The Power of Privilege: Yale and America's Elite Colleges (review)

Supported by abundant archival evidence from Yale and elsewhere, Joseph Soares takes on the myth of increasing meritocracy in elite college admissions in the United States. Arguing that Nicholas Lemann's (1999) The Big Test essentially got it wrong about the role of the College Board in the emergence of a "test-score-selected meritocracy . . . at Harvard and Yale in the 1950s and early 1960s" (p. xi), Soares presents compelling evidence that the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT, later renamed the Scholastic Achievement Test) not only opened ivy-covered doors to a more academically talented and diverse student body but also assured the continued selection of students from the highest economic stratum.

Soares, a Rutgers alumnus who spent two decades at Harvard and Yale as both a graduate student and professor, provides a historical treatment of the emergence of highly selective private college admissions, as exemplified by Yale. He strengthens his case with supporting evidence from Harvard and the contrasting approaches of such selective public universities as the Universities of Michigan and California.

Soares, a sociologist, does a commendable job of archival research to build a century-long history of Yale admissions. He traces the anti-Jewish quotas of the early twentieth century through a shift to pro-legacy (alumni children) and pro-athlete admissions by mid-century. Soares makes clear that Yale's admission policy was not based on choosing wealthy and legacy applicants who were not expected to succeed in college over poor and unconnected youth who were; by 1950 Yale had five to seven times more applicants than it needed, an estimated 80% of whom were judged to be academically acceptable.

Over the 20th century, Yale took a decidedly empirical approach to determining which of that 80% it wanted to shape into top leaders for society. A belief in tests—which were objective and revealed true intellectual qualities—over high school performance—which could be attained by intellectually inferior "grinds"—led to the development of the College Board examinations and the Educational Testing Service. Yet, Soares notes, Yale's institutional researchers knew that high school grades, not test scores, could predict college grades.

It is clear from changes in admissions policy and practice, as well as through communication with alumni, that Yale was in the business of predicting much more than college grades. In examples of speeches and writings that would seem nearly sinister if not read in the context of institutional bluster, Soares provides evidence of Yale's self-appointed mission to select young people who would become national and international leaders in government and public policy. Soares points to Yale's success:

At the conclusion of George W. Bush's presidency, a Yale man will have been in the White House for 20 years, and since 1972, there has not been a U.S. presidential race without a Yale man on one ticket or the other.

(p. 5)

Perhaps Yale did after all figure out how to choose future leaders from among the 80% of academically qualified applicants.

Following the historical analysis of Yale's admission policy and its effects, Soares shifts into full sociological mode to present a statistical analysis of Bourdieuian class reproduction through elite higher education. While a reader might quibble with some definitional items and assumptions built into the model, Soares demonstrates that elite higher education appears to be a moderately central element in social class reproduction only for families in the northeastern United States. Inserting a statistical study into what was, up to that point, mainly a sociological history is a risky authorial choice and the chapter feels a bit out of place, though interesting for what it reveals.

While there is much to recommend The Power of Privilege, a few caveats are worth noting. First, Soares sets up Lemann as a straw figure against whom to argue. While Soares and Lemann come to some critically different conclusions about the role of testing in mid...