The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton

Focused too much on the top three elite universities in the U.S., this book dissects how their admissions policies and procedures developed and evolved from the late nineteenth century. It's startling to read just how UN-elite their admissions policies were during that time -- they didn't feel they had the choice or duty to seek out the truly gifted, instead they focused on getting the sons of those already wealthy and powerful even if they were third-raters academically. Only 10% of those at these colleges were intellectual, interested in studying, and those were viewed by the college administration as "grinds" not really useful to the colleges' goals of producing the social and power elite of the country. These colleges were in-grown, taking their admissions people from their own alumni, thus perpetuating the system. When Jews and other outsiders used the increasingly excellent public school system to become academically superior candidates to the sons of the WASP elite, an admissions system focused on legacies (sons of alums), athletics, and 'leadership potential' was developed to avoid admitting these hoi polloi that 'gentleman' wouldn't care to associate with. It's interesting to me that these colleges never simply excluded these 'undesirables' per se, just made it extremely difficult for them to gain admission. They excluded applicants from whole parts of the country, like those from public schools anywhere near NYC, instead, vigorously encouraging those from a handful of elite private schools (who seem to have excluded 'undesirables' for them). Many of the people making these decisions seem not to have been particularly anti-semitic; they seem instead to have felt that admitting more than some percentage of Jews (~15%) would 'destroy' their college's ability to raise money and be where the 'right sort' would go.The book tells its story very well, with massive documentation. I would have liked more about how the Irish and Italians fared (they seem not to have faced very much organized discrimination?), and the sections late in the book on women, blacks and Asian-Americans were useful but not as thorough. There were many fascinating and some horrifying characters and amazing stories about these colleges. It was not stressed enough, I think, that there were other universities which did see their role as educating academically motivated students. MIT, for example, was during this era all about educating the working-class and immigrants for useful technical and scientific careers.Anybody who wants to understand how admission to the Ivy League and other elite colleges got the way it is, and how these three evolved at last into a bit more of real universities rather than social clubs, would find this book fascinating. It's also of interest to anyone interested in fathoming one aspect of antisemitism in the U.S. during this period. It is long, even if the back notes are more or less ignored, but a fascinating read.

As a graduate of Harvard College, I can say I am more embarrassed than usual to admit it after reading Karabel's book. Karabel lays out in great detail the slimy admissions practices of the "top" Ivy colleges. Today's sub rosa selection process was born of anti-Semitism and carried on well into the middle of the 20th century. When I applied they required pictures, just to make sure the "coons," as one Ivy official referred to Blacks, got special Jim Crow treatment. Now that era is passed, and the Asians wonder if there is a quota for them. The college officials cry, "Goodness, No !" Yet they continue to favor the children of the same alumni who were chosen as a result of the now decried previous discriminatory policies. (See George W. Bush). Then they call that "fair." After reading this book one will be convinced once again never to believe them. The irony is these colleges deliver only mediocre educations to underclass students.

