrounds is of utmost essentiality. The question boils down to where diversity stands on the criterion ladder. Just how much focus should an admissions board allot towards the issue of diversity?
First and foremost, academic aptitude must equal or exceed the amount of attention surrounding the concept of diversity, regardless of a student's nationality, educational background or income. If an admissions board fails to adequately organize its priorities concerning the manner by which it analyzes prospective students, they run the risk of severely reducing the importance of the individual. And if the importance of individualism dissolves as if it were a secondary issue through a university's attempt to draw more ethnically diverse students, what exactly has that university accomplished? While certain admission boards may value its decision in assigning diversity as their primary decision-making focal point, in reality, they've only cheapened the very component that makes up any ethnicity: the common man - the individual!
Concerning how to preserve the principle of diversity and individual significance, so that the basis for personal aptitude isn't diversity but the degree to which the individual maximized his opportunity - that is the question at hand.
What exactly are the determining motives that convince an admissions board to admit a certain student? Certainly several factors weigh in, such as diversity and ethnicity in addition to academic performance. But are there accomplished students, those who go above and beyond a given university's standards of excellence, being denied approval simply due to an overemphasis on diversity?
Without question, diversity plays a significant role in the makeup of a university's student body. I, for one, believe maintaining a mixed inflow of students with diverse ethnical backgrounds is of utmost essentiality. The question boils down to where diversity stands on the criterion ladder. Just how much focus should an admissions board allot towards the issue of diversity?
First and foremost, academic aptitude must equal or exceed the amount of attention surrounding the concept of diversity, regardless of a student's nationality, educational background or income. If an admissions board fails to adequately organize its priorities concerning the manner by which it analyzes prospective students, they run the risk of severely reducing the importance of the individual. And if the importance of individualism dissolves as if it were a secondary issue through a university's attempt to draw more ethnically diverse students, what exactly has that university accomplished? While certain admission boards may value its decision in assigning diversity as their primary decision-making focal point, in reality, they've only cheapened the very component that makes up any ethnicity: the common man - the individual!
Concerning how to preserve the principle of diversity and individual significance, so that the basis for personal aptitude isn't diversity but the degree to which the individual maximized his opportunity - that is the question at hand.
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