The ‘Disagreement Question’ Goes Virtual: Inside the New Admissions Trend
- petreavolubilis
- 6 days ago
- 1 min read
After the Supreme Court ended affirmative action, colleges shifted from identity essays to a new favorite: the “disagreement question,” asking students to write about times they faced opposing views. Now, some schools are taking it further this fall. Columbia, M.I.T., Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, and UChicago will start accepting “dialogues” portfolios where students debate topics like immigration or Israel‑Palestine and get scored on traits like empathy and curiosity. But will these new steps actually create better conversations on campus or just give coached students another way to game the system?
