<p>Okay, so the guy who labeled his post "chance and affirmative action" made a bit of a mistake as the conversation took a bit of a turn after the first few replies. </p>
<p>So, I open this thread up for all of those who do want to talk about affirmative action. </p>
<p>I am not asking for chances (as I'm a senior and I didn't even apply to Princeton), but I did apply to Stanford and am an American Indian enrolled in my family's tribe. </p>
<p>I'm sorry to come on the board like this (people on the Stanford board seem a bit mad when people talk about other schools....), but this seemed like a really good place to talk about affirmative action as one thread has already taken such a turn in that direction. </p>
<p>So, please continue what you were "debating"/talking about on the other thread, but please consider my question as well. As I am Native American (and only 0.68% of the US is), does affirmative action treat Natives differently than other URMs (Hispanic, aa, etc.?) as those groups have much larger populations? That is what I am really curious about, but I'm also curious about how Natives are treated in the admissions process as a whole. Does anyone know?</p>
<p>yes the conversation definitely took a wrong turn lol. But I'm also part native american as well as being native american (grandmother is catawba indian) and I am pretty sure that you get a HUGE boost in admissions because of being Native American. Most colleges have less than 1% American Indian students. But I also have a question. Since I am not involved or enrolled in the Catawba tribe would it still be ok to put that down as part of my ethnicity. I am an Army brat so I never got a chance to really experience my Native American heritage because I've always lived so far away so would it be wrong to put this on my application?</p>
<p>Ehm, I dunno. There is an option to put a generic date of enrollment on the commonapp, noting that you are not enrolled. I think it's fine, but it may also seem like you're just putting it to boost your chances, but I would ask your counselor because she might have some experience with these cases. </p>
<p>So are you both African American and Native American?</p>
<p>So realistically- if you can be counted as both native american and african american for statistical purposes then if you meet the minimum requirements (In all likelyness you'll pass all your classes) then you should be fine. </p>
<p>I'm sure some people will cry out injustice or present volumes of statistics but in essence, its as simple as that. Good Luck</p>
<p>No. I'm saying a 3.5 GPA, non-legacy, non-athlete, approx 2000 SAT, and no real ability what-so-ever white guy who is a History major which just happens to be 1-16th Native was one of my roomates freshman year.</p>
<p>Not every part-native applicant gets in- but the University will consider their application with race in mind. Until the native-pool gets stronger or more abundant, then for the sake of affirmative action and everything associated then you will get in.</p>
<p>What, 1/16th counts for college admission? I am black, white, and 1/16th native american and that would have beeen a sweet bonus, but I though you had to be enrolled in a tribe and I was not going to do that.</p>
<p>Native Americans have the biggest Affirmative Action advantage because they are the smallest group.</p>
<p>Like I stated in the other thread, Affirmative Action creates a double standard and is highly unfair to its victims, mainly Asians, which I happen to be.</p>
<p>The fundamental problem with affirmative action is that it makes gross generalizations about an entire race or ethnicity, aka racism. For example, not all black people are disadvantaged. If a candidate of any demographic could demonstrate that they are disadvantaged, perhaps special consideration should be given to their accomplishments.</p>
<p>On the other side of things, diversity and exposure to different cultures, races, etc. is very important to an educational environment, not to mention the benefit of the university's resources. So in this sense, I do agree that some consideration should be give to having a diverse and well rounded student body. Let me provide one example. If you were picking a basketball team, would you pick a team of all point guards (or all centers, etc.), even if they really good at that one position? Not likely because it takes the coordinated effort of all of the positions to make a good basketball team.</p>
<p>The whole logic behind making college admissions "fair for all" by making the process less competitive for some ethnic groups/races, which in turn inevitably increases the competitiveness for other groups (Ie whites/azns) just completely blows my mind.</p>
<p>Well, it's not always about making it "fair for all." Yale, for instance, claims to use its Multicultural Outreach Program to diversify its student body, admitting that it does make admissions a little unbalanced, they believe that the best way to educate students involves exposing them to different cultures.</p>
<p>On the other hand, some colleges that claim that they are trying to make it easier for some members of minority races to attain a university education may skimp on their backing evidence. For one, if you look at the statistics for graduation rates from high school all the way to PhD/Professional-Degree, they are disgustingly small for Native Americans and other groups, especially when compared to those for "Whites" and "Asians." While it may seem unfair from the perspective of someone who is not benefitted by AA, it is trying to reach out and offer students who otherwise may not have had the ability to go off to college the gift of education.</p>
<p>Does it help to be more involved in your tribe or do some schools just care about growing their American Indian percentage? For example, I applied to both Stanford and WashU in St. Louis. Stanford is considred a sort of "leader" in Native American undergrads and has about 2-3%, wherea WUSTL lists N/A. I contacted all of my admissions officers wondering if they want documentation and UW-Seattle is the only school that wants documentation......Stanford did send an application follow-up though. </p>
<p>Most schools just said no, what does this mean? Does it just mean they have so few Native undergrads that they don't really care what percentage, how involved, etc. an applicant is?</p>
<p>There is no single, simple answer. The private schools that can consider race and ethnicity are still considering applicants holistically. You may get a boost by being in a category that a school wants, and you may get a boost by being different in some way compared to most applicants. URMs of all kinds often get at least a small boost, and the degree of U varies from school to school for a given race and/or ethnicity. Don't look for too many simple answers, other than, e.g., "the more involved you are (in most anything positive), the better."</p>
<p>And as Mr. Fitzpatrick indicated, fairness is generally not part of schools' consideration. Schools do what is best for them, admitting the students they want the most.</p>