@MamaBear16 Cool thanks!! yeah i havent had too much exposure in my area haha.
Thats really promising to hear, thank you so much!!! i definitely feel better about applying to LACs now.
Do you mind mentioning where she goes (that had a lot of opportunities)? its completely fine if not! sorry if thats rude!
USC undergraduates are about 21% Asian American according to https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=southern+california&id=123961#enrolmt , so there should be no shortage of âmainstream Americansâ among them. (International undergraduates, not necessarily all from Asia, make up another 14% of undergraduate enrollment there.)
@momprof9904 ill check those out right now! thank you so much!! also i realized i should just be tough-skinned if someone were to say something mean, my gpa is a 3.7; do you think that takes me out of the running for those schools? and yes, luckily my parents are fine with the tuition. thanks for your help!
@merc81 haha i had no idea! thank you so much!!!
and about the bio, that honestly makes me feel so much better and extremely excited!!! do you have any examples of these well rounded LACs?
I really really appreciate it!! thanks!!
But if those Asians at USC were raised in Korean households with Korean traditions, such as Tiggerdadâs son, it wouldnât be the same as the Asian kids like my daughter who was raised in a white household that was no more Asian than the Italian family next door.
When we moved to Southern California, she did not want to go to a high school that was majority Asian because their sports teams sucked and it didnât even have her sport⊠The school she ended up did have a larger than average (or at least that she was used to) Asian population. She came home one day and was telling me about a boy in her class. âHeâs Korean. Even his parents are. Even his grandmother. The whole family!â She was shocked.
My daughter doesnât care about race and wasnât looking to marry a Chinese guy so it wasnât important to her to pick as school that would increase her possibilities of even meeting a potential spouse. To Tiggerdadâs son, thatâs important. To many of the Jewish families on CC, itâs important so they have a few threads about Jewish life on campus. Itâs important to my friend and she looked for a school with a large Jewish population for her son. Didnât work.
The OP wants the advantage of the URM, but with that advantage comes a disadvantage of not having as many of his/her peeps at the school.
Look at www.collegedata.com and you will see the mid range stats of freshmen for the various universities and it will give you a general idea of how you fit in. Is the 3.7 gpa UW or weighted? Do you have SAT or ACT test scores? No one on this forum will be mean to you if you volunteer your stats. It can only help us so that we can give you better guidance.
One piece of info you should pay attention to is the percentage of students that the smaller LACâs take.through ED. Many colleges try to protect their yield and will reject students if they do not show interest etc. If you do not have a private counselor, I would suggest working with one. They can help you strategize and provide a consistent voice about the process.
Agree there are a lot of research opportunities in LACs. Not @MamaBear16 but I did research on strong STEM LACs this past year for my D. On East Coast and in Midwest some of the ones that came up a lot are, in no particular order:
Carleton
Swarthmore
Grinnell
Davidson (brand new science building)
Williams
Smith (womenâs college)
Iâm sure there are others, but thought Iâd share.
Good luck in your search!
Growing up in the US, they are probably more âmainstream Americanâ than you seem to be assuming, and probably do not like to be assumed to be âperpetual foreignersâ.
@calitoeast : Youâd be sure to find the course catalogs of schools such as Hamilton, Swarthmore/Haverford, Mt. Holyoke, Colby, Pomona, Reed and Carleton to be interesting to read through.
@momprof9904 hahah thanks for the comfort! Sure, Ill look into that website, thanks! 3.7 uw, and I believe my weighted is slightly above a 4. I havenât taken any offical tests yet, but will probably have an ACT in the 30 (bases off practice tests). Yeah I have seen that ED seems a little easier, but more than one of the schools I really like are ED, so Iâm a bit torn. I went on 15 college tours on my east coast trip, and I think a good portion cared about showed interest, but there are many schools that I should have visited that would have cared more, but there is a chance that I might go back.
I have a private counselor but Iâm not excited about any of the schools on the lists theyâve given me and also donât have too much experience with LACs (which is why Iâve come here hunting for more lacs haha). But they definitely do provide help about the process and essays.
Thank you so much for all your help!! I really appreciate it!!
@AlmostThere2018 wow thank you so much for that list! Iâve heard of a few of those and look forward to look into the other ones!!
@merc81 oh thatâs a really good idea!! Prior to this year, I just assumed every college would have stem majors, so this is a great way to find out. Thanks for the list!!
Do you think if a school has less majors in a feild, it is fair to assume it is most likely pretty weak at that school?
Thanks you so much!!!
There are a bunch, Iâve made a list before, but it does include some top LACs.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21215552/#Comment_21215552
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20736426/#Comment_20736426
^^ both have lists of LACs that specifically want Asian-American students to apply for their free fly-in diversity programs.
People may not say something mean but may be curious - especially wrt foods. You can typically see if the question or comment comes from a place of genuine curiosity and wanting to learn, or if it comes from a place of prejudice and meanness.
@calitoeast: The stronger LAC biology programs may graduate about four dozen majors annually across biology, biochemistry and neuroscience. This appears sufficient to sustain a wide range of course options. Programs with more students may not necessarily be more desirable. However, programs with significantly less students could be limited in ways that should be apparent through course listings.
Interesting thread. Makes me wonder where how kid (half Asian, half Caucasian) would be judged in this crazy game.
I think sheâd be judged how she wants to be judged. My daughter, full Chinese, made no effort to have her race play a part in her applications. Nothing indicated she is Chinese - no clubs, no name, no pictures not from a high school with a high percentage of Asians (or minorities in general). Often you can see the look of surprise on peopleâs faces when they put her name with her face (they are expecting an Irish girl and the Chinese one shows up). It doesnât seem to matter and she wanted it not to matter.
If your child, @Jean-Jeanie, wants minority status to be considered, child needs to bring it up in the essays or the list of activities. Schools who want more minority students market to those students, encourage them to apply, but in the end they accept qualified students.
@twoinanddone thanks for that. My kid goes to great lengths to eliminate preferential treatment of any kind (though he did finally give in to accommodations for his disabilities), but I was just curious.
@OHMomof2 thats more than perfect! thank you so so much!!!
@MYOS1634 yeah, good point, so far everyone has been REALLY nice and EXTREMELY helpful; I was definitely wrong 