But here is the fallacy you have to be very careful about.
You cannot say that just 7% is low or 14% is high. Even looking at other universities. You have to know what source population that is being drawn from, and what is the criterion for drawing.
It could be that 4% of people applying to Yale are black, 3% are qualified, and 7% outcome is already overrepresented. Or it could be "terrible" if 10% are applying, and 7% are qualified.
You have to look at what % pass the filter you are applying, to those who apply. With that further criterion applied, any of these figures could be "reasonable".
It is not true that a selective process should simply match the proportions of <x> group that you see in the general population. That is the wrong and very misguided / misrepresented way of reporting the problem. But too often it's the politically simple (or intellectually lazy) approach to framing the issue.
It sounds good to say "we should look like our customers". But that is often not true for a selective process. It is true, if and only if, the qualities you're selecting for are represented in an unbiased way, among the people who are your customers, and among those who apply.
You cannot say that just 7% is low or 14% is high. Even looking at other universities. You have to know what source population that is being drawn from, and what is the criterion for drawing.
It could be that 4% of people applying to Yale are black, 3% are qualified, and 7% outcome is already overrepresented. Or it could be "terrible" if 10% are applying, and 7% are qualified.
You have to look at what % pass the filter you are applying, to those who apply. With that further criterion applied, any of these figures could be "reasonable".
It is not true that a selective process should simply match the proportions of <x> group that you see in the general population. That is the wrong and very misguided / misrepresented way of reporting the problem. But too often it's the politically simple (or intellectually lazy) approach to framing the issue.
It sounds good to say "we should look like our customers". But that is often not true for a selective process. It is true, if and only if, the qualities you're selecting for are represented in an unbiased way, among the people who are your customers, and among those who apply.