What the Meritocracy Debate Misses About College Admissions

The admissions question behind the debate

A recent essay by Russ Greene in The American Mind challenges the idea that meritocracy is a simple alternative to progressive admissions policies. His argument is broad and political, but it raises a useful question for families: What should colleges actually mean by merit?

That question matters because admissions offices regularly weigh grades, test scores, activities, essays, recommendations, family circumstances, and personal challenges. Each measure offers information. None tells the whole story by itself.

Greene argues that modern meritocracy is not the same as the older American idea of character and public reputation. He points to the founding era, when colleges and public institutions did not rely on standardized examinations in the way they do today. In his telling, earlier ideas of merit emphasized virtue, judgment, and demonstrated character rather than paper credentials alone.

For students, this is an important distinction. A transcript can show sustained effort and academic preparation. A test can offer one comparison point across different schools. An essay may show reflection and communication. But none of these automatically proves wisdom, integrity, curiosity, or the ability to contribute to a community.

How testing changed the path to college

The essay focuses especially on the rise of aptitude testing in higher education. Greene describes how Harvard president James Bryant Conant promoted the SAT as a way to identify students with natural potential beyond the traditional elite preparatory-school network. Clark Kerr’s plan for California’s university system similarly expanded access while creating more selective institutions at the top.

This history presents testing as more than a technical admissions tool. It was also part of a larger effort to reorganize American higher education around broader access, research institutions, and a new national leadership class.

Families do not need to settle that historical argument to see its practical implication. The meaning of a test score depends on what the test is designed to measure. An aptitude-oriented exam may estimate certain forms of academic potential. An achievement-based exam may show what a student has learned. School grades, meanwhile, can reveal consistency, course selection, and response to sustained expectations.

Those are different kinds of evidence. Treating them as interchangeable can create confusion for students and parents.

The risk of turning disadvantage into an admissions strategy

Greene also argues that once colleges select heavily for potential and personal circumstances, applicants may feel pressure to present hardship, trauma, or grievance as central parts of their applications. He connects this concern to the continued role of life experience in admissions essays, including after the Supreme Court’s decision limiting explicit racial preferences.

This is a sensitive area. Students’ backgrounds can matter because circumstances affect opportunity, preparation, and access to support. At the same time, no student should feel required to dramatize private pain to appear worthy of admission.

A healthier application process allows students to explain context without reducing them to adversity. The focus should remain on what they learned, how they responded, what they value, and how they are prepared to engage with college-level work.

For tutors, this means helping students develop clear, honest applications—not manufacturing a story. A student’s essay does not need to sound extraordinary. It needs to sound thoughtful, specific, and true.

A practical lesson for families

Greene’s proposed alternative to meritocracy is not another admissions formula. He calls for human judgment, prudence, distributed authority, and a deeper emphasis on duty rather than deservingness.

That conclusion is worth considering even for readers who do not share all of the essay’s political claims. College admissions cannot be reduced to a single ranking of who deserves a place. It is a judgment about preparation, fit, potential, character, and the educational community a college is trying to build.

Students should therefore focus on the parts of the process they can control: choosing appropriately challenging courses, building strong academic habits, preparing carefully for any required tests, and describing their experiences without exaggeration. Families should be cautious about promises that one score, one activity, or one dramatic story will determine an outcome.

The larger lesson is simple: merit is multidimensional. Good advising helps students demonstrate several kinds of readiness while remembering that an admissions decision is not a final verdict on their worth.