Not Your Sweetie

_Bush's Admission to Yale is the Ultimate Case of Affirmative Action

Joe Conason writes, "Why was the Andover dean so concerned about Bush's prospects [for
getting into] Yale? Perhaps he glanced at Bush's SAT score of 1206, above average but
nowhere near the level needed for acceptance at an Ivy League school. (Bush's score was
almost 200 points lower than the average for Yale freshmen circa 1970.) Bush's middling SAT
score, incidentally, is roughly the same as that for most of the black students admitted to
selective schools in a major Mellon Foundation study that began in 1976. Perhaps that Andover
dean also looked at Bush's 'solid' grades, which may or may not have exceeded the C average
he later earned at Yale... 'Affirmative action' for the sons and daughters of alumni was a major
factor in admissions at Yale and other selective colleges - and continues to be an important
factor today. The children of alumni are about twice as likely to be accepted by Yale as other
applicants."