There's a New Yorker article by the always-excellent Malcolm Gladwell about Ivy League admissions and how it's as much about luxury branding as it is about actual academic accomplishment, and about how the name of the school means a lot less than we pretend it does. Or something like that. His thesis isn't crystal-clear. But it's an interesting piece anyway. The article mentions Hunter College Elementary School as an institution that accepts students entirely on test scores, instead of more complex formulations like selective colleges use. I went to Hunter College High School, which did the same thing. I don't think I ever really thought about the difference between something like that and what colleges do, but I guess it's different. Anyway, Gladwell's good, he writes interesting pieces, and this one's interesting.

Also, and I apologize for the recent political stuff, and for linking to George Will, but he has an interesting op-ed about the Miers stuff.