<p>Ugh, if I could have rewritten my letters of rec by replacing my name with "applicant" and all female pronouns with the word "it," I so totally would have. I completely agree that I don't see how "My skin isn't white" means the same thing as "My life sucks." More to the point, I think it's utterly patronizing and disgusting that we have created a system which exploits that idea.</p>
<p>Colleges (and I think we can say this applies to most, not just MIT) are focusing more on "context" and "fit," given the rise in applications over recent years. So I don't see why we can't just throw all these disadvantages into that whole "context of the application" category. I'd be all for removing all references to race and gender from the application at all. After all, what really is the difference between a poor, first-generation college student Hispanic kid who has experienced racism and a poor, first-generation college student white kid who was mocked mercilessly in school for being say, overweight? </p>
<p>I can already see myself being torn apart for this, but really- what exactly is the difference between making fun of someone because of skin color or because of their weight? Or because of their stutter, their second-hand clothing, their intelligence....</p>
<p>(P.S. I only wrote this because I thought it would make Ben like me.)</p>