For a scholarly written book with a mind blowing topic, this manuscript needed a forceful editor who could have easily chopped it in half. In doing so, THE CHOSEN could have become a mass market best seller, instead of having the limited audience that it now enjoys. It would then possess the influence that it deserves, but will never achieve.The ESSENCE of the BookThis is the unbiased story of college admissions principally at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton for hundred years of the 20th century. There are 557 pages of narrative backed up by 116 pages of footnotes. The book boils down to a confrontation between the Protestant Establishment that seeks for approximately 100 years to limit Jewish enrollment at America's most elite universities. The book covers in detail the feeder schools (Andover, Exeter, Groton etc) which were and are the private prep schools that represented the so called power elite in America.There came a time in America when scholastic achievement achieved by Jewish individuals of Eastern European or Slavic descent completely overshadowed the intellectual achievement of the inheritors of America. Although NOT the product of a CONSPIRACY, an intervention would have to take place to limit Jewish enrollment.America's elite universities as they saw it were in danger of being over ridden by people of enormous intellectual ability but who were otherwise incapable of providing the legacy endowments that the colleges felt they were completely dependent upon. It was further believed that if the Protestant elite decided not to attend the so called Ivy League schools, than the reputations of these schools as the last bastion of wealth in America would be permanently lost.So What To Do?In 557 pages author Jerome Karabel who is a sociology professor at UC Berkeley takes you tediously through each step that each of the Ivy's went through in each of the decades of the 20th century to deal with this problem. Karabel has ferreted out the original studies that the schools did, the internal arguments they went through, the vast efforts they made to disguise the problem, and re-categorize it so that outsiders would not know what they were looking at, if an investigation were undertaken. Public investigations did happen in later years.In essence, admission to the elite schools would no longer be made on the basis of scholastic achievement alone. The decision was made that a new discriminating factor would be used to justify EXCLUSION. It was called then, and it is called now CHARACTER. Now character can mean just about anything, and that's the point. By including the concept of character, and its justification in the Admissions Process, the Ivy's were able to justify just about any selection they decided to make. The concept of character can also be referred to as non-academic criteria, and once you open the Pandora's box that contains criteria like this, just about any student who you want can be given the green light. You can also substitute the word MERIT for character, and again you must ask what is meant by this word. In both cases the word(s) is being used to limit enrollment of what are deemed to be excessive numbers of every class of people but the ones that the universities are desperately seeking to enroll.The Big Three knew that in the end as time marched on, the number of students who could demonstrate high SAT scores plus the ability to pay full commission would be limited. This led inevitably to the schools decades later accepting female candidates not for altruistic reasons, but because they represented another potentially rich source of wealth from which to select. There were also certain children of very wealthy parents that had decided they wanted to attend a school where women were present. It must also be acknowledged that as the century moved on, the initial Jewish problem because the African-American problem, the affirmative action problem, and the Asian problem as well.Karabel's analysis is brilliant, documented, and spot on accurate. His sources are impeccable, and one cannot argue with his thesis. It has been said often for the last 20 years, where have the people of brilliance gone to. The types of people that we saw at the founding of the American Republic, or during the FDR Administration or in the Manhattan Project. The answer is that our Presidential candidates are now an amalgam of the standards that we see set by what is documented in this book. Allow me to give you a few of the insights from this marvelous piece of scholarship:* The whole basis of the new system was to be able to create COVER for the admissions officers to accept or reject whomever they wanted.* It was necessary for the whole admissions process to be perceived by all outsiders as JUST.* During the 105 year period covered by the book, a graduate of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton was President of America for 44 years, and that does not include the second Bush who was a Yale graduate.* Initially at the turn of the 20th century, the elite schools were able to keep undesirables out of the system by demanding a knowledge of Greek and Latin which was not taught in the various public school systems, thus generating automatic exclusions.* Both James B. Conant of Harvard, and Kingman Brewster of Yale who were both Presidents of their respective schools were committed to the concept of merit as a means to preserve the status quo. Brewster's ancestors came over on the Mayflower by the way, a remarkably small social group.* As remarkable in today's society as it sounds, in the first half of the 20th century, the gentleman's C reigned supreme at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Grades were considered third in order of importance. Club life was considered primary, and campus activities were second in importance, and then grades.Conclusion:I gave this book four stars only because of the lack of a serious editor who could have worked miracles on the manuscript. Had the book been cut in half, author Karabel would have done us all a favor. As it is, it is a wonderful read for a very serious topic and a very serious book. If you have an interest in this topic, than THE CHOSEN should be number one on your list of books to read, and thank you for reading this review.Richard C. Stoyeck

This book was in pristine condition and wrapped in a sealed plastic bag. Quite a positive contrast from other sellers. Highly recommend!

Riveting in depth analysis of the policies of admission, shaped by years of history and social changes. One discovers that the three Ivies have evolved yet at the same time kept their original distinctions and peculiar specificities over time -my daughter was cross admitted at Yale and Princeton, has chosen Yale but the choice was difficult and was ultimately made over an atmosphere which is described since the beginning in this book- The author also questions the strarker issues of the limitations of Jewish students, America' distrust of intellectualism and the still imperfect nature of diversity

アメリカの名門とされる大学の入学者選抜の歴史を微に入り細に入り詳述した一冊。今だに語られるカボットとかエリオットといった名前がなぜビッグネームになったのかよくわかります。また学長が交代したらコロリと方針が大転換する事情なども。かつてイェールが脳内筋肉学生ばかりとなり、プリンストンがボンボンばかりの緩い大学となり、ハーバードがいち早くこれではイカンとばかり成績も重視する過程も現実感溢れ面白い。学生スポーツの金銭的成功に端を発して学外資金獲得が大学の重要な任務となりビジネス化していく姿も今の日本の原型を観るようだ。でもまあ結局は自分の都合と事情にあった学生を如何に選抜するかにつきるわけで、一般市民を刺激しないよう様々な目くらましを凝らしている姿は、むかしも今も変わらないようだ。長いけれど最初の100ページあたりまでに繰り返し出てくる固有名詞になれれば、読み進めやすい。何と言っても大学受験という非常に下世話なテーマだから。