In response to: The Meaning of ‘Merit’ in College Admissions
Current issue
November 2024
Princetonians lead think tanks; the perfect football season of 1964; Nobel in physics.
President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, in “The Meaning of ‘Merit’ in College Admissions” (President’s Page, March issue), points out that Princeton’s “holistic approach … values many kinds of merit.” He lists as examples commitment, discipline, persistence, capacity for teamwork, fortitude, courage, honesty, and compassion.
He doesn’t include legacy status, yet today’s Princeton is still giving it weight.
I’m impressed and moved when l learn that a student is a third- or fourth-generation Princetonian. Development officers and the Alumni Council have good reasons for valuing such traditions. But how well does any hereditary status sit alongside the individual merits the president named?