Joseph A. Soares is a Professor of Sociology at Wake Forest University. His book The Power of Privilege: Yale and America’s Elite Colleges (2007) was instrumental in Wake Forest’s decision to go test-optional in admissions. An earlier book on universities in the United Kingdom, The Decline of Privilege: The Modernization of Oxford University (1999), won a national award from the American Sociological Association. For most of 2008, he was a member of the National Education Policy Group for Barack Obama’s campaign for U.S. President. Dr. Soares organized the national “Rethinking Admissions” conference held at Wake Forest University in April 2009.