Would it have been too much effort for the author to just show the numbers in the main article instead of burying them on two separate pages?<p><pre><code> 2024-27 2028
American Indian/Alaskan Native 2% 1%
Asian American 41% 47%
Black/African American 13% 5%
Hispanic/Latino 15% 11%
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 1% 0%
White/Caucasian 38% 37%
</code></pre>
<a href="https://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/profile/" rel="nofollow">https://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/profile/</a>
<a href="https://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/composite-profile/" rel="nofollow">https://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/composite-profile/</a>
Trying to summarize:<p><i>Maximize diversity subject to academic excellence</i> is the problem the dean would like to solve, but no longer can due to the supreme court ruling.<p>The dual problem is <i>Maximize academic excellence subject to diversity</i>, which is what the opponents of the original legislation <i>proposed</i> was happening. And (being sympathetic here - this is not necessarily my belief) could be interpreted as achieving lower excellence just mathematically speaking.<p>Maybe it's not actually clear anyone was doing that, maybe it is clear everyone was doing that. I'm not sure.<p>The difference is easy to say, but probably harder to grok.
"While this is a substantial change in the demographic composition of the Class of 2028 compared with recent years, I want to be clear that it does not bring any aggregate change in the quantifiable characteristics we use to predict academic success at MIT, such as performance in high school or scores on standardized tests. By these measures, this cohort is no more or less prepared to excel in our curriculum than other recent classes that were more broadly diverse."<p>I doubt this and would like to see the numbers. To simplify a bit, racial preferences existed because relatively few blacks and Hispanics had the test scores needed to get into MIT. If MIT has stopped using racial preferences, the average test scores of admitted students should have risen a little.
"As a baseline, in recent years around 25% of our enrolling undergraduate students have identified as Black, Hispanic, and/or Native American and Pacific Islander. For the incoming Class of 2028, that number is about 16%."<p>MIT admits 1275 students. So, 9% difference is about 115.