Clout List Database Opens Windows into U of I Admits

By Kate Gardiner in News on Jul 17, 2009 7:00PM

We've all heard about the Clout List in the admissions office at University of Illinois. But it's never been clear where the students came from. The Trib's database project, the first that we've seen from Olde Chicago Journalism lately, lets you check out your metro-area high school's clout statistics - while encouraging tutt-tutting and tsk-tsking from, well, everyone else.

The subject of the individuals' names has yet to be broached - publicly - but it seems like a logical next step for the tool would be to mask the kids' identities while tracking how well they did during their time at the U of I.

The reason? While it's unfair that perhaps less-deserving students were on a special list that nearly guaranteed them admission to our publicly-funded university - it's even worse if those kids wasted the opportunity they were given.

We're hoping the Trib's new database-style initiative is where they're headed in the future - we love crowd sourcing journalistic efforts, after all.