June 1, 2007

What Color Is an A?

By PETER SCHMIDT

Colleges take on a persistent but rarely discussed issue: the poor grades earned by many minority students

Chantrice Ollie is an all-too-rare find at most predominantly white, selective colleges: a black student with a high grade-point average.

She applied to Skidmore College with weaker academic credentials than most of the students it admits. Her public high school, in Cleveland, offered few advanced courses. She had earned mostly A's, but her SAT scores were well below