To the Editor:
Of the 2,649 potential new undergraduate students Brown admitted last week, 17.5 percent will be the first in their families to attend college. While it’s great that this is the largest percentage in Brown’s history, recent research shows just how much it still falls short.
Most high-achieving, low-income students fail to apply to any colleges with SAT scores similar to their own, according to recent research. Students at high schools with few other high achievers don’t meet teachers or alums who went to selective colleges, so they lack role models and information about opportunities.
The good news is this problem doesn’t appear too difficult to solve. In a follow-up study released last week, researchers mailed a $6 packet of information about admissions and financial aid to high-achieving, low-income students. Students who noticed the packet were 56 percent more likely than those in a control group to apply to a college matching their qualifications, 78 percent more likely to be admitted to one and 46 percent more likely to enroll.
Brown is missing out on thousands of smart students from an incredible diversity of backgrounds — and vice versa.
Brown has made impressive improvements to financial aid in recent years, and the current proposal to become fully need-blind is an important step. But even this is not enough. For Brown to become truly meritocratic, it must commit to an aggressive recruiting campaign for low-income students — and then make sure financial aid is there to back it up. Our nation’s very socioeconomic mobility is at stake.
Nick Hagerty ’10
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