The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton | 
| Author: Jerome Karabel
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 99613
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 711
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1.6
ISBN: 061877355X
Dewey Decimal Number: 370
EAN: 9780618773558
ASIN: 061877355X
Publication Date: September 8, 2006
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Product Description
A landmark work of social and cultural history, The Chosen vividly reveals the changing dynamics of power and privilege in America over the past century. Full of colorful characters (including Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, James Bryant Conant, and Kingman Brewster), it shows how the ferocious battles over admissions at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton shaped the American elite and bequeathed to us the peculiar system of college admissions that we have today. From the bitter anti-Semitism of the 1920s to the rise of the "meritocracy" at midcentury to the debate over affirmative action today, Jerome Karabel sheds surprising new light on the main events and social movements of the twentieth century. No one who reads this remarkable book will ever think about college admissions -- or America -- in the same way again.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Perpetual Privilege December 1, 2008
Professor Karabel wrote a very fine book. In it, he examines in great detail the history of preference and privilege at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. At times, I got a little exhausted with all of the details--but that's only a minor quibble.
He writes most approvingly of the 19th century Harvard President, Charles Eliot. Not so approvingly of Lowell, Conant, and some of the other succeeding Harvard presidents. He's an equal opportunity critic of the three colleges scrutinized. He does offer up, approvingly I might add, the gem of a quote from Eliot referring to, "The stupid sons of the rich."
He details the long history of anti-semitism in the admissions policies of the 3 schools. Additionally, he covers the decidedly "unmeritocratic" practices of favoring alumni legacy applicants--as well as athlete applicants. He covers the evolution of the treatment of blacks at the 3 schools from blatant, racist exclusion to the present, favored policy of racial affirmative action at the schools. The history is both shameful and hopeful. The very fact that the schools have apparently ended their past anti-semitic and racist policies is most hopeful.
However, at the end of the book he briefly covers the one group that is presently the most egregiously mistreated group: poor and working class whites. Apparently, there is little, if any, lower class preference shown for admissions at the 3 schools. The only class preference that is manifested is through the lens of race preference. This is a great shortcoming of the 3 schools. If they truly wish to be viewed by the public as non-elitist schools, they need to provide some sort of reasonable outreach to poorer whites. The poorer white children of Appalachia, the South, the Rust Belt, the Mountain West, etc., are deserving of opportunities to enter these powerfully prestigious schools. They, like most black and latino children in this country, definitely do not have "equal educational opportunities" commensurate with those of their richer and privileged urban/suburban counterparts.
The author believes that these class based discriminatory practices are the most profound and difficult to overcome at these elite schools. It's hardly surprising, given such glaring unconcern, that poorer and working class whites frequently grouse about the indifference of such "liberal elites" to the working, white poor. They may not always be correct about a whole lot of things--especially the stuff spoon fed to them by the likes of Limbaugh and Hannity--but on this one, there is a great deal of truth to the charge.
A very good book, albeit a little long. The only other quibble that I would have with it would be a desire for a little more early American history relating to the 3 schools. I recall having read an account in the last year or so that the early students at Harvard--or it might have been another ivy league school--were ranked not on the basis of academic performance, but rather their family's socioeconomic status. If so, that would highlight their early educational mission. It would also fully explain why an obvious intellectual lightweight, like George W. Bush, would ever be admitted as an undergraduate to Yale, and as a graduate to the Harvard Business School.
I'll close this out with some lines from the "Grapes of Wrath" movie spoken by the great actress, Jane Darwell, who won an oscar for her portrayal of Ma Joad:
"Rich fellas come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out. But we keep a'comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out; they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the people."
Hopefully, Ma Joad's vision will triumph in the end--even at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton....
A wonderful book about disgusting behavior July 27, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As a graduate of Harvard College, I can say I am more embarrassed than usual to admit it after reading Karabel's book. Karabel lays out in great detail the slimy admissions practices of the "top" Ivy colleges. Today's sub rosa selection process was born of anti-Semitism and carried on well into the middle of the 20th century. When I applied they required pictures, just to make sure the "coons," as one Ivy official referred to Blacks, got special Jim Crow treatment. Now that era is passed, and the Asians wonder if there is a quota for them. The college officials cry, "Goodness, No !" Yet they continue to favor the children of the same alumni who were chosen as a result of the now decried previous discriminatory policies. (See George W. Bush). Then they call that "fair." After reading this book one will be convinced once again never to believe them. The irony is these colleges deliver only mediocre educations to underclass students.
