Name_____________________

College Admissions Activity

 

            We’re going to suspend disbelief in several ways for this activity.  First, we’ll pretend that the class is actually an admissions committee for a prestigious university.  Next, let’s assume that the people listed below have applied for admission to our university.  We can only admit twelve of these people.  Your task is to decide which applicants to admit.  You should base your decision on your knowledge of what these people will accomplish in their lifetimes.  You will need to research what these people did using your textbook or the Internet.  You may use whatever criteria for admissions that seems to you most likely to result in an exemplary class of students, however, you may not just say you’re voting for some guy because he’s rich or fat or some such reason that lacks historical substance.  Your reasons must be based on your knowledge of what these people accomplished.  (Remember this is a history class.) 

 

Ida Tarbell

Jacob Riis

John D. Rockefeller

Edward Bellamy

Walter Rauschenbush

Andrew Carnegie 

Upton Sinclair

Margaret Sanger

J. P. Morgan

Frances Willard

Alice Paul

William McKinley

Emma Goldman

Carrie Chapman Catt

Theodore Roosevelt

Eugene V. Debs

Jane Addams

William Howard Taft

William “Big Bill” Haywood

Booker T. Washington

Woodrow Wilson

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones

W. E. B. Du Bois

Robert La Follette

John Muir

Frederick Winslow Taylor

 

 

Fill in the following chart as you research the applicants.

 

Name

Lifetime Accomplishments – What this person is famous for

Your rating on a scale of 1 – 5 (with 5 being best) of this candidate

Reasons for your rating

Ida Tarbell

 

 

 

Edward Bellamy

 

 

 

Upton Sinclair

 

 

 

Frances Willard

 

 

 

Emma Goldman

 

 

 

Eugene V. Debs

 

 

 

William “Big Bill” Haywood

 

 

 

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones

 

 

 

John Muir

 

 

 

Jacob Riis

 

 

 

Walter Rauschenbush

 

 

 

Margaret Sanger

 

 

 

Alice Paul

 

 

 

Carrie Chapman Catt

 

 

 

Jane Addams

 

 

 

Booker T. Washington

 

 

 

W. E. B. Du Bois

 

 

 

Frederick Winslow Taylor

 

 

 

John D. Rockefeller

 

 

 

Andrew Carnegie 

 

 

 

J. P. Morgan

 

 

 

William McKinley

 

 

 

Theodore Roosevelt

 

 

 

William Howard Taft

 

 

 

Woodrow Wilson

 

 

 

Robert La Follette