In "Real Compassion in College Admission" (The New York Times, February 6, 2016), partner Steve Cohen reviews the report titled "Turning the Tide" written by the Harvard Graduate School of Education as a part of its Making Caring Common Project and explains why he thinks the report's suggestion won't be effective in "leveling the admissions playing field and making the process less stressful."
The report recommended that colleges emphasize "meaningful" community service activities more and scores from the standardized exams such as the SAT, the ACT, and the Advanced Placement exams less. Steve asserts that this well-intended proposal won't be effective for many reasons including the fact that "with more kids applying to more colleges than ever before, admissions officers have to use some sort of triage to make quick decisions." Instead, he suggests more fundamental approaches to make the process fairer for lower-economic background kids such as making college less expensive and valuing credits from community college courses equally as the Advanced Placement credits.
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Opinion: Real Compassion in College Admissions | The New York Times
