I think that there are a lot of factors that go into the process and the use of ‘hooks’ in college admissions. As a black woman who works directly with kids in some of the most broken inner city schools, there are circumstances as an URM and those in impoverished communities that need to be recognized.
First off, as an URM, there are many emotional traumas that you may face no matter what your socioeconomic standing is, especially if you are socially aware. You could be like me, who came to school everyday being called brown bread, who was mocked in front of my 4th grade class during show-and-tell when someone asked why I didn’t bring Oreos in represent myself, why the administration let a student get away with calling someone an N*** on Twitter and why Martin Luther King Jr. Day was shafted into a 30 minute lecture as to why ‘all lives matter.’ If a person of color (PoC) is suffering from these sort of microaggressions and being discriminated against on a daily basis, it can affect their confidence and performance in school if they don’t feel like they have an open environment to learn and prosper. Most PoC’s don’t want to be surrounded by people who don’t even make an effort to be empathic towards their race/religions/ethnic background’s suffering, and don’t succeed as well as they should if they don’t have a mentor or support system to help them.
If terms of socioeconomic background, you should first acknowledge that the achievement gap is real because of the failing public school system. There are schools in the inner city where being in the top 10% is having a 3.5. There are also an overall lack of resources and less safety nets for students. If you were at a top notch prep school and not getting the grades you wanted, a teacher, counselor, or even your friends could help you find you find free and payed tutoring and teacher support. If your grades slipped in a school with lack of funding, your grades would probably stay that way. There wouldn’t be that much pressure as to what college you’re going to but rather IF you’re going to college. The way this question is phrased changes dramatically the pressure and motivation of students. After all, we are a product of our environments.
Just a little something to consider.