The Flight to Quality in College Admissions: News: The Independent Institute
One of the interesting developments is that schools that are particularly aggressive in trying to reach politically favored groups, such as first generation students, often have paid a huge price actual falling enrollments associated with a perceived decline in quality. For example, in the first two decades of this century, Ohio University significantly lowered academic standards to get greater representation from underrepresented groups. In 2003, for example, it admitted about two top-notch students (top 10% of their high school class) for every mediocre student (bottom 50% of high school class). By 2015, however, there were actually more mediocre students (so defined) than very good ones. The result? Enrollments are falling. My school loudly proclaimed its fealty to the Holy Trinity of Higher Education: Access, Diversity, and Inclusion, dramatically downplaying Academic Excellence. Result: middle class kids from good suburban high schools started abandoning Ohio University, with enrollments off about 5% since 2016.