For many N.C. State students, the prospect of graduate school is now inevitable. The current economic crisis has created an increasingly competitive job market, and post-baccalaureate degrees are emerging as necessary for prospective applicants in most fields. As a result, graduate schools have become increasingly selective in their choice of applicants, and no schools are more selective than those of the Ivy League. However, getting into a competitive graduate program is sometimes out of the student’s control. The Ivy Leagues among other competitive universities created their own standard for evaluating applications; a standard that takes diversity to a new extreme.
Attending an Ivy League university is part of the American dream. James Truslow Adams defined the American Dream in 1931 when he said, “Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” He meant that this opportunity exists for all citizens regardless of social class or circumstantial traits. But the Ivy Leagues do not appear to merely value achievement and ability. Though their applicants are among the most qualified in the country, the Ivy Leagues value historically underrepresented minorities over Caucasians or Asians, legacies and those from wealthy families over the average middle-class student, and poor or low-income students over middle-class candidates.
Many students wish to attend an Ivy League university at some point in their lives. Simply attending an Ivy League university guarantees a certain level of respect by members of society. The Ivy name often automatically puts a job applicant into the preference pile before a job interview; it suggests that someone is hardworking, successful, and trustworthy. To maintain the high caliber of these schools, the admissions boards develop stringent requirements and criteria for evaluating the thousands of applications received each year.
Because of the constant stream of qualified and overqualified applicants, the Ivy Leagues can afford to be selective about who will attend their university through whichever guidelines they see fit. These requirements and criteria vary by university, but appear to follow a general trend: the traits that designate an applicant as qualified or unqualified are often largely inherent and unalterable.
Diversity is certainly an important quality for any social group, because of the introduction of new ideas and perspectives with people from a multitude of backgrounds. However, socioeconomic status should not be considered more important or even equally important to achievement and ability. Even well-qualified students are so discouraged by the low acceptance rate that many students are beginning to compromise their dream schools for safe choices.
In a society that honors hard work and maintains the illusion that anyone from any background can achieve anything they desire, the Ivy schools and graduate programs nationwide are reversing stereotypes and discrimination, but are pushing these further in the other direction. Perhaps race and socioeconomic status, apart from financial purposes, should be left out of the application process entirely. If the goal of these schools is to truly achieve diversity and maintain the traditional caliber, the admissions board should consider changing their standards to more objective ones.
