prompt: talk about a belief or idea you challenged
-breaking the mold
-academic stereotype in relevance to racial nuances
-being an asian and trying to grasp ahold of a perspective from the outside in
-black friend, showing me a picture of his cousin who got into stanford: “that’s how it should be done!” implying that the majority of blacks are not capable of doing that
-stanford itself is a reach school for anybody regardless of race
-affirmative action (poverty vs ethnicity): would you be okay knowing that you took someone else’s spot because someone measured you based on your color opposed to your work ethic and accomplishments?
-he said: “yeah, that’s like getting freebies, right? good for me, but bad for you i guess?”
-isn’t that basically playing with double standards? if we both were considered for a job position and i got in merely because i was asian, isn’t that saying something? wouldn’t you be outraged? wondering why it wasn’t judged on a fair scale?
-doesn’t matter what sort of ethnic background you carry, that doesn’t define the very person you are
-if society places a specific mold on you, insist against it and paint past the borders, break the mold
-not said because i feel racially victimized, but because its a fact of the matter and a mindset that needs to change
Wow, that’s a LOT to cover for 650 words… is it all one essay or a series of ideas for separate essays?
Wait, are you going to spend your ONE chance at showing them who you are-- your chance to “give them a reason to say yes” telling them that their standards are wrong and that they’re not being fair to you? To decry affirmative action? To give them a reason to say NO to someone else??
How does that help YOU?
Let’s say they end affirmative action based on your essay. How does that get YOU in, over all the other equally qualified applicants?? This essay tells them nothing about you other than your point of view on this one issue.
Write an letter to the editor of the NY Times about affirmative action if you feel that strongly about it. But I think it’s a really, REALLY bad idea to waste this opportunity on something that has nothing to do with you.