I have been hearing about this a lot lately, or just seeing it in person, but I feel like competitive colleges prefer Americans as to any other race, Asians for example. Is this a stereotype(or am I just stupid) or is this actually a fact?
You are under no obligation to lost your ethnic background on a college application.
Why are you asking this?
I dunno… I have just heard it from friends.
American is a nationality, not a race.
There’s one thread for posts about race. I don’t think it’s under “Community & Forum Issues” though.
@austinmshauri White sorry lol
AirBooster, at most elite universities, white students make up 40%-60% of the student body…yet white Americans (non-Latinos) make up ~60% of the US population, while Asians make up roughly 8% of the US population and African Americans make up 13% of the US population. I do not think there is any evidence that elite universities are racist against Asians. If anything, Asians are overrepresented across the entire spectrum with the notable exception of Notre Dame.
Brown University: 43% white, 14% Asian, 7% African American
California Institute of Technology: 29% white, 43% Asian, 1% African American
Carnegie Mellon University: 28% white, 28% Asian, 4% African American
Columbia University: 34% white, 23% Asian, 11% African American
Cornell University: 40% white,18% Asian, 6% African American
Dartmouth College: 50% white, 15% Asian, 7% African American
Duke University: 46% white, 22% Asian, 10% African American
Emory University: 42% white, 18% Asian, 9% African American
Georgetown University: 56% white, 10% Asian, 6% African American
Georgia Institute of Technology: 50% white, 20% Asian, 7% African American
Harvard University: 41% white, 20% Asian, 7% African American
Johns Hopkins University: 37% white, 24% Asian, 6% African American
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% white, 26% Asian, 6% African American
Northwestern University: 48% white, 17% Asian, 6% African American
Princeton University: 44% white, 21% Asian, 8% African American
Rice University: 37% white, 24% Asian, 7% African American
Stanford University: 36% white, 21% Asian, 6% African American
Tufts University: 56% white, 12% Asian, 4% African American
University of California-Berkeley: 26% white, 35% Asian, 2% African Americans
University of California-Los Angeles: 29% white, 27% Asian, 3% African American
University of Chicago: 44% white, 18% Asian, 5% African American
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 61% white, 14% Asian, 4% African American
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill: 63% white, 10% Asian, 8% African American
University of Notre Dame: 69% white, 5% Asian, 4% African American
University of Pennsylvania: 44% white, 21% Asian, 7% African American
University of Southern California: 40% white, 21% Asian, 4% African American
Vanderbilt University: 52% white, 12% Asian, 9% African American
Washington University-St Louis: 53% white, 18% Asian, 7% African American
Yale University: 46% white, 17% Asian, 7% African American
College racial demographics are the way they are for reasons not necessarily superficially obvious.
- 18 year old people have a different racial/ethnic makeup from the overall US population.
- Differences between racial/ethnic groups' tendency to go to college (or more selective colleges) are related to parental educational attainment, which is a strong correlate to kids' educational attainment (whether you believe it to be nature or nurture or both, both should be in favor of kids of highly educated parents). The Asian American population is immigrant heavy, and Asian immigrants in recent times have been selected for high education (many PhD students and skilled workers). Recent immigration selection affects the European American and African American populations to a much smaller degree, due to larger non-immigrant populations. African American educational attainment has been suppressed for generations, and probably still is in enough places (e.g. trends toward resegregation in K-12 schools in some places) for that to be a significant effect.
Um, my Asian son is American.
Please don’t believe everything you “hear from friends.”
There does appear to be prima facie evidence that some elite colleges currently have admission policies that are discriminatory against Asians. At those schools, Asians seem to be far overrepresented relative to their share of the US population, but underrepresented relative to their share of the applicant pools and their average stats. The issue is now before the courts.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/at-trial-harvards-asian-problem-and-a-preference-for-white-students-from-sparse-country
Based solely on stats (along with application volumes and yields), Asians perhaps should comprise much more than 20% of Harvard’s student body. However, Harvard admits students based on other criteria besides stats (test scores and grades.) A common stereotype is that Asians tend to be parent-pleasing robots who don’t necessarily make interesting candidates for elite college admissions. I think Harvard will have to make the case in court that such stereotypes aren’t driving its admission practices (or that the stereotypes have a legitimate basis in fact, as shown by objective deficiencies in extracurricular achievements, leadership qualities, and “passion”). If I had to bet money, I’d bet Harvard loses in court. Harvard won’t be able to prove that many rejected Asians are objectively distinguishable from accepted whites on any consistent basis other than color. Then again, many rejected applicants, of all colors, are highly qualified. So it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Ummm, what?
Closing thread. The conversation, if it needs to exist at all, needs to occur in the thread set up for such discussion:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1843141-race-in-college-applications-faq-discussion-12.html#latest