<p>I have never heard white people talk about your last two points either. Nor have I heard them talk about discrimination against women as if it was wrong. </p>
<p>If you think about it, much of our history has ignored all kinds of things that were accomplished by people other than the white boys in charge.</p>
<p>And I agree with your first point as well. Affirmative action is just part of it.</p>
<p>The acquaintance betrays ignorance on two fronts - how not to look like a fool in everyday conversation, and how extremely selective Harvard and other tippy-top schools are. If Harvard had no commitment to building a class of students from diverse backgrounds, the odds are overwhelming that this student would still have been rejected. That’s what an acceptance rate of 8 percent (or whatever it was this year) means. Harvard’s commitment to having a diverse student body is not keeping scads of better-qualified Caucasian students from their rightful places there. </p>
<p>If this Mom had such a poor understanding of just how difficult it is to get in to a school like Harvard - if she actually thought that less-qualified students “took” her kid’s spot - she probably was a hindrance throughout the admissions process anyway.</p>
<p>I don’t think I would have been offended or thought it was strange. So many qualified students get rejected by those top schools, it is painful for many parents to see their kids get rejected. It makes them feel better to blame it on something that they have no control over. A lot of kids at my Ds’ old private school get accepted as legacies or athletes. Yes, many parents do gripe about that. I don’t see how it’s any different in blaming it in race. D1 was disadvantaged because of her race, but such is life.</p>
<p>^^^That’s a pretty dopey article. There are many good reasons to admit “less qualified” (whatever that means) legacies and athletes, as there are for historically disadvantaged minorities.</p>
<p>She’s likely ticked off that her son didn’t get accepted to Harvard. Rather than accept that he simply wasn’t qualified enough, she’s using the overused “they need to fill a racial quota” scapegoat. While this scapegoat probably still has some merit, I’m sure it wasn’t the sole reason her son got denied. Don’t take the comment personally. It’s just the words of a frustrated parent.</p>
<p>Most important is how our high-achieving URM children handle comments such as these. As long as they themselves are confident that their achievements are deserving of recognition by a university like Harvard, then random negative comments from rejected students or their parents should have little to no effect.</p>
<p>In 10th grade, I used to think that affirmative action was unfair because it meant less talented people were getting in. However, I’ve since been in college and met tons of outstanding African-American and Hispanic students. I guess now I would respond “I’m sure they were very well-deserving of getting in”. Especially with a school like Harvard, I’m sure there are many very talented minority students.</p>
<p>NSM-ughh! I hate this. See, I’m partially Native American, enough to claim URM-but I look as white as can be(I’m a ginger). I get to listen to anti AA rants all day, and it just makes me want to scream</p>
<p>“Rather than accept that he simply wasn’t qualified enough…”</p>
<p>I would argue that he was qualified–whatever that is, but none of the top schools have room for all qualified applicants. Harvard already had its toe-dancing bassoon player and didn’t need another. Most parents and kids don’t realize that for some schools, it is a reach for everyone.</p>
<p>She actually said this to YOU, a woman of color??!!?? How incredibly offensive!
If I were in your position, I think I would have been utterly dumb-founded! What a horrible thing to happen to you…</p>
<p>Honestly, her son sounds like a high scoring math geek with no other interests. An overabundance of such students apply to Harvard and assume they’ll get in. They don’t unless they are truly among the very top math students in the country or have some other unusual factor such as living in Idaho, being dirt poor or being a URM. Harvard could – but won’t – fill its entire student body with math geeks.</p>
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<p>Well, this article sounds like a racist crock too.</p>
<p>It’s unfortunate that one of the fallouts of the holistic admissions process is that it is easy to find excuses for why your particular child was not accepted. In our case we’ll always wonder a bit how much being a legacy was a tip for our oldest son. He had the scores, the grades and the ECs, but you’ll never be sure what went on in the admissions office. </p>
<p>For a long time it looked to me like the only ones who got into Harvard from our high school were URMs because those were the only ones our newspapers wrote about. Once I was at the high school I realized they were the exception not the rule. It’s too bad because we have some great students of color.</p>
<p>I think your answer was fine, though I can imagine the awkwardness.</p>
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This is a rather sad statement. Every person is unique and different and has something to potentially bring to the table. Somehow, we are supposed to accept that OUR kids are just plain boring old white kids with nothing to offer in the way of being “diverse”. Because “diversity” is defined only by color, race, or social status, and not on the basis of individuality. No wonder people are resentful.</p>
<p>That is not the way I intended it at all, sylvan. My point is that about half of each entering class (in a few schools) is white give or take a few percentage points. I have a white kid. My kid is brilliant–even by CC standards-- and is a wonderful kid. Her activities would make her different on paper, but a college seeking a diverse class doesn’t advertise that the class is made up of one percentage of oboe players, another percentage of playwrights, another percentage of you fill it in. Ideally all applicants fall into the bring something to the table category. Certainly a young person isn’t admitted to a school only because he/she is an Eskimo–or whatever the hook is.</p>
<p>" Somehow, we are supposed to accept that OUR kids are just plain boring old white kids with nothing to offer in the way of being “diverse”."</p>
<p>While everyone is unique, there are a lot of applicants to top schools who are very similar and won’t add to the colleges’ diversity. These include a lot of white/Asian kids who are premed, math nerds (but not excellent enough to be among the best in the country), who are NHS members and officers (but don’t do anything significant with those clubs) and are on school tennis or swim teams, but aren’t nationally ranked. It’s more difficult for such students to get into top schools (though some do manage to get in) than for students of their same race with more unusual interests.</p>
<p>White/Asian kids, however, who are aspiring humanities or arts majors and who have strong ECs in things like football, hockey, religion, theatre or art would be rarer and could stand out in admissions.</p>
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<p>Exactly. Which is why it’s important that race, among other things, is diverse.</p>
<p>I’m sad to say that when PMKjr was not accepted to Yale, I had people say similar things to me. I was so shocked the first time it happened that before I could think I said, “What an ugly, ignorant thing to say.” The person who said it looked shocked and shut up so I stuck with that.</p>
<p>My son, like all applicants, never had a “slot” at any school. He was an applicant who was not accepted for reasons we will never know because we were not in the room. When someone assumes my child’s slot was “stolen” by someone of color, it tells me a lot about them as an individual and it makes me angry that they are stealing my child’s experience to justify their racism.</p>
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<p>That was not a “poor choice” of words. It was pulling stupid garbage out of her butt because she’s an imbecile. Sure, her kid might have been a casualty of the push for diversity, but (1) probably not and (2) she would have no way whatsoever of knowing this. She’s just a stupid person who can’t face the reality that her kid was judged not-quite-good-enough.</p>
<p>NSM- In response to the original question,that person is just plain ignorant. </p>
<p>Your response was perfect.</p>
<p>*Honestly, her son sounds like a high scoring math geek with no other interests. *</p>
<p>Her son is a high scoring math geek, who wasn’t admitted when someone else from his school, **an even higher scoring math geek<a href=“USAMO%20is%20a%20serious%20math%20honor”>/b</a> was admitted. And it’s because the other student wasn’t white? Yeah. Right. This is just so stupid.</p>