The college admission process in the United States is extremely complex.

A prospective student first submits his or her GPA, then test scores from the SAT or ACT,

and then the fund really begins. They'll write essays, perhaps be interviewed

so that the university can gauge their character. They'll describe their diversity of interest, their volunteer experience,

the reason why they're doing more good for the world than a UN subcommittee

and humanitarian relief to the Horn of Africa, even though all they really did was organize a pizza party

for the foreign exchange students, which is what I did when I was applying to college.

And overall demonstrate the unique qualities they bring that will add color to the university's intellectual and cultural palette.

The university admission process didn't emerge fully formed at the beginning of the United States.

There's a strong argument to be made that actually comes out that early 20th century

when East Coast universities wanted to keep their Jewish populations down.

For example, Columbia University had a separate campus in Brooklyn in 1928-1938

where they tried to send Jews another undesirable minorities to keep their main uptown campus

a space for its wealthy Protestant students.

At Dartmouth, professor told Jewish students in the 1950s that anti-Jewish quotas were necessary

where also campus would be quote swimming in Jews.

We can see that the question of when and how it's fair for a university to take applicants'

ethnicity into account isn't a new one. To explore this question of what diversity means at a university

we're joined with journalist Mark Openheimer, a former New York Times religion columnist, author,

and host of the unorthodox podcast show.

He's been working on a new podcast series called Gatecrashers, The Hidden History of Jews in the Ivy League.

We look at the history of college admissions, how the Wasp Elite reacted to Jews entering the Ivy League of the 1920s,

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