Letters to the Editor: April 12, 2010

Wilson School follows correct approach in admissions

Regarding “Should the Wilson School certificate program be selective?” (Monday, March 1, 2010):

We all know that the Wilson School is the only major for which Princetonians have to complete an application that involves writing an essay and obtaining letters of recommendation. Many, including members of the Editorial Board, have argued that “eliminating the application process for all Wilson School undergraduates would be the ideal.” While I must concede that some arguments in favor of dropping the application process hold merit, I am convinced that the Wilson School follows the correct approach.

The Wilson School states that the purpose of the undergraduate major is to teach concentrators how to analyze and formulate answers to social problems. Since the analysis of problems relies heavily on tools from the social sciences and mathematics, it is hard to contribute meaningfully to a task force unless one has a substantial social science background. It makes sense, therefore, for the Wilson School to select and evaluate applicants on the strength of their academic preparation.

The quality of the work produced in the Wilson School would suffer if it were to drop its selective admission policy. For instance, if people without the necessary economics and politics background were admitted to the school, it is difficult to see how the substantial analysis of social problems could be realized. Approaching social problems requires mastery in using models and statistics and in combining scholarly theories with practical realities. In some specialized fields like science policy, the policy maker must have an extensive knowledge of biology, physics and chemistry in order to understand what the issue is. The point is that the Wilson School teaches applied social science: You must understand social sciences and natural sciences before you are able to apply this knowledge to policy issues.

Many have pointed out that the selective admission policy of the Wilson School prevents people from going into public service. Nothing could be further from the truth. You do not need a degree in “public and international affairs” to work for the government. Engineering, economics, politics, mathematics, physics, chemistry and computer science all provide excellent preparation for entering into the public sector. These majors could perhaps provide even better preparation than the Wilson School because people in these majors may be more specialized in their respective fields and therefore have a deeper understanding of the problem.

Ultimately, the need for an undergraduate public policy major is debatable. Many have argued that undergraduate education is best devoted to acquiring substantial mastery in a social science or natural science field and then combining that mastery with graduate work in public policy. However, the Wilson School, with its exhaustive distribution requirements and selective admission policy, ensures that its graduates are sufficiently prepared to approach social problems should they enter government service.

Ahsan Barkatullah ’12