Remember how much applying to college sucked? The entire second half of high school was spent in a scramble to fill in as many multiple-choice bubbles, cram in as many AP practice tests and tally up as many extra community-service hours as humanly possible ‘mdash; all while keeping that qualified, well-rounded smile sparkly enough to cover the fresh stench of bull.
So you’d think the new UC admissions policy ‘mdash; which eliminates those superfluous SAT subject tests, offered at 5 a.m. Saturday morning for reasons most likely not of convenience, and gives students without the resources to complete all required courses a chance for comprehensive review ‘mdash; would be welcomed with open arms by all us psychologically wounded vets of the system.
Especially in conjunction with the new guaranteed admission windows, adjusted to include more students (even if they’ll probably just end up at Merced) in the top of their class at less advantaged schools, who maybe wouldn’t have stood out statewide.
Of course, the cutting of so much red tape will mean a tidal wave of newly eligible applications: Officials expect 30,000 more applicants for fall 2012, when the policy will go into effect. It would be virtually impossible for UCSD readers to review such a range in applications with its existing point system, since many hopefuls won’t bring AP-inflated grades to the table, and so much more weight will be put on circumstance. But a fade to anything humanized should be appreciated at this point ‘mdash; considering we can’t even add classes (not to mention friends) without plugging in anymore.
There’s always someone who feels like he’s getting the short end of the stick. This time, it’s Asian-American interest groups, less than thrilled to learn the number of admitted Asian students would most likely drop, seeing as they’re such stellar subject testers. But projections are too preliminary to take seriously, since Asian students could easily apply those efforts to all that other crap the university still requires, and end up as the reigning ratio once again. And in the end, no matter what the slight shifts in demographic, we’re all just a bunch of people trying to get an education; may the best man win on the most level playing field possible.
One gripe remains legit: The regents should have allowed for a bit more public input and a better analysis of these demographic impacts before they up and passed those changes. But of all the policies passed under less-than-ideal circumstances, this is one for which they actually deserve some props.