Diversity and College Admissions

Reader chowiespiegel asked a difficult question about diversity in the College Admissions Forum today:

I hate the word diversity (in general, because it smacks of superficial Political Correctness), but in the context of College Admissions, what does it REALLY mean? Does a Tier2 school REALLY want ANOTHER white kid from an upper-middle class family with perfect grades and 2000-ish SAT's?

Visit any college website and you'll immediately see the school's efforts to brand itself as diverse--the landing page will often show a group of racially diverse students having a fun time learning. When it comes to college admissions, however, diversity is about more than race. It is also geographic, economic and cultural. Furthermore, colleges want students with diverse talents and interests.

In general, most respectable colleges believe that the best learning environment is one in which students come from a wide range of backgrounds and have a wide range of interests.

Visit the forum to share your thoughts on this often controversial issue.