The Changes of American College Students Enrollment System In an ideal world, the nation’s elite schools would enroll the mo

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问题             The Changes of American College Students Enrollment System
    In an ideal world, the nation’s elite schools would enroll the most qualified students. But that’s not how it works. Applicants whose parents are alums get special treatment, as do athletes and rich kids. Underrepresented minorities are also given preference. Thirty years of affirmative action have changed the complexion of mostly white universities; now about 13 percent of all undergraduates are black or Latino. But most come from middle and upper-middle-class families. Poor kids of all ethnicities remain scarce. A recent study by the Century Foundation found that at the nation’s 146 most competitive schools, 74 percent of students came from upper-middle-class and wealthy families, while only about 5 percent came from families with an annual income of roughly $ 35,000 or less.
    Many schools say diversity—racial, economic and geographic—is key to maintaining intellectually vital campuses. But Richard Kahlenberg of the Century Foundation says that even though colleges claim they want poor kids, "they don’t try very hard to find them." As for rural students, many colleges don’t try at all. "Unfortunately, we go where we can generate a sizable number of potential applicants," says Tulane admissions chief Richard Whiteside, who recruits aggressively and in person—from metropolitan areas. Kids in rural areas get a glossy brochure in the mail.
    Even when poor rural students have the grades for top colleges, their high schools often don’t know how to get them there. Admissions officers rely on guidance counselors to direct them to promising prospects. In affluent high schools, guidance counselors often have personal relationships with both kids and admissions officers. In rural areas, a teacher, a counselor or even an alumnus "can help put rural students on our radar screen", says Wesleyan admissions dean Nancy Meislahn. But poor rural schools rarely have college advisers with those connections; without them, admission "can be a crapshoot", says Carnegie Mellon’s Steidel.
    In the past few years some schools have begun to open that door a little wider. At MIT it’s something of a mission for Marilee Jones, the dean of admissions. Twenty years ago, 25 percent of each MIT class were first-generation college goers from poor backgrounds who used the celebrated engineering school as a ticket out of the blue-collar world. Five years ago, when that number dipped below 10 percent, Jones began scouring the country for bright kids, and then paired the potential applicants with MIT faculty and students who could answer questions about college life. In four years Jones has doubled the number of poor first-generation students at MIT.
At MIT,many first-generation poor students______.

选项 A、were grateful to the college for their enrollment
B、regarded the college as an opportunity to change fate
C、were glad to get away from their poor families
D、got some help from MIT faculty and students

答案B

解析 事实细节题。第四段第三句明确指出:first-generation college goers from poorbackgrounds把MIT的文凭当作逃离蓝领阶层的通行证,即一个改变命运的机会。故[B]为答案。文中没有提及学生对被录取的态度如何,排除[A];也没有指出学生离开自己贫困家庭的兴奋之情,排除[C];倒数第二句中提到了校内工作人员和在校生对申请的学生提供帮助,但这不是文中所说的第一代贫困学生,而是提交入学申请的学生,排除[D]。
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