<p>I was just looking at the percent of asians at top colleges and i just realized something.</p>
<p>At a school like Harvard, there are 15% Asians, and people riot that asians have a low admit rate.</p>
<p>But 15% of students did not report their race. The only reason i would think they would do that is because they are asian and believe it hurts them in admissions.</p>
<p>If that is true, then wouldnt that mean that Harvard is made up of nearly 30% Asians? And all studies done on the discrimination against asians in admissions are terribly exaggerated because Asians are more likely to leave their race unreported then any other group?</p>
<p>I was just thinking how such bias could skew the data. (I'm taking AP Stats, sorry! lol)</p>
<p>I just want to know if i'm totally off with my hypothesis.</p>
<p>No, I don't think that's an accurate assumption. Out of the 15% that did not report their race, not all of them are necessarily Asian.</p>
<p>Also, the study I think you are referring to was a research project conducted by some professors at Princeton. They found that an Asian applicant received a disadvantage comparable to a 50 point decrease on the SAT, while other minority groups received nearly 100-200 point increases during the admissions process. Because researchers only took into account those applicants that reported their race, then it would be the opposite of data exaggeration. If they considered Asians who didn't report their race as well, they may have seen an even lower admit rate.</p>
<p>Finally, 15% may be a big pool compared to other minorities, but you have to take into account socioeconomic factors. Although conditions have improved throughout the decades, many more African-Americans and Hispanics live in abject poverty when compared to Asian-Americans. Because many do not have the same social background as Asians (since many that are able to immigrate to the U.S. come here to pursue higher education) nor the same social resources, Asians are more prepared for postsecondary education in comparison. The reason why there is a higher percentage of Asian-Americans in American universities is due to the fact that these schools believe more Asian-Americans are more likely to succeed there.</p>
<p>^in your second paragraph, the admit rate for asians would have probably been higher as the Asians most likely to leave their race blank are probably the strongest of the applicant pool. </p>
<p>But i'm still not convinced, I think that there were too many sources of error to conclude anything on the Princeton study. If someone could get me the link, i lost it a a long time ago.</p>
<p>often times people say that there is a slight disadvatange to being asian and applying to a top school lower because generally there is some pretty stiff competition in terms of raw data (e.g sat scores and gpa). admissions committees do not want to admit the huge percentage of qualified asian applicants, and so it may be perceived as more difficult for an asian with simply good raw data to stand out amongst the excellent scores.</p>
<p>additionally, it is perceived as more difficult in very densely asian areas of the country (like parts of california, new york, etc) because of the sheer number of asian applicants.</p>
<p>I know at my NJ public school, there are only 2 non-Asian kids in the top 15. Asians have more competition among their race than any other race. That's what makes it harder for them to get into schools; colleges want an accurate representation of the racial proportions in the real world. They don't want classes that have 13 Asians to every 2 white kids, and no blacks or Hispanics...</p>
<p>So if you're Asian, is it better to not report your race?</p>
<p>If your name is John Wong or Susan Ling, you won't need to check off any box. Therefore I don't think it's true 15% that didn't report are necessary Asians (most likely not).</p>
<p>damn our monosyllabic last names ><</p>
<p>^^That made me giggle.</p>