No doubt there will always be opportunities available for some students that aren’t available for other students due to various factors ranging from low SES, to different state codes and provisions, to geographical location. (and on and on) Do you suggest that we take away opportunities available for some in order to make it “fair and equal” to those who don’t have those opportunities? I guess my question here is, how do you propose that the difference in opportunity problem be resolved?
Opportunity can never fully be equalized if parents have a role in educating and rearing their children, but the costs of being competitive in the admissions pool for universities and professional schools should not be raised needlessly. Here is an example. This weekend I spoke with a niece attending Columbia in NYC who will be applying to medical school next year. She has worked as an unpaid intern in a medical research lab for three summers to bolster her applications and can afford to do so because her parents are rich. When I asked her if the position was paid, she said that there was so much demand from pre-meds that labs did not need to pay them. Middle
and lower class college students need to work over the summer to pay for school and cannot take such internships. Medical schools should consider how much research experience to expect of applicants. (More broadly, they should consider whether a 4-year B.A. is necessary, when pre-med courses can be completed in two years.)
