Higher education would be more effective if colleges were more selective in choosing students.

Higher education would be more effective if colleges were more selective in choosing students.
12:23- 12:53   

Education is an important aspect of any society and has been transformed dramatically over the past few centuries. In most nations across the globe, higher education has been reaping its rewards for many people. It is shown that a college graduate earns significantly more than a high school dropout and Master’s Degree will earn more than college graduate. Thus, higher education is a must for those who want new doorways of opportunity to open. Politicians have promised the public that they will put more children college than ever before. The problem with this is that, if colleges are accessible to more people the value of higher education plummets and increases competition. Thus colleges must find fine balance with who they matriculate.

First consider a situation in which colleges must be selective in choosing students. In many nations, there are so called “Ivy League” or first class universities that have developed a renowned reputation worldwide. The primary reason for this reputation is the success rate of these graduates in the work force compared to other employees in the job market. Ivy League schools such as Princeton, Yale and Harvard are major Ivy Leauge schools in the US that have very selective admission criteria. Each school has a specific vision and mission thus to fulfill the crux of the school’s foundation, a stringent selection criteria must be present to matriculate a potentially successful candidate. In most cases, a high GPA, preferably a 4.0, or community involvement are examined to see how well rounded a student is. Looking at these criteria will easily weed out those incompetent to meet the school’s vision. Most Ivy League school are also situated in very costly locations that have high cost of living. Thus , wealth may also be a factor in selecting candidates because, in order to make a profit, Ivy League school have to find academically well round students and wealth at the same time. This combination is very rare in most cases, thus high selective factors by college results in, value of an education in these institutions as highly regarded in society and gives graduates an edge over their competition.

In contrast, the majority of colleges in any society are selective but to a lower degree than Ivy League schools. For public academic institutions, funded by the government and students the selection factors are a bit lowered in these cases. An ordinary citizen to jump up a rung in the social ladder must attend higher education. Most citizens are not so wealthy so wealth is not considered as seriously as Ivy League schools. Likewise academic standards for admission are lowered because they take anyone in order to recruit students for a profit. For example, public universities in a small community are usually less selective. In Maine, community colleges and the University of Maine System have far less standards of admission in terms of lower cost, GPA requirements and SAT scores. Hence since more people are often associated with low GPAs and SAT scores more people attend community colleges and government run state universities to get a better future and financial independence.  The primary reason for these lower standards is that too much selective criteria will harm the college’s chances in gaining a profit thus have lower standards. Having lower standards of college admission will allow the working class to grow thus have more contribution to the working class.

All in all, it is evident that  higher education exists in two flavors, one where stringent selection is critical for success and in other cases lower standards are a must, which depend on population demographics. When there are ivy league schools in wealthy neighborhoods, higher stricter standards are present for admission in order to maintain a higher cost of living and reputation. These selective criteria will give graduates from Ivy League schools to have an edge over their competition. On the other hand, government run universities in a small community, often middle class or poor,  are usually less selective because their very survival is on students and without students the college will shut down. Hence public colleges are less selective.