This discussion was created from comments split from: Chances for Phillips Andover??.
I’m a solid A-/A student who is a competitive swimmer (13+ hours a week) and I also play piano 7 hours for 8 years. I do rock climbing, I played the lead role in our school play, I’m top of my grade and fluent in French, Chinese, and of course, English. I think I bombed my interview, I mentioned my passions and drive and to top that I got a 98 percentile for my ssat in October. Yet I still feel at a major disadvantage because I’m asian. Do I have a chance at Andover/Exeter?
I don’t think being Asian would ever make them less likely to accept you, especially since we’re a minority. An we’ll represented minority, but still a minority. I can’t say for sure because I’m also an applicant, but you look pretty well rounded to me. Do you do any community service? 8 have a friend at Exeter and another at Andover, and community service is a factor taken into consideration. After all, their workings are centered around the phrase ‘non sibi’- not for self.
That statement is just naive. Admissions is a zero-sum game. If schools have a stated goal of increasing diversity by admitting X URM’s, then by definition that means -X non-URM’s will be admitted. An AO will never say why a particular applicant was rejected, but you should assume that the admissions rate for Asian applicants at the schools mentioned in the initial post will not be greater than the overall admit rate.
Whatever you say, since you seem like someone who is experienced in this area.