Admission secrets.

• Position: List - Brief article

Andrew Ferguson, a senior editor at The Weekly Standard, is the author of the recent Crazy U, a memoir about his son's adventures in the college admissions process. In April, Ferguson told reason three dirty secrets of college admissions.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

1 Acceptance rates: At most selective colleges the true acceptance rate is probably half the published rate. That's because these schools will reserve half the slots in their incoming class for applicants with "hooks" that usually have nothing to do with academics: rich and generous parents, athletic skills, or status as URMS ("underrepresented minorities").

2 Affirmative action for boys: By the standards of college admissions today, girls make better applicants on average than boys. They have fewer disciplinary problems in high school, write sharper essays, and get better grades and SAT scores. As a result, 60...