I forgot I was black. Damn.

Applying to College
1

<p>I forgot I was a minority. I've never thought of myself as a color, just a guy. Big mistake.</p>

<p>It's a shame. In retrospect reaches were far and few in between. As an applicant I'm pretty competitive (more so EC's and grades than scores, even though they're passable). But I'm also black. These last few months have taught me something: It's perfectly possible for a minority with below par test scores, no EC's and absolutely no volunteer work to get into a college far out of their range. What's a reach to a black girl with a 21 ACT and 3.7 GPA at a non-competitive public school? Harvard, and that's about it-we'll have to see about Yale.. OSU certainly isn't. Neither is MSU. It doesn't seem like any of the Big 10 are, except NU. </p>

<p>Is average that great for a minority?</p>

<p>Affirmative Action makes colorblind minorities-like me- feel bad. What's the point in being within the range of a school if I can get in with sub-par stats? My accomplishments are superseded by my race anyway.</p>

<p>EDIT: computer is acting up. will complete another time</p>

2

<p>You think it's hard? I'm purple and when I put that for my race on my college application, no one took me seriously. Eveyone just laughed at me... I'm going to be the next Martin Luther King for we purple people. "I HAVE A DREAM!" It's a hard life for us... :(</p>

3

<p>Also, I recommend you put down purple as your race/color. For that reason, colleges want as much diversity as possible.</p>

4

<p>What the..</p>

<p>What are you trying to say??</p>

5

<p>i'm not a proponent of affirmitive action</p>

<p>but the truth is</p>

<p>if a college accepts you, even if you have subpar stats compared to say, an average white or asian applicant, the truth is they think you can succeed and you have prepared yourself to succeed.</p>

<p>you are getting in on your own merit, and you will deserve to be there, so whatevs</p>

6

<p>ALCHEMY is a TROLL!!!!</p>

7

<p>i say the next person to speak about this we yell at for being alchemy's other troll self.</p>

8

<p>teehee look at me!</p>

9

<p>if your race gives you an advantage then take advantage then.</p>

<p>im against AA but whatever</p>

10

<p>I think that AA should only be used for those coming from hard backgrounds, not by their race. IE, a white person who grew up in the hood should have an advantage over a black person who grew up in a good suburban public school system.
That said, if AA will help you, go for it. And the Michigan State thing isn't true anymore, AA was banned in Michigan.</p>

11

<p>Take every advantage you can get!</p>

12

<p>Haha, harvard with a 21/3.7?!</p>

<ol>
<li>your act/gpa don't match
2.which means that you went to a crappy high school
a. which is not your fault; at least you took advantage of what your school had to offer and proved that it is not impossible to do good in schools that are bad. Yes, you just proved one of the biggest arguments that I hear about AA wrong. W R O N G.
b. but that still means that you, overall, do not meet what I will just refer to as the national standard. A 21 will get you into a community college, sure, and perhaps a historically black school. But other than that, good luck. </li>
<li>As of about 2 months ago, I would have suggested U of M
a. But because of Prop 2, AA is no longer in Michigan (and trust me, they would have accepted you. On the other hand, if you were a white male, you would have had to be accepted by Stanford before you would get in at the U of Michigan).</li>
</ol>

<p>On the issue alltogether, though, no comment. I've got too much work to do to argue right now.</p>

13

<p>Hey, life is never fair. Its not fair morons like Michelle Lee (whose in alg 2 honors right now as a senior) gets into Stanford or those athletes simply get recruited while not nearly being good enough for the respective schools or people with legacy/money get in either. Don't feel bad, take advantage of it while it lasts and remember the private universities arent public institutions and arent simply teaching facilities. They are businesses. And as a business, they have to do whatever they can to make their school more appealing whether it be recruiting Athletes so they have a great athletics program or accepting URM's to make their school diverse or accepting idiots so they will get more endowments. They're a business and as a business they can do whatever they want as long as it is within the law.</p>

14

<p>Yeah, sometimes I wonder if im getting into a school because of my race or because of my ranking of 2/389. Hard to tell.</p>

15

<p>ANOTHER aa thread? </p>

<p>my next app i'm checking Other: "i dont know-i'm color blind"</p>

16

<p>They should have the do not wish to supply box for gender, as well as race. I know, it sounds absolutely assanine, but seriously. Yes, 95% of names are gender-biased, but still. That, or a box that says "I do not want this information to affect my chance at admission"). I know, none of this will never happen, but I really wish it somehow could.</p>

17

<p>Just pretend you're the son or daughter of the rich givers (or legacy) and never look back.</p>