<p>well if u see i said "so-called indianness" <-- because I dont see any difference between urs and astrix's indianess and mine...my app just showed who I am...</p>
<p>if you believe that your app genuinely reflects who you are then thats great. :)</p>
<p>also i am not disputing your indianness in any way. But I find your seemingly entrenched belief that it will keep you/ other desis out of Princeton rather peculiar.</p>
<p>In response to mercurysquad's post: Could you please tell me where I 'harped on my love for my country?' The comment does not seem particularly relevant to the rest of your post.
Also I know that the world isnt as idealistic as I am and that factors that you have no control over may play a part in getting you in/keeping you out of college. But at the end of the day are you going to blame being Indian on any rejections that you might receive? I for one am not.</p>
<p>Sucharita, only about 7 indians FROM india get into princeton every year. If became a norwegian citizen, i would have been the ONLY norwegian applying to princeton. If i went by MIT quotas, I would have got admission very easily as there were 0 applicants from norway to MIT this year. so YES. I will blame my ethnicity to a certain extent if I get rejected.</p>
<p>That comment was not directed at you, such. I meant ONE should love their country but not harp on it. I didn't say that YOU are 'harping on it.'</p>
<p>As for blaming one's ethnicity - of course. It might be comforting to believe that someone didn't get in because s/he wasn't qualified enough, but then everyone knows geographical location as well as citizenship matters a great deal. There's no denying the fact. Every school wants to boast that their "student body represents all 50 states and 120 countries."</p>
<p>of course, I could have moved to armenia and applied from there in my senior year. no one from armenia applies to hyps and I havent met anybody who can write decent essays</p>
<p>of course, this would be unethical on my part. I think that after a certain point there is no reason to undertake drastic actions like the aforementioned. THe students make the school what it is ,not the other way around</p>
<p>To make myself clearer, i'll give you an example -</p>
<p>"Several hundred" is the official word, but I'm guessing that ~300 indians apply to MIT each year. 4 or 5 get accepted. To maintain a homogenous selectivity, MIT will need to accept 45 Indians. Are they going to do so? Now consider another European country. Around 15-20 apply, and they accept around 0.6/year. Obviously there's a disparity.</p>
<p>Yeah sempitern, it depends on if the student is willing to do stuff like that. In callthecops' case, it is fair, because he's lived in Norway all his life and now in Korea. Why on earth should he be counted as an Indian? He typically did not have the same opportunities that Indians living in India have.. So I think it's justified for him.</p>
<p>Yeah-he got more opportunities than the rest of us ;)</p>
<p>Let's say "different" opportunities. :p</p>
<p>callthecops: what did you check off on your application under ethnicity? Just curious. </p>
<p>BTW, I think its fine to use your ethnicity to try and get an upper hand in the admissions process. Asians/East Indians are placed in a position where they can't help but resent their nationality's apparent abundance in elite schools, especially when a person feels their application is not as strong as they would have liked for it to be. When I first realized that I was of the "wrong" minority, I was driven to hoping for the miraculous appearance of some hispanic grandparent on my family tree. I Blame affirmative action based on race.</p>
<p>OK, done ranting. :-)</p>
<p>India = ORM (OVER represented minority)
Native American = free ride at Dartmouth (surprisingly little known fact)</p>
<p>A friend I know (a junior) is ranked like 4th in his class, has a 4.0 GPA, 2-3 varsity sports, his brother goes to Harvard, and he's hispanic. Can you say shoo-in? </p>
<p>Oh yeah, he is a honorary Indian. He hangs out with the Indian crowd, and he has gone to more garbas than most Indians I know, even the Gujus.</p>
<p>wow, this is kinda terrible, but for htis moment, i would like to be from antartica, or... maybe... a native american indian, or... someting of that sort. i'm about as average as i can be.</p>
<p>Race is only an issue with the top schools...the reason for that is because most of the top schools admit a higher percentage of Asians than the percentage of Asian applicants in the original pool. Everyone would like to see colleges admit a good representation of the applicant pool in terms of diversity, I'm sure that includes the colleges themselves. The very fact that they admit higher percentage of Asians from the applicant pool shows it's not just about affirmative action. They consider the credentials above all else and if race is the deciding factor, then I'd just assume I was borderline anyway. The coin just flipped the wrong way for me. meh...a lot of the Ivy admission process is a gamble anyway.
And come to think of it...If I were rejected based on race, if I were "on the fence" in terms of a decision - I'd take it as a sign that maybe I'd be better off with a good GPA at a lesser school than a lower one at Princeton or Yale (especially since all the Ivies are trying to combat the grade inflation). I think I'd rather be valedictorian at NYU than middle of the road at Harvard....</p>
<p>anyway...point is...don't hate the desiness! to be cliche, love the skin you're in! Brown skin is gorgeous.... :D</p>
<p>or any color skin</p>
<p>Loving you country is one thing, supporting its policies is another. I dont think of myself as unpatriotic(if thats the word i look for) but i still think the educational system in india sucks.</p>