An article in my school’s daily paper addresses efforts by international students to change the college’s admissions policy. Currently, the applications of all North American (US, Canada, Mexico) students are processed independently of their financial aid applications. This is not true for international students. At a quick glance, only Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Williams, and Middlebury provide need-blind admission to international students.
On its face, the argument seems pretty simple. As the college seeks to diversify its student body with international students, there is little to be gained for the college or the students by a policy that selects for wealthier applicants. This is especially true considering the low price-tag (at least in Dartmouth’s case, at $1.2 million) of the policy change.
Of course, it comes down to an issue of priorities. I think it’s a fair argument, but in my ironically (my parents immigrated on student visas) ethnocentric way, I think activist energy and college resources should be focused towards improving access to higher education, larger aid packages, and better recruiting among socioeconomic and racial groups that are disadvantaged in America. They aren’t mutually exclusive, but academic institutions are conservative (reluctant to change) by nature, and in the rare event of a dialogue leading to policy change, I think it is important to keep the larger picture in mind.
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