<p>mrsopresident: </p>
<p>What you say is true and I agree: we are not the ones looking at the applications and it would be unfair to assume anything particular about a certain group of applicants whether they be URM or not without a complete picture. You did not specifically claim that hispanics have better personalities, but my point was that in order to accept your original premise that there was some factor - some special character trait - in the hispanic applicants means that those very traits were at least slightly lacking in the applicants who were not accepted, all else equal.</p>
<p>Perhaps the reason I can not agree with affirmative action even though it takes into account academics, recommendations, and other factors is because it still takes race into consideration, which is something we are born with and can not control. True, the hispanic student may be brilliant, personable, and a great person all-around. However, there are a limited number of seats for admission and one person’s gain is another person’s loss. The student who did not get accepted might hold a resentment toward the URMs or view them as less capable because they need help getting into institutions. On the other hand, people may be optimistic and claim that the URMs have better recommendations, interviewing skills, extra curricular activities etc. (all of which point to personability), which does a lot subconsciously to label the excluded group as book-smart or simply unpersonable.</p>
<p>I hope that clarifies what I meant. I’m not trying to be confrontational, I just think discourse is important when it comes to issues that involve race. And arachnophobia12, if you don’t like it, you may click the back button. haha.</p>