Charles Murray writes, The U.S. has around 130 million people of prime working age: 25 to 54. For any given talent, therefore, about 650,000 are in the top half of the top percentile of ability. That’s a lot of people. The task is to identify those with STEM talent when they are young. If by “young,” he means 18-year-olds, then there are many fewer than 650,000. About 20,000 - 25,000 is more like it.

Murray continues, The good news is that standardized tests expressly designed to measure cognitive ability are an efficient way to do so. They are accurate, inexpensive, resistant to coaching and demonstrably unbiased against minorities, women or the poor. Those conclusions about the best cognitive tests are among the most exhaustively examined and replicated findings in all social science. The bad news is that admissions offices of elite universities ignore this evidence. They use “holistic” admissions algorithms that treat tested cognitive ability as just one of many desirable traits. Of course, the fair thing to do would be abolish admissions offices, have each college set minimum standards for admission, and select qualified applicants by lottery.