<p>Quote:You know, like Natalie Hershlag, Issur Danielovitch Demsky, and Ram</p>
<p>Becoming a celebrity is not the same as college admissions. I really hope that people aren't taking them THAT seriously. it's more like the argument about whether you should change everything about who you are just to become popular in high school. That would be a better comparison. Do you think that it's noble or worth it to do that?</p>
<p>Tyler,</p>
<p>Natalie Portman, Kirk Douglas, and Martin Sheen did not change "who they [were]" when their changed their last names. Did it ever occur to you that had they remained Miss Hershlag, Mr. Demsky, and Mr. Est</p>
<p>but that doesn't change the fact that they aren't the same.</p>
<p>I have a question related to Asian discussion (I haven't read this thread at all, so I assume I'm not making any irrelevant questions!) </p>
<p>alrite, if u r an Asian who came to the US as a legal alien just around say as a 10th grader and u r planning to attend top colleges.........does it go for advantage or disadvantage or nothing at all?</p>
<p>Unrelated to any of the points youve been making, the actor analogy is beating a dead horse, it in fact does seem fine that an asian changes their last name. But NOT just to get into a better college. If you want to change your name to avoid discrimination, do it to avoid discrimination in all parts of life and so that your race won't be the first thing people see when they see your name on paper. It would be just as justifiable for a black woman whose parents named her "Latisha" to change her name to something less overtly ethnic. But at the same time that is part of denying your culture, it just depends on whether or not its worth it to you.</p>
<p>-But changing your name for college admissions, like you said, is still over the top.</p>
<p>Tyler,</p>
<p>You're saying that two related events don't have anything in common because they're different. Well, of course they're different, they're two separate events.</p>
<p>It seems like you're the kind of person who would ask how to integrate 3x after already asking how to integrate 2x. "They're 'not the same,' so why would the same formula apply to both?" is pretty much your stance.</p>
<p>
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...it in fact does seem fine that an asian changes their last name. But NOT just to get into a better college. If you want to change your name to avoid discrimination, do it to avoid discrimination in all parts of life and so that your race won't be the first thing people see when they see your name on paper.
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<p>Nevertheless, Tyler, I can accept that as a compromise. I still believe that you are not seeing the underlying fear that guides both actors and students to change their names, but I can accept your change of position.</p>
<p>If you agree that an Asian's desire to change her name to prevent potential bias in the application screening process is acceptable, then your change of heart is good enough.</p>
<p>By the way, names like Latisha are a relatively recent phenomenon. They only became common after the 1960s.</p>
<p>what should Indians with a typical last name of Patel check off?</p>
<p>asian, cuz theyre asian.</p>
<p>yeah but does it hurt if i have typical name..</p>
<p>Being Indian will not get you rejected from X school. Be proud of your heritage - that ever occur to you?</p>
<p>My school has our yearbook picture on our transcripts, so it would be pretty pointless for an Asian person, for instance, to mark African American or Hispanic/Latino(a).</p>
<p>trust me i am proud.. i just saw in other threads that Patel's were ORM</p>
<p>no, asians were orms, patel is just a name.....</p>
<p>^ I agree.</p>
<p>You're Asian. Mark Asian. Common App has a "country of origin" section for Asian - so specify that you're Indian. It's just one part of your app. You don't choose to be Indian. It shouldn't make a huge difference.</p>
<p>I think you have an option and right to leave these fields blank.</p>
<p>If someone wants to do a research on your name to find what Ethnicity than let them do this research.</p>
<p>If everyone start leaving this field blank, I can gurantee that in few years it will not make any difference of what race/ethinicity you are.</p>
<p>But that won't happen because there are some who does get advantage out of this and they will write.</p>
<p>well no duh he has the option to leave it blank "it says optional", but if you've read any of this thread its been about why you shouldn't....</p>
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but that doesn't change the fact that they aren't the same.
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asian, cuz theyre asian.
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<p>I love the analytical depth of your arguments, Tyler.</p>
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I think you have an option and right to leave these fields blank.
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<p>ParentOfIvyHope is right and expressed it and quite coherently.
It's optional, and he can do as he likes.</p>
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well no duh he has the option to leave it blank "it says optional", but if you've read any of this thread its been about why you shouldn't....
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<p>So you've been saying over and over again, with convincing arguments, such as the above.</p>
<p>Thank you for asserting it for us though.
I give up on arguing this with you.</p>
<p>I'd like to distinguish between two things: it is one thing to discriminate in favor of a minority group, either for purposes of diversity or to atone for past discrimination, and something else entirely to discriminate against a particular group, either minority or majority, because it is "overrepresented." I think these are ethically different--the first, in my mind, is justifiable, and the second isn't. In other words, to be specific, I think it's reasonable to say, "This college is not enrolling enough African-Americans," but very different, and unreasonable, to say, "This college is enrolling too many Asians (or Jews, or whites)." If the latter is happening, then I can see why somebody might want to leave the box blank on the application (although how you're going to hide it in your interview, I don't know--makeup, maybe?)</p>
<p>tyler -
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Because once again, colleges don't want gross over representation of any race (they can't really account for jews)
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<p>Hmmm - that didn't seem to have that problem 50 or so years ago.</p>
<p>tehrak -
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You say that "Asian-americans make up 30% of the highest qualified applicants" but this is impossible to say unless you focus on just one area- for instance test scores. </p>
<p>It is well known that colleges look for more than just test scores. So the more qualified student could have lower test scores but other aspects make him more qualified.
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<p>Studies have shown that Asian applicants are no different with regard to the general applicant pool with regard to ECs.</p>
<p>Btw, how do you then explain the lower admit rate for Jewish applicants at Princeton when it switched to a more "holistic" application (and yet Jews make up nearly 40% of the student body at other Ivy Schools - I guess they have no problem admitting Jewish applicants with "just high scores").</p>
<p>this thread died........</p>