Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford. For many Mt. SAC students these names invoke a dream.

The problem is, these schools do not seem to care for community college students. In an astonishing show of arrogance, elitism, and hypocrisy these storied institutions are accepting few, if any, transfer students. Perhaps the best place to see this trend is the emperor of American universities, Harvard. According to an Aug. 31, 2011 Harvard Crimson article, A miniscule 1 percentthat was the admissions rate for transfer students last year after Harvard decided to accept just 15 students of the 1,486 who applied to transfer to the College. This is a stunningly small number, especially considering the size of the freshman class that was admitted. According to a March.11, 2011, Harvard Crimson article, Nearly 35,000 students applied to Harvard College this year for admission to the Class of 2015 entering in August. Letters of admission (and email notifications) were sent on March 30 to 2,158 students, 6.2 percent of the record pool of 34,950. It must be noted that many of these Harvard transfer students are not coming from community colleges. In what Mascolo describes as a total coincidence, three of the admitted students previously attended Vanderbilt. Two lived in the same residential hall. Stanford was a bit more generous, but not much. According to the Stanford University Web site, the elite university admitted 58 transfer students out of a total of 1,413 applicants. Yale also admitted transfer students, but again it was a very small number. These universities use many lame excuses to justify their transfer admissions policy. According to a Jan. 15, 2010 Harvard Crimson Article, Residential space is essential to our ability to support a successful transfer program, they noted. Harvard does not admit transfer students to nonresidential status because, in important respects, undergraduate education at Harvard College is residential in character. Students learn a great deal from the House experience, which complements activities in our classrooms and laboratories. So we are to understand that the ability to dorm is essential to a students education. I suggest that this is merely another form of Ivy League elitism, a silly tradition that has no practical merit. However, when one examines admission statistics for many of these elite colleges, a funny form of prejudice becomes apparent. Age discrimination seems to be in style in Americas premiere universities. According to Harvards admissions website, Students who have completed more than two years of college study with transferable credit, and those who have earned a bachelor's degree, are not eligible to transfer to Harvard College. Students may not choose to relinquish academic credits, or a degree, in order to apply for transfer admission. Yale has a similar policy. Apparently these two legendary institutions believe that undergraduates are supposed to look a certain way. This policy is completely out of touch with the realities of todays community colleges. With classes becoming harder and harder to come by, many students are simply not ready to apply for transfer at the beginning of their second year. Thus, this policy discriminates against community college students. Perhaps the worst display of this arrogance is Princeton. Unlike Harvard and Yale, where

a tiny fraction of community college students might have a chance, Princeton accepts no transfer students. On the other hand, one thing that elite schools are looking for is kids with hook-ups.