Compare this recent University of North Carolina Daily Tar Heel editorial —
Admissions decisions should be based solely on the merits of one’s application. Although the female-to-male ratio at universities across the country is rising, administrators at UNC shouldn’t begin giving preferential treatment to male applicants….
Regardless of how wide the gender gap becomes, it is wrong to deny admission to an applicant based solely on gender….
— to this summary of findings regarding admissions preferences at public universities in North Carolina conducted by the Center for Equal Opportunity several years ago:
All six public colleges and universities in North Carolina that we studied–NC State and UNC at Asheville, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Greensboro, and Wilmington–show a substantial qualifications gap between black and white applicants who have been accepted for future enrollment….
The odds of admission at five of the six schools studied indicate a strong degree of preference in admissions given to blacks over whites. These odds ratios range from 177.1 at NC State to 3.4 at Chapel Hill….
I searched for a Daily Tar Heel editorial criticizing these admissions preferences, but if there is one I failed to find it.
I always wondered why this was a supposedly good idea to let in a bunch of students who were well below others in preparedness/level.
And I’m not just talking racial preferences here — there were plenty of white students from poorer areas of NC when I was at NCSU, many of whom were very weak compared to the students who came from Raleigh or Charlotte areas [as an example]. Many wouldn’t make it back the second year [some wouldn’t make it past the first semester, actually].
NCSU is an interesting situation. Admissions are done by college/major, not in general. You can apply to multiple colleges at NCSU. I went to PAMS [Physical and Math. Sciences], many of my fellow physics students couldn’t make it into the engineering college.
To get the preferences to work at NCSU, they had to create the “First Year College”, which is for weak students, basically. I thought it was a good idea, so those who were let in as weaker students had a chance to learn how to survive college. If you’re going to do preferences, you’ve got to give the weak students extra support, otherwise the admissions numbers “look good”, and the graduation numbers are abysmal.