<p>I am so angry over how colleges work. One kid in my class who has about a 2.8 gpa UW and 3.5 gpa W just got into ND and will probably get into UPenn as well. Why? His parent's are extremely rich, and even though they have not gone to either school, they can pull strings to help him out just because he is somewhat good at a sport. I like in an affluent town, but I am middle-class. I see people considered URMs getting accepted to schools that would have never accepted a white kid of equal stats, yet their parents are making $2,000,000 a year.</p>
<p>In conclusion, change affirmative action to only apply to economic status and actually look at the taxes of a place before making decisions.</p>
<p>Also, stop with the damn corruption crap. I'm sick of famous/rich/legacy people getting in so easily.</p>
<p>first of all, who are you to tell a school who to accept?</p>
<p>legacy will never end, because colleges will always take care of their own. and a lot of those legacies help colleges get funding for many of the facilities you will gladly use when you get into college.</p>
<p>Yes, it is a stupid system, but what are the legacy and other students supposed to do, not apply to those top schools? It would have to start with the universities changing their admissions, but that's never going to happen. What you should do is go out and make things fair, level the playing field, without waiting for others to change a static system.</p>
<p>Um.....just though I should point this out. Unless this person you are talking is about has INSANELY wealthy parents....with buildings named after their family at these schools and they donate millions to the school each year it is highly unlikely that the parents were able to pull strings.
Maybe they offered to build a building if their child got in....but think about that....they would be building lots of buildings...and many schools if they say that to all the schools</p>
<p>
[quote]
Um.....just though I should point this out. Unless this person you are talking is about has INSANELY wealthy parents....with buildings named after their family at these schools and they donate millions to the school each year it is highly unlikely that the parents were able to pull strings.
Maybe they offered to build a building if their child got in....but think about that....they would be building lots of buildings...and many schools if they say that to all the schools
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Here's a funny one... an acquaintance of my friend has a straight ticket to Harvard, because his grandfather donated enough money to build a building there (I'm not sure about details - whether the building was named after him, or whether he owned a building in the area and donated it to Harvard, or what). Even though these people are very few and far between, they exist.</p>
<p>To the OP: as a middle-income international student from a very well-represented country in Asia, this frustrates me as well, especially when I hear about stories like the above - but you can complain about it all you like and the system won't change for you. The current admissions process developed for a reason, and when it becomes outdated, it will gradually evolve as necessary. You're observing these "injustices" because you live in an affluent town. In another place, affirmative action may actually be doing its job.</p>
<p>Besides, I wouldn't call it corruption. They do have a right to accept who they want.</p>