<p>That’s because everyone and their mother is claiming hispanic descent all because they have an uncle from Puerto Rico :)</p>
<p>I know a girl who is from Mexico. She lives in a luxury high rise in Miami.
She is privileged by any standard. But she counts as an hispanic, so she gets preference when admitted to college. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>I think entomom’s posts here are really informative in that they ask us to look at real data and read carefully the information that is available. </p>
<p>Floridadad, why do you assume the girl you know will get preference? Admissions offices look at all kinds of factors. One of the great problems on cc is that everyone assumes that all Hispanics/Latinos admitted to colleges got some type of preference or that ethnicity was the deciding part of the application. The reality is much more complicated. For example, if the girl in your example applies to the University of California, her ethnicity will not be considered. However, UCs do take into account low income and the high school attended. I’d also be curious as to whether it would even be a factor at universities in Miami, where there is already a big pool of Hispanic applicants. </p>
<p>Leslie, are Hispanics “all over” cc? I know that there is some traffic on this forum, but I’m not sure how the number of people self-identifying as Hispanic stacks up against the overall numbers on cc.</p>
<p>Lesley, I doubt that is even possible. Please remember that there are URM’s with great stats (2300+, 3.8 gpa+). I think one with a 1760 when a 1760 would usually be a no-no would not get in, unless other factors move them forward.</p>
<p>rucar & floridadad,</p>
<p>Please read post #9 of this thread.</p>
<p>Any further discussion of what people ‘think’ ought or ought not to be will be deleted. There’s an 8 part thread on the Admissions forum for all of these ‘thoughts’, this is not the place.</p>
<p>Lol I thought this thread was done with a looong time ago.</p>
<p>And I know that there are definitely qualified URM’s. Of course there are; I’m not arguing with that… </p>
<p>And maybe they were lying, but I definitely saw a 1760 get into Columbia.</p>
<p>^There certainly could be someone with an SAT score of 1760 that got into Columbia. It is most certainly not the wealthy Mexican living in a high rise in Miama who was mentioned a few posts back. I would be this person is not only a URM, but also low income and has faced a lot of challenges in his/her life. Probably has great recommendations and very good grades, but maybe from a not so good high school.</p>
<p>I do think there is a very small nudge for even the well to do Latinos though. My theory is that they need to be just as qualified academically as their non Latino peers but perhaps don’t need the WOW factor in their ECs. I saw this with my oldest son (1/2 Cuban). He had a 2360 SAT and a 3.8 GPA in a very very rigorous school. His ECs were solid but not amazing. He was eventually accepted at MIT (after being deferred) while other comparable students were not.</p>
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<p>I would tend to agree with this. I also think that a higher SES Hispanic with competitive stats will tend to be accepted to more of the highly selective colleges than a non-Hispanic student with similar credentials.</p>
<p>URMs work just as hard as any other race. Until people stop looking at race, there will always need to be affirmative action for URM. I am a NASF and I am not ashamed to be, I earned it and deserve it.</p>
<p>^^General comments on afirmative action belong on the Race thread on the College Admissions forum, not here.</p>
<p>FYI, URM does not = race.</p>