<p>Because of several reasons that are part of Set "Diversity," who's elements include everything from white guilt to racism to not wanting to realize that although we are all created equal-- we are not all equal in every way as race sub-groups.</p>
<p>even with this AA, only 20% of the class is made of URMs. People who get mad over that are just bitter IMO.</p>
<p>I don't believe that race should be considered. We argue diversity but people's family history can be very different, and yet still be the same color. I think that if being a certain race had a big effect on your life--- write an essay about it.</p>
<p>My town recently had a URM who attends a (not cheap) Private school with no F/A be accepted a Princeton. This school gave pretty much no one a grade lower than a 97 (I've seen transcripts.) The person was also a member of a community club for the city which is pretty active-- I never saw him the entire year save for the graduation meeting. </p>
<p>So... unless there's some circumstance we don't know about... this person was accepted over the many non-URMs that apply every year from different schools who make less, have a higher GPA, attend public schools, and do a lot more toward the EC requirement in terms of quality and quantity. </p>
<p>I don't want to get into a debate, but that's my 2 cents.</p>
<p>I'm not a URM and I do feel the same way about disclosing your race/ethnicity (I personally did not report mine on any of my apps), but I think some people take it too far. I know a URM who applied ED to JHU with average stats. He was deferred and rejected...I also know a URM who got a 36 on the ACT and was rejected from all the ivies. It's not as staggered as some think.</p>
<p>what the hell's a urm???</p>
<p>underrepresented minority</p>
<p>Because most urms start out life at a disadvantage. Specifically for african americans, it's because our ancestors were enslaved for 350 years and have only had equal civil rights for 40 years. Thus, because of this past oppression, we fall behind in finances and in education.</p>
<p>**Note, of course this does not apply to EVERY urm</p>
<p>So, college admission officers feel that urms deserve a boost. If African Americans had not been oppressed for so many years, they wouldn't be behind.</p>
<p>aigiqinf.. Please learn how to use whose and who's correctly. It's borderline sickening.</p>
<p>Then why don't admissions officers use socioeconomic status instead of race?</p>
<p>kate25: In some schools, they probably do, but for public relations purposes it's alot sweeter for them to report % in terms of ethnic and racial groups, than socio-economic ones......much more PC (politically correct)......</p>
<p>Harvard is extremely proactive in pursuing socioeconomic diversity. And while they don't report their percentages by family income, they certainly pursue those of limited family income through their widely-publicized aid policies.</p>
<p>MODERATOR'S NOTE TO "Why does being a URM increase your chances of being accepted?" THREAD: </p>
<p>By consensus of the moderation team, after repeated member requests, this thread, like nearly all threads about affirmative action policies, will be merged with the general FAQ thread on ethnic self-identification in college admission, posted on the College Admissions Forum. Note that all Ivy League colleges make self-reporting ethnicity OPTIONAL, as is the general law in the United States.</p>
<p>tokenadult, would it be possible for you to have the "Moved" link in the Harvard forum link to the OP's question rather than the beginning of the entire thread? As this FAQ gets longer and longer, it will become more of a challenge for people to wade through it starting at page one to find the question they are looking for.</p>
<p>The moving threads is a hard-coded feature of our current bulletin board software, but one reason I almost always post a MODERATOR'S NOTE TO " " THREAD: message in a moved thread is that then a reader can search (by copying the thread title text in the move notice) for the original post of the moved thread, and for subsequent replies. Stuff gets moved here because the thread-opening post here is close to being a definitive statement on this contentious issue.</p>
<p>A reply in another thread mentioned a PBS website "Brazil in Black and White" with interesting international perspective on ethnic relations in a diverse country, including college admission policies. See the online quiz </p>
<p>Wide</a> Angle . Brazil in Black and White . Interactive Quiz | PBS </p>
<p>on that site to test your knowledge of conditions in Brazil.</p>
<p>An update on the civil rights investigation of admission practices at Princeton, mentioned in various replies upthread: </p>
<p>Investigation</a> into alleged admissions bias expands (Updated 1:31 p.m.) - The Daily Princetonian </p>
<p>Free</a> Preview - WSJ.com</p>
<p>I have a question about who URMs exactly are ? Just blacks of hispanics? Is affirmative action even legal? Favoring native american students and black students is sometimes making me jealous. My friend who got a 1550/2400 sat is going to a state school with full aid because he was hispanic. Although being poor helped in that decision, I guess it was more because he was both. I am Kurdish . For anyone who dont know who they are, Theyre people who live in southeastern turkey and northern iraq and are usually not educated. Hardly any of them make it to college etc. How can I let the admissions office recognize this? Will I be considered as a URM , the college I'm appplying to has full rides for successful URMs . Thank you for any of you that take time to reply.</p>
<p>what college is this?</p>
<p>I don't think State schools give money based on URM status. What state school is this exactly?</p>
<p>MODERATOR'S NOTE TO "Affirmative Action and URM s" THREAD: </p>
<p>In general, all of these kinds of questions are answered in the general FAQ thread on ethnic self-identification in college admission, into which this new thread will be merged. Always use the College Confidential search function (you can find a search link near the top right of every CC forum page) to look for answers to Frequently Asked Questions like that.</p>