 Great for the 20s, loses it in the 90s September 20, 2007
19 out of 27 found this review helpful
The author provides an excellent study of Harvard, Yale & Princeton admission philosophies and policies, especially when those were directed against the author's own group (Jews.) Missing are the current exclusion policies that almost totally prohibit American patriots, Republicans and conservatives from entering these universities. Karabel notes that 35 of the Harvard class of 41 died in WWII as against none in Vietnam of the class of 1970, but interprets this only to mean that the sense of duty and sacrifice in elite universities is in decline.
So why is the number of conservatives miniscule among the students of these universities? The answer lies in admission policies. The interviews and essays root out conservative, patriotic applicants and tag them for rejection regardless of academic brillance and scholarly performance. What is wanted is potential international leaders developed from students who will accept European "progressive" ideas, possibly study abroad or work in international organizations. William F. Buckley would be rejected today by Yale. The acceptable white male applicant will be tall, urbane, athletic, politically correct in orientation, reasonably intelligent, and preferably well-connected. Middle-class and lower-class white males from conservative backgrounds need not apply. If a graduate chooses military service, then the university has failed miserably, either in admissions or during the four years of conditioning.
Karabel misses these current issues by a wide margin. Hopefully he will pick up where he left off, discuss the situation of the last twenty years, and give us thoughts concerning the future. I look forward to his next work.
A neo-institutional analysis of the perpetuation of elite privilege December 29, 2006
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Although the subtitle of this book is "the hidden history of admission and exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton," I prefer to think of it as a social and political history of the United States in the 20th century. Karabel skillfully weaves social and political developments in the United States into his narrative about the way three Ivy League colleges responded by modifying their admissions policies. For example, when nativist sentiments swelled around the time of the first world war and anti-immigration movements grew in force, these Ivy League colleges responded by modifying their admissions policies to block "undesirables" from enrolling. When the civil rights and the subsequent feminist movements made universalism so salient a norm that race and sex discrimination could no longer be countenanced in major institutions, the Ivy League colleges responded again by changing their policies. As a work of organizational analysis, two themes stand out. First, the top leadership of these colleges had a tremendous impact on how they responded to contemporary events. New leaders sometimes made wholesale replacements in their admissions offices, and turned things around very quickly. Others heeded the call of their alumni constituencies and slowed the process of transformation. Second, although he never uses the phrase "neo-institutional analysis," Karabel demonstrates that these socially significant organizations were thoroughly embedded in the socio-cultural events of their times. Regardless of what their leaders or their constituencies desired, the Ivy League colleges had to respond, at least symbolically, when their environments changed. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in a detailed and nuanced analysis of the perpetuation of elite privilege in American institutions.
Brilliant if long study December 13, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
In this exhaustive study a relatively mundane and narrow subject is brought to light and, amazingly, made interesting and readable. This was a hard task. The question of race and college admissions is one that is of modern relevance and the author here selects the original 'blacks' of American colleges, the Jews, to analyze the question of minorities. Jews came to be represented far beyond their small numbers in the 'big three' colleges in the 1860s and 1870s. The college deans wanted a 'solution to the Jewish problem' and the devised all manner of ways to reduce the percentage of Jews, that had reached some 25-30% in some places. They introduced a number of 'old boys clubs' admissions policies that took schools away from merit based entrance. Hence the first quotas and first affirmitive action.
The rest of the book analyzes the struggle for equality in admissions and for women, Jews and other minorities to gain entrance to America's elite schools. But this is more than a book aboutt his subject, this is a book about America. Harvard, Yale and Princeton are microcosims of the nation as a whole. Important people and national leaders such as TR and FDR all passed through these doors. Therefore in studying just the Harvard Crimson one gains an insight into Americana. This is social history at its best from a time when there really was a WASP culture.
Seth J. Frantzman
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