[1419] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: Slate Article
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Richard Barbalace)
Wed Jun 25 12:20:54 2003
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 11:59:32 -0400
From: Richard Barbalace <rjbarbal@MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: <20af01c33aa2$42664f20$52dd300a@phx.gbl>
Quoting Chienta Wu <jimmbswu@ALUM.MIT.EDU>:
> By Michael Kinsley
>
> Admission to a prestige institution like the University of Michigan or its
> law school is what computer types call a "binary" decision. It's yes or no.
That is true for an individual applicant. That is not true for the population
of applicants. The population as a whole does not behave in a binary way. The
failure of Kinsley to understand that simple point causes him to misuse his
computer analogy and draw invalid conclusions.
A 1% change in a single admission factor might be a 100% change for an
individual, but only a 1% change in the demographics of the population; even
the chance of an individual being affected is likely 1%. The admissions
process is less concerned with individuals than with the entirety of the
student population, as it should be.
+ Richard
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