Obviously, every college can’t review every student’s application. So students would submit a short list of top choices -- say, one to five. Colleges would evaluate these applicants first. (This would prevent public universities from using acceptance rates to boost their prestige, but those metrics were never very helpful in assessing quality anyway.) Eventually, the system might even employ matching algorithms to find good fits between students and schools, as is now done with medical residency programs.
This system would make applying for college -- even if only the local community college -- the default for all high school students. The application process would go from being an opaque, complex, expensive process to a simple, universal piece of the high school experience. It would go a long way toward leveling the playing field between children of low-income parents and their wealthier peers. By doing so, it would make American society fairer, increase economic opportunity, and help discover some of the hidden talent that is currently going to waste.
This article provided by Bloomberg News.