In an ideal world, the nation's elite schools would enroll the most qualified students. Bu

t that's not how it (1)_____. Applicants whose parents are alums get special treatment, as (2)_____ athletes and rich kids. Underrepresented minorities are also given (3)_____. Thirty years of affirmative action have changed the character of (4)_____ white universities; now about 13 percent of all undergraduates are black or Latino. (5)_____ a recent study by the Century Foundation found that at the nation's 146 most (6)_____ schools, 74 percent of students came from upper middle-class and wealthy families, while only about 5 percent came from families with an annual income of (7)_____ $35,000 or less.

Many schools say diversity—racial, economic and geographic—is (8)_____ to maintaining intellectually (9)_____ campuses. But Richard Kahlenberg of the Century Foundation says that even though colleges (10)_____ they want poor kids, "they don't try very hard to find them (11)_____ rural students, many colleges don't try at all. "Unfortunately, we go where we can (12)_____ a sizable number of potential applicants," says Tulane admissions chief Richard Whiteside, who (13)_____ aggressively—and in person—from metropolitan areas. Kids in rural areas get a glossy (14)_____ in the mail.

Even when poor rural students have the (15) for top colleges, their high schools often don't know how to get them there. Admissions officers (16)_____ guidance counselors to direct them to promising prospects. In (17)_____ high schools, guidance counselors often have personal (18)_____ with both kids and admissions officers. In rural areas, a teacher, a counselor or (19)_____ an alumnus "can help put a rural student on our radar screen," says Wesleyan admissions dean Nancy Meislahn. But poor rural schools rarely have college (20)_____ with those connections; without them, admission "can be a crapshoot," says Carnegie Mellon's Steidel.

A．promises

B．tries

C．works

D．manages