I have seen many top schools accept URMs or those with low income (but with also much lower scores and GPA) and those with 2400 SAT 4.0 GPA many ECs get rejected -
I’m just curious of what the school’s intention is by doing this?
Because 1. the average GPA of school goes down, the average testing scores go down, and also more money will be given to the much weaker student for financial aid. What does the top school get from this?
diversity of students.
yes ^^ what billcsho said because elite private colleges are constantly being criticized for not having a diverse campus and having too homogenous of a school in terms of race. for example yale: 70% white, 22% asian, 9% black, 9% hispanic, 2% american indian.
I know those numbers don’t add up, this is what it says on yales website, but those numbers basically speak for themselves.
(*Students self-reporting two or more races are counted once in each race/ethnicity category.)
Colleges want URM"S, but does that mean a URM who has a bad record will get in? NO WAY. This means that instead of expecting 2200+'s and 4.0’s from all there applicants, a school can take a student who has a slight lower SAT and GPA, that are still respectable, 2080 SAT and 3.8 GPA(assuming multiple AP classes ), and still accept that student.
Because let’s face it, that student who is a URM probably didn’t have the opportunity to take an SAT prep class for 3-9 months(yes i know a kid who has been taking SAT prep classes for 9 months trying to get higher than his 2240 but with no avail) and get a perfect 2400. No that student worked as hard as they could in their circumstances and got a score around a 2100, which is generally the cutoff for most elite colleges. and at the end of the day if there’s a white applicant who has near exemplary sat scores and gpa, he or she will probably still get into a great school, but for for elite colleges they have so many applicants who are like the applicant I just described, so they get to be picky and choosy on which white applicants they accept. But in a time where so few URM’s are applying and getting accepted to elite colleges, those elite colleges are literally FIGHTING TOOTH AND NAIL to get those few exceptional students who will be able to add so much (more) to their respective campus (than the white applicant). and if the elite college has to lower its standard of average SAT and average GPA, then they will. And again the URM’s student will most defintely still be within the elite college’s typical SAT and GPA range, they just won’t most likely be at the top with a 2400 and 4.0.
Hope this answers your question
To some extent people are compared to their own during admissions. Just like you are compared to the students at your high school, to see if you stood out among your peers at your school and took the highest level courses available to you with high grades, each applicant is also compared to their own race/ethnicity heritage (whether this is supposed to happen legitimately or not is another matter, but it happens).
If you look up average test scores and other stats for URM across the country, you will see that they are significantly lower than whites and asians. That means that a standout URM applicant – even if they are at the top of their peers of URM – can still have low scores compared to top white and asian applicants. This reality does not negate the fact that this applicant has made significant achievements and risen above the average of comparable applicants. The reward is often admission to top universities.
Admissions officers in the USA are not tasked with admitting all of the applicants with the highest scores (as has long been a practice in many other countries, particularly in Asia). Instead, they are tasked with admitting a diverse student body, along with admitting athletes, performers, legacies, kids of celebrities and other students who may or may not be academic superstars. So you see, it isn’t just the URM students who can have lower scores – these other students can also. Academic superstars are just one type of student sought, while academically able students with exceptional talent or contributions in other areas including diversity are also sought.
“Weaker” is not as simple as test scores. You can get a 2400/4.0 and not have much else to show that the college values. Get to know what your target colleges truly look for. Since you titled this “highly qualified,” I hope you understand what that means. It is not all about stats. Nor is it as simple as just pulling in URMs and dismissing other qualified kids.
*This is essentially another Affirmative Action thread. Policy is that there is one thread for all AA discussion. The essence of the answer to the OP’s question has been posted here already, anyway. Closing thread.