<p>Hi, Jack, good to see you posting in the thread again (post #29). I tried to be as vague as possible about whether Applicant is male or female, and about Applicant's ethnic heritage. I intentionally omitted the gender and ethnic group lines from the usual stats chart format. I see that in post #23 I used the pronoun "his" to refer to Applicant, but that should be taken as my habitual usage of the default third-person pronoun in English (at least in standard Chinese, and in other languages I speak, third-person singular pronouns aren't marked for gender :) ) and not as a sign that I have accurate information about whether Applicant is male or female. </p>
<p>I also tried to be a little vague about the field(s) in which Applicant had extracurricular accomplisments, although I myself am not aware of any fields but mathematics, computer science, and various physical sciences that have "olympiad"-style competitions. So it is fair to say that Applicant has an unusual level of science achievement among college applicants. </p>
<p>There does seem to be a persistent current belief that it is a little harder at the top of the selectivity rankings of research universities to gain admission as a male applicant than as a female applicant. But there are still plenty of males accepted each year at all of the top research universities, so some of those applicants are successful even though they are known to be male. I have both sons (three) and a daughter, so I try to be even-handed in how I deal with this issue, which I guess will come up four times for me in real life. (No, I do NOT expect any of my own children to be like the hypothetical example of Applicant. I don't even know if any of my children will be interested in applying anywhere out of state for college.) </p>
<p>Overall, my curiosity in this thread extends to the anxiety some real-world applicants feel about their ethnic heritage or sex being taken to their disadvantage in the admissions process. Isn't there plenty of room for every which kind of person? Even if no one can reach the heights of achievement indicated for my purely hypothetical Applicant, can't many real-world applicants find a mark of distinction based on their own efforts that will help them fit into an outstanding school that meets their needs? </p>
<p>Happy Mothers Day to all the moms reading this thread. Your children owe you a big thank you today.</p>