Over at Teekay’s

All right, this isn’t of the day really, but it is for me, since I only get the Economist in my mailbox on Tuesdays.

Some dude from Harvard admissions says in a letter to the editor,

Alumni children are admitted at higher rates than average in large measure due to self-selection: weaker candidates tend not to apply.

I’m honestly not sure what this guy is trying to say. What makes weaker candidates weaker so they don’t apply? Doesn’t it sound like he’s saying that being a alumnus, alumna, or alumni child does make you a stronger candidate? If objectively weaker candidates tend not to apply, shouldn’t that decrease the rejection rate of the non-alumnus group because the weaker ones don’t even apply, while alumnus kids (who certainly think they’re smarter) do? Or is he talking about self-selection among alumni children?

I did study logic, even in graduate school, but my head is spinning right now. Please enlighten me!