It turns out that children of rich, famous, well-connected, or otherwise influential people are getting preferential treatment at colleges and universities.

The article also mentions the by-now ho-hum fact that Asians are held to higher standards than any other ethnic group, although a new term is given to them: the"new Jews."

One final thought: the article compares Notre Dame's practice of giving preferential treatment to alumni children to the practice of other universities of giving preference to rich people. I don't think those are in the same boat. Universities that let in rich people are only interested in prospects of money (they call them"development admits"!); by contrast, Notre Dame's practice of prefering children of alumni is in part a way of saying"thanks" to people who have already gone to Notre Dame.

(Full disclosure: I am a graduate of Notre Dame, though, as the first in my family to graduate college, I am not the child of alumni; and I am married to a woman who is a third-generation Notre Dame graduate, but who was actually denied the first time she applied to Notre Dame (she was accepted as a transfer student after her first year).)

S J - 9/6/2006

Thanks for this - interesting stuff. The college admissions game just seems to get more complicated each year.