<p>I prefer not to reveal my ethnic background, but I'll offer a clue: my ethnic background is one that is consistently negatively portrayed by the media and one that many Americans are not particularly fond of.</p>
<p>In the interest of making sense of my present situation, I'd like to consider the possibility that I got accepted to college thanks to affirmative action and mostly thanks to affirmative action.</p>
<p>Let's begin by reviewing my high school academic performance: I was in the top 5% of my class in a class of 650 students, had a 3.78 GPA, scored 710 in the math section of the SAT, and took a handful of AP classes. I did a terrible job in the verbal section of the SATs, but that was mainly because English is not my first language and because I knew I was required to take the 'Test of English as a Foreign Language' instead. My extracurriculars were weak; I participated in a few token activities for the sake of not leaving too many blank spaces on my college applications.</p>
<p>I got accepted to most of the schools I applied to and settled for a top 40 school. During my four years in undergraduate school I did not participate in extracurricular activities or held a part time job. I majored in math, graduated with a 3.5 GPA, and made the honor roll almost every semester.</p>
<p>Now, given that it's been a few years since I graduated from college and can't find a job that pays more than $16/hour, is it likely that I made it this far mostly thanks to affirmative action? I don't exactly come across as the average college grad, or do I?</p>
<p>Ah, yet another in your string of posts attempting to blame what you consider your lack of success upon factors you consider out of your control.</p>
<p>As you have been told many times, it is manifestly obvious to most here what is keeping you from success in life. And it isn’t the color of your skin.</p>
<p>It’s probably more your choice of major than anything…Maybe I’m ignorant, but are there really that many jobs for a pure math major? Aren’t most employers more into applied math stuff (engineering, etc.) these days?</p>
<p>In today’s society, I’m pretty sure that most of the Americans in big cities are becoming more integrated, though I’m not saying that there are not some Americans that look down on (upon?) minorities. If you look at all job fields, there is a wide variety of races represented in most if not all of these fields. I think it’s mostly attitude and passion that causes an interviewer to want to hire someone. Of course, other factors apply, but if I were an interviewer, usefulness to th company would be the first thing on my mind, while racial background would be the last if at all.</p>
<p>No ECs, no job experience… did you intern? Anything? Any qualification besides grades that would make someone want to hire you? And what do you mean by ‘the average college grad’?</p>
<p>I would’ve guessed either hispanic or arab. Not black, simply because nearly all black people I’ve ever met in the US have English as a first language. Also, both hispanics and arabs are portrayed badly in the media more often, esp. recently. After your most recent statement, I’d lean further towards hispanic because you got all defensive.</p>
<p>Personally, I just think you’re a big whiny baby who thinks you should get things handed to you just because you “worked hard” in college. Well tough crap. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. That’s just how the world works. Instead of spending your time b–ching on a forum, how bout you actually DO something for yourself? Go to grad school, network, whatever. Just quit whining to us about it.</p>
<p>“Why do you think I am an Arab? Is it because you don’t think a Black or Hispanic would be good enough to have my qualifications?”</p>
<p>It’s reasonable that he/she guessed that. Arabs are portrayed poorly in the American media. It has nothing to do with people of your race not being “good enough” to have your qualifications. I know numerous black and Hispanic students who are far more qualified than you- near perfect HS grade point averages, tons of activities and well deserved attendance at HYP and other esteemed schools. Your post comes across as really arrogant and insulting to us. Also you made race a much bigger issue than it would have been if you just said “I’m Hispanic and I’m wondering…” or “I’m African-American and…” or whatever.</p>
<p>The problem is your major. It’s tough to find jobs that want math and philosophy majors (to list two). If you major in those areas grad school is usually important.</p>
<p>That is how many CC members feel about financial aid. They simply feel entitled to fiancial aid at schools that costs 50k/year simply because they “worked hard”. Anyway, that’s beyond the point.</p>
<p>Moire, your situation is not going to change if you don’t do anything about it, especially if you keep complaining to us. Why can You should spend that time on something productive because you seem to be active on CC 24/7. Try to get a normal life. </p>
<p>Why can you not understand that nobody you will hand you an opportunity on a silver platter?</p>
<p>No. According to my career advisor(s) my problem is my lack of activities. No EC’s, no internships, no jobs, etc. I believe that in addition to all that, my problem is my lack of ‘people skills’. I doubt that job offers would rain on me if I had an impeccable resume; on the contrary, given that scenario I believe that the likelihood that I got job offers would be lower, since the expectations would be a lot higher.</p>
<p>s tfu. if you actually wanted our opinions, you would have disclosed that you’re hispanic. and why didn’t you just major in CS instead? you’d fit in with the general asininity and cantankerousness of CS majors…</p>
<p>also, no one cares about what you did in high school. why didn’t you boost your resume during college by joining clubs at college???</p>
<p>Are you really implicating your race in your own inability to do what you’d like to do?</p>
<p>You’re obviously well off, at least in your academic standing; you scored high on your boards, you went to a top 40 school, did very well there. You had every opportunity you could need. Your race is the least of your issues.</p>
<p>I think that you are from either an African speaking country or from the Magrheb. If you are not confident enough about your schalstic ability, then why are you suprised of your low-paid job? I am sure that your negative atittude can affect you during jobs interview.</p>
<p>I think that you should believe your career counselor. It has nothing to do with your ethnicity. You came out of college with no work experience whatsoever, so you are in the first job you’ve ever had. Any sort of job or internship during HS or college, even working at McDonald’s, would have provided some skills in dealing with the public, learning to get along with other people, etc and would also have provided you with job recommendations. I think that many employers would view this as a lack of ambition or one-dimensionality. They could also view you as a rich kid who didn’t need to work, but on the other hand you don’t have a famous parent or connections who can get you a job.</p>
<p>Job/internship experience was important to me when I was in a position where I hired people. A Penn graduate applied for a job but his only work experience was a summer job stringing tennis rackets at a country club. This really turned me off and I did not hire him.</p>
<p>What can you do now? Work very hard to get along with your current manager, colleagues etc so that they can be a future source of recommendations. Join some local or national business groups in your field of interest, or the field where you’d like to be involved, and actively participate in meetings, planning events, etc. Build relationships with other members by volunteering for the organization. Do something that gets you outside of your own head, cycling the same thoughts over and over. If you are considering going back to school, you should make sure that you build your human connections and experience first, or you will end up in the same situation you’re in now.</p>
<p>This weekend you should sit down and make your plan for how to do this. Then just do it!</p>