<p>"Using data from the National Study of College Experience on 124,374 applications for admission during the 1980s and the fall semesters of 1993 and 1997, they found that elite universities give extra weight in admissions to candidates whose SAT scores are above 1500, who are African American, and who are student athletes. A smaller, but nevertheless important, preference is extended to Hispanic and legacy applicants. African-American applicants receive the equivalent of 230 extra SAT points (on a 1600-point scale), and being Hispanic is worth an additional 185 SAT points. Other things equal, recruited athletes gain an admission bonus worth 200 points, while the preference for legacy candidates is worth 160 points. Asian-American applicants face a loss equivalent to 50 SAT points. The underrepresented minority advantage is greatest for African-American and Hispanic applicants whose SAT scores are in the 1200–1300 range, and not for applicants near the lower end of the SAT distribution as some have suggested (cf. Dugan et al., 1996). Finally, the advantage that athletes have over nonathletes in elite university admissions has been growing, whereas the strength of the minority student advantage, especially for Hispanic candidates, has been waning."</p>
<p>Thoughts on the methodology, conclusions or implications?</p>
<p>Forgive me for not reading the report this early in the morning but I have one minor question: nominally speaking, how many Princeton students are we talking about?</p>
<p>Preferences go now to Hispanics. Most of the top 25 schools have Hispanic-surnamed adcoms for the Southwest (Texas, Arizona, etc.) where they specifically target and pick up these kids. If you are a white kid applying from the Southwest, your chances decrease measurably, no different than if you were a New Yorker applying to Northeast schools (who already have a surfeit of New Yorkers). Admissions Committees are still in the feel-good business and they love nothing better than “giving a chance” to a URM with a “story.” Gives them that kind of warm glow inside – even though the kid most likely will end up back in El Paso as some administrative assistant to a non-profit . . .groan.</p>
<p>Of the 1312 1st year Princeton students entering in 2010-11, 200 were African American or Hispanic (15%). This includes students who presumably would have been admitted even without affirmative action.</p>
but I have one minor question: nominally speaking, how many Princeton students are we talking about?</p>