Hey, so I have a relatively high income (300k+) for a urm and I was wondering if the benefit of being a urm is negated by the fact that I’m high income. Assuming that they have the same stats, would a school prefer a low income urm over a high income urm? I’m applying to ivies and other top 20s.
Hard to know what goes on in the admission’s discussions. It would seem logical though that when the AO reviews a URM’s file from a prestigious HS or sees a toney zip code, the standards by which the candidate is judged will be different. Certainly, when looking at the rigor of the transcript, it will be viewed based upon the highest level of rigor offered by the HS. If your school offers a full panoply of AP/IB courses, the AO will want to see that you have taken your share of these courses. A URM from an inner city or rural school that doesn’t offer these courses will be judged by the courses offered at that school. As to testing, if they see a candidate of whatever race, that they are certain has access to prep and the ability to take the tests multiple times, the expectations may be higher than for a candidate without access to those resources. The expectation for EC’s may also vary between affluent vs. low income candidates. Many low income candidates may have to work or provide childcare for younger members of the family, and won’t have time (or financial resources) for the types of EC’s affluent candidates routinely engage in.
Depends if the school is need aware or not. But yes standards for wealthy URMs are higher.
@BKSquared Thanks for the insightful reply; it’s kind of what I expected. My stats are comparable to many competitive applicants and I was hoping that being a urm would give me the boost I needed to get in.
@VANDEMORY1342 Thanks.
^It could indeed give you a boost.
Very high income families typically give their kids substantial educational advantages starting from before kindergarten, so if your family is typical of such, then be glad that you had those substantial educational advantages up to now.
If you are aiming for the most selective private universities and liberal arts colleges, note that they typically have about half of their students with no financial aid, meaning from families with incomes like your family’s, so you would not be especially unusual in their applicant or admit pools.
Speaking from personal experience: yes, your are at a disadvantage because you are able to access what low-income URM’s don’t have.
It’s not hypothetical advantages you received, it’s what you did with that. Your chance thread looks good, you’ve been nicely active.
It can matter what you got less than top grades in, esp related to your major. Was chem an issue? And you may want to consider one LoR being from a non stem teacher.
@ucbalumnus I didn’t actually speak english until 1st/2nd grade. I didn’t have any tutor and didn’t go to places like Kumon (and still don’t) through middle school and high school. So while I did have many opportunities not offered to poor people, I had to work hard in high school to adjust to rigorous classes that my parents did not expect me to take. I probably won’t be applying for financial aid, but I think it’s interesting that adcoms automatically assume you’re getting all of the benefits associated with a high income from a young age.
@“aunt bea” thanks for the response. Would you mind elaborating more on the personal insight? Is it just in terms of what you could access as a low income urm?
@lookingforward Yes, chem was an issue for me. It was my first AP course and I just didn’t have the study habits/drive that I currently have so I finished with a low B. Thanks for the advice for the letter of rec - I’ve heard that Ivies and other top schools would prefer them to not be from the same subject so I’m going to ask my history teacher when school starts up again.
OP, adcoms are reading apps and supps (not assuming.) Many kids have trouble putting forth a good app. Family income and all the advantages CC presumes can’t change that.
So try to know what your targets look for, what they say, then do your best.
And if you use their net price calculators, chances you’d get any fin aid are slim to none. You can’t game anything by checking that box. Plus an Ivy likely excludes that from what reviewers see.
@lookingforward Thanks for the genuine insight. I didn’t know that ivies exclude financial info from the reviewers. I’ve already run most of the net price calculators and none of them give aid - as expected.
What makes you think that other URM’s don’t work as hard?
Low-income URM’s have to worry about a lot more than how hard their classes are along with working hard.
Also, I imagine you went to a school in a decent neighborhood? You had good teachers who gave you those opportunities to work rigorously in those courses.
Did you have to worry about being shot at? Eating consistently?
Were the majority of your classmates on free or reduced lunches?
Could your school afford similar sports uniforms for their teams instead of stretched-out dingy clothing?
My family was able to buy a home in a strong, award-winning school district. They had active parent volunteers. They had the latest in computers and supplies. The library and facilities were well-maintained. That’s an advantage that a lot of our low income URM’s don’t have. The college adcoms know this.
@“aunt bea” I never said that other URM’s don’t work as hard, if not harder. I was just saying that just because I’m high income, I didn’t have the tutoring and educational support that most other high-income individuals have and as a result of that I’ve had to work hard to get to where I am today.
My teachers don’t teach much actually - I do most of my learning through Khan Academy, free online textbooks, and review books. While I don’t worry about being shot at presently, I used to live in Colombia where there’s always a possibility of getting shot or kidnapped and have been in some precarious situations.
Luckily, my school has plenty of resources (which I alluded to) and I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is going to come from, which can’t be said for most low-income urms.
You’re good - these schools need the full pays too to pay the bills. You’re a jackpot for them.
I agree with @Empireapple and disagree with some of the other posters. When colleges report their URM percentage, they don’t break it down into full pay URM vs on aid URM. You could be 25% Hispanic and rightfully check the Hispanic box and you will count to them as URM, no matter if you are first gen, or if your non Hispanic father has descendants from the Mayflower.
A $300k+ income isn’t “relatively high,” it’s 6x the national median. Let’s put that into perspective for a minute. In 2 months your parents gross what it takes families whose income is near the median an entire year to earn. The families of those low income students who you’re worried about competing against may work an entire year to earn what your parents grossed last month. So if you get accepted to a top 30 school instead of an Ivy or other top 20 college, please don’t think it’s because you were disadvantaged in any way.
You have a solid academic record that makes you competitive for many schools, and your parents seem willing and able to pay for any that accept you. That’s great news for you. I think your application package matters. It’s more than where your family falls on the income scale and which boxes you can check on the application. You have to tailor each app to refect your knowledge of what that school wants. Do your best, and make sure you have academic safeties. If you apply only to colleges with low acceptance rates you may be shut out in the spring. Good luck.
Could we phrase the question not as comparing a URM admissions boost between the advantaged URM and the disadvantaged URM, but rather whether an advantaged URM (who is otherwise competitive, like OP) will have any boost at all compared to the non-URM advantaged applicant pool, or whether the chances are pretty much the same among the advantaged applicants whether they are URM or not?