Admissions at elite colleges and universities is a rigged game. More specifically, it is a game with various ways to score points, and so parents with the resources to help their kids score those points find ways to do so. Mitchell Stevens sums this process up nicely in the introduction to his excellent, recent work on admissions at an elite (but not super elite) liberal arts school:

The goals and standards most explicitly depicted in the attributes elite colleges say they are looking for in applicants: measurable academic and athletic ability, demonstrated artistic accomplishment, and formally recognized philanthropic service.

Affluent families have a big advantage in meeting these goals and standards because they have relatively more resources to invest in doing so. Keenly aware of the terms of elite college admission, privileged parents do everything in their power to make their children into ideal applicants. They pay for academically excellent high schools. They shower their children with books and field trips and lots of adult attention. They nurture athletic talent through myriad youth sports programs. They encourage and fund early glimmers of artistic interest. They channel kids with empathic hearts toward exotic and traceable forms of humanitarian service. In the process of doing all of this, affluent families fashion an entire way of life organized around the production of measurable virtue in children. (15)

Two quick thoughts to what is otherwise a pretty self-explanatory passage. First, this passage illuminates nicely the rationale behind the various activities that Hilary Levey examines in her work on highly-competitive children’s activities. The point is not to raise children who will have careers in dance, soccer, music or chess, but rather to produce formally recognized, measurable accomplishments. Second, and related, the “measurable” bit is particularly interesting. We tend to jump to thinking about SAT and GPA when discussing measurable traits used in admission, and for good reason (especially given the emphasis on those traits in evaluations of schools by rankings agencies and internal metrics). But beyond helping their kids with these academic measures, well-resourced parents are also good at helping their children find formal recognition for less obvious talents (joining the chess club and competing in chess tournaments, submitting poetry to magazines, serving in a larger, well-respected organization rather than simply helping out at school or church, etc.). In other words, well-resourced parents are good at making their children’s talents legible to admissions’ committees.