Asian a URM at LACs?

Applying to College
1

<p>So before I started searching for colleges, I always thought that asians, particularly eastern asians, were considered over represented in every college. However I noticed this was only true for traditionally Asian schools (Berkely, NYU) or the tip top colleges like the ivies and little ivies. The group of LACs not in the top 10 rankings I noticed usually have Asian populations of under 10%. Would this be considered an under represented minority then and thus have advantage over Caucasians in college admissions?</p>

<p>For example, Harvard has an Asian population of 21% according to their data (blacks have a 10% in comparison), while Wesleyan has an Asian population of 8% (blacks have a 7%). No one's denying that Asians have it harder to get into Harvard. But what about a school like Wesleyan, with a typical Asian population around 7-10%?</p>

2

<p>Not really. A population of 7-10% would still be higher than the Asian population in the U.S. (which is around 5%). In comparison, blacks make up around 15% of the U.S. population.</p>

3

<p>Colleges that have difficulty recruiting and retaining Asians may view some Asians as URMs. These tend to be rural LACs and candidates with a background from SE Asia (eg.Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia).</p>

<p>For instance:</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/admission/diversity/divoh[/url]”>https://www.amherst.edu/admission/diversity/divoh&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Yep, what Elunium said. it doesn’t make for a URM situation. But I suppose as compared to the likes of Harvard that it could make for a lessor over represented minority situation?</p>

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<p>@elinium
Right so a small LAC with a small population chooses to keep their Asian population size at that number? I would think most colleges would try to shoot closer to 10-13% for most bigger minority groups (Asian, black). Why does Harvard then have a size of 21% then?</p>

<p>@entomom
In the end however, college don’t keep statistics on what kind of Asian but rather just lump them all into the same category. Would being SE Asian be really that much different than eastern Asian?</p>

6

<p>They may not publish statistics, but you can be sure that they keep them. SE Asians are different because many are recent immigrants from lower SES families (ie. they are actually underrepresented when compared to their numbers in the general population).</p>

<p>Take it or leave it, that’s my input. Good luck!</p>