<p>Being Asian, is there more competiton when I apply for college? I intend on applying for Ivy Leagues where many Asians apply. Do I have just as equal a chance as anyone? </p>
<p>The real and honest answer, as far as I know, is no. You do not have a fair and equal chance as an Asian for admission at most reputed American institutions. I believe anyone telling you otherwise is lying or just ignoring the facts.</p>
<p>I think that you will have an equal chance among other groups who do not have an advantage when applying. I think if your stats are within the 50th percentile for a school, you have a shot of getting in (or at least have the same shot as anybody else). I would not look at lower stats and expect to have an advantage. Those advantages will be for minorities (Hispanic, Native American, African American), children of alumni, and those with special talents that are important to a particular college (athlete, musician, published writer, professional actor, etc). But like anyone, your advantage will be from your EC’s, letters of recommendations and essays. If they make you stand out beyond having good stats, you will increase your acceptance rate.</p>
<p>To be honest with you, being Asian means you need to be HIGHER than everyone else to have a decent chance. So if the schools’ median SAT is 2100 then realistically speaking you need to be at the 75th percentile (or higher) to have a reasonable chance.</p>
<p>Try to find something else that sets you apart, this will certainly help. Don’t spout off the same other list of ECs and scores that everyone else does.</p>
<p>The schools on which you really are on an equal footing with non-Asians are mostly Catholic schools that are backup plans to Ivies (e.g. Fordham, Villanova)…</p>
<p>^Objection. I’d say being Asian and applying as an international is the real thing that counts in admissions. Just because your Asian, this does not mean you are held to higher expectations… Who is to say that his parents immigrated from a country and he’s a first gen ,etc…</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are statistics showing the disadvantage of being Asian in the admission of many top schools.</p>
<p>1st tier schools will expect you more from others, which is a super bummer for us(I am an Asian) too. </p>
<p>However, there ARE some great schools like Grinnell but has relatively less Asian students…</p>
<p>Unfortunately yes, being Asian is a big disadvantage in the process. This is stereotypical, but most Asians have extremely high stats and appear the same. I agree with the advice that you need to do some EC’s or have some experiences that are outside the box/atypical for Asians (as bad as that sounds… I’m Asian though). I have friends who are half Chinese, but their father is white, so their last name doesn’t reveal the Asian heritage–they put white on their applications to help them out a little.</p>
<p>I have seen Asian Americans accepted at ivy leagues with 2100s. The key is not to be the stereotypical, cookie cutter Asian!</p>
<p>^see?there is a hope. </p>
<p>@HvePassion What is “stereotypical, cookie cutter Asian!”??? </p>
<p>@amazinganna There is good news and bad news in your quest for Ivy League. Good news for you is that Ivies accept many Asian-American applicants. Unfortunately, because Ivy schools accept quite a bit of Asian-Americans, the rate of acceptance is a bit lower than other ethnicity. This is a result of schools trying to maintain diversity and the sheer volume of high quality of Asian-American applicants. </p>
<p>Not sure if this is good news, but your chances are equally low for acceptance to Ivies regardless of ethnicity since rates of acceptance are 5-15%. </p>
<p>I know of only one school where the data suggests that being Asian-American negatively affects your admission chances versus being White. It is not an Ivy League school.</p>
<p>@voiceofreason66 What school is that?</p>
<p>And I know of one school where being Asian positively helps the application: Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>
It isn’t really about stereotypes–it’s about cultural factors that lead many Asian students to choose similar extracurricular activities, and to identify similar fields of interest. It is not stereotyping to note that Asian students are much more likely to identify STEM fields (and specific STEM) fields as intended majors, and to concentrate in certain ECs (such as playing specific musical instruments, a few specific sports, and a few others). Asian students are also more concentrated in some areas of the country.</p>
<p>This can mean that Asian students are more likely to be competing against each other (as well as members of other groups) for a limited portion of the “slots” at highly selective universities. Personally, I think this explains much of the perceived disparity in admissions between white and Asian students. Others think there is a bias against Asians–possible, but not really proven. The Ivy League schools all have Asian students in percentages much greater than the percentage of Asians in the U.S.population–the issue is whether there should be even more if admissions were based on grades and scores.</p>
<p>Part of the problem is “quest for Ivy League,” under the mistaken impression that those 8 schools are either the only schools worth attending, or the 8 best worth attending. Anyone with any real brains broadens their search beyond that particular athletic conference. </p>
<p>I do not think there is an Asian disadvantage, you just have to be different from your peers, I, myself am Indian.
Suppose two male Asian students want to apply to Brown University but only 1 can get in. Both students have same GPA, SAT, SAT II.</p>
<p>Student A- Chem major, captain of Tennis team, played the piano, involved in robotics club
Student B- Psychology major, captain of basketball team, lead in school play Junior and Senior year </p>
<p>Brown would most likely pick Student B because he was unique and different from the rest. Brown probably got 100’s of applications similar to student A. Being Asian is not a disadvantage unless you make it one. If you are similar to most of your Asian peers then it will become a major disadvantage.
I think it helps being Asian at Villanova because they are trying to get diverse. </p>
<p>Piggy-backing on that, I read some place (probably here on CC) that if you are Asian you are better off if you can get your reccommdations to focus on how creative, spunky, social, and fun you are to have around, it is better than if they use the words “diligent” or “hard working” to describe you. I guess that there is the stereotype. Diligent and hardworking aren’t stand-out qualities. EVERYONE applying to these schools is diligent and hardworking.</p>
<p>That said, when we toured Berkeley, Harvard, and Wellesley, more than 1/2–maybe 3/4-- of our tour groups were Asian. Asians represented far more than any other race. So there’s that. I’m not sure what it means, beyond, Asians want to go to these kinds of schools. If you wanted to branch out, being Asian might then become an advantage. Is it possible to just simply not declare race at all (“prefer not to answer”)?</p>
<p>^I guess asian disadvantage is a bit exaggerated based on what you say.</p>
<p>I also think that Asian with non Stem major such as English or art may have better chance to get in because there are SOOOOOOOOOO many STem major Asian student, and as you said since there are limited slots for the majors(did i word it correctly), the colleges will have to be more selective. </p>