I am an Asian who wants to do premed and now I am completely questioning whether or not I should say I want to be a doctor.
IMO, it’s silly to lie about yourself in order to get into college. There are plenty of places that will take you as-is; why try to game the system at the schools that are a reach for everyone?
As an aside…look at the last paragraph of that article…she applied to 10 elite schools and got into 5. Sounds like a dang good outcome to me, lol.
@bodangles lol true.
I have a way of spinning myself as a person interest in political science, and I am actually very interested in the field. I may major in that while pursuing a premed track, but there are a couple of drawbacks to doing that. 1- both of my recs are from science teachers and I am not taking a history next year. I could switch into a history next year if I wanted to, but 2- I plan on applying to the NU bs/md program so not mentioning anything medicine is basically counterintuitive. However, since my chances are so slim there( based on acceptance rate it is literally more likely that I get into Harvard) I am still considering doing the poli sci approach, especially since even if I put my intended major as bio I would take a few poli sci courses and possibly change my major once I am in college.
I stopped reading.
@viphan yeah the prices are absurd, but i feel like the general idea of the article may be true.
Such nonsense. The number of schools with low Asian populations is far higher than schools with high populations. Asian parents need to become more enlightened and put aside these silly notions of status.
Apply to Notre Dame and Holy Cross where your race is an asset. These schools only are about 5% Asian. Your chance of getting into medical school from these two schools is the same as any elite school, maybe better in the case of ND.
I am actually definitely applying to notre dame because I go to a catholic school currently and many past students have gone and loved it. But does the original idea still stand, is it better to not say you want to be a doctor at schools like columbia, harvard, etc which have high asian populations.
Poor girl has to settle for the University of Pennsylvania. Such a shame
I am also a little irked at the comment " Asian parents need to become more enlightened and put aside these silly notions of status." Would you please elaborate because I may be taking this the wrong way, but I hope you are not implying that Asians are self entitled…
It’s not about whether or not you say you want to be a doctor. It’s about whether you sound intellectually curious, open to new experiences, willing to take a risk, creative and interesting, someone with something unique to contribute. In short, how are your differentiating yourself from the thousands of other student applicants (Asian and non-Asian both) who all say they want to be pre-med and otherwise sound very much alike? If your application is one that could have been written by any of the other applicants to a top school, you are not doing yourself a favor.
So what makes you different? Why you and not the other kid with the top grades and test scores, great letters of rec and usual achievements/leadership role(s) in music or sports or the school newspapers or quiz team…Sounding passionate isn’t going to be enough, because they all sound passionate too.
And yes, my kids are Asian and yes, one of them is in medical school.
^ That is definitely true. This article puts a very narrow view on the subject, everyone is competing with everyone. People don’t only compete with their own races. And a good applicant is able to express his intellectual bent.
No, don’t use that tactic.
Another tip, the eastern LACs have very small Asian populations, even Williams at 11%. Colgate is 3%. Med school acceptance rates are exceptional from the top LACs.
What I am saying about Asian parents is that they have a very narrow view of what a top university or college is. It is totally driven by status and not actual quality.
If you told certain Asian parents Notre Dame was actually more selective than certain Ivy league schools they would never believe you.
While the statement has some truth to it, it is a pretty small percentage of parents. For any parent that has a child that is a very competitive applicant and has done their research, they understand all ranges of colleges. I would avoid making brash generalizations. This mindset of only viewing Ivy Leagues as the best schools also applies to all races, not just Asians. BTW, i get the point you were trying to make, but all ivy league colleges do have a lower acceptance rate than Notre Dame. Cornell is the least selective Ivy League and it has an acceptance rate of 14% versus Notre Dame’s 21%. When the acceptance rates are that low, the 7 percent difference is pretty large.
Yes but only because Notre Dame is Catholic and doesn’t get as many applications from unqualified applicants. Stanford and the Ivy League schools get applications from students that don’t have a prayer. Wasted applications that get counted.
The gross acceptance rate means nothing. The stats of the student body are virtually identical. There are other schools that have higher acceptance rates only because they dont get the same amount of hail mary or international applications.
I have plenty of Indian and Asian friends. The situation is getting better but it is still bad with the grandparents. As time goes on, it will go away.
While that is true, no one can ascertain whether or not that makes up for the 7% difference. Also, even if its Catholic, that doesn’t affect selectivity really, just the applicants they get. They might attract more Catholic applicants, qualified and unqualified, and disincentive non-Catholic students from applying, qualified and unqualified.
No, the Ivy league schools get a huge number of applicants that should not be counted as true applicants. This is common knowledge.
Some schools are just better known that is all.
Alright, there is no point in debating this. Just make sure you don’t make terribly uninformed generalizations in the future about people of different races.
Do some research into what drives acceptance rates.
Hey, the article you posted entirely supports my view.
On the article: Funny, she got into 5 top colleges, but “being an Asian definitely hurt me…”
OP: be yourself. The worst that can happen is you get into some really great schools that you will love. And Harvard or Yale may reject you. Not a bad result:)