<p>Are there MIT students in this forum? Just wondering what the university climate is like at MIT. </p>
<p>While researching colleges, I was surprised to find that MIT's Office of Minority Students does not provide services to Asian American students despite the fact that Asian American students have the highest suicide rate on campus. Aren't Asian American students "students of colors"? Whether I can get in or not, I do not want to apply to a school that does not value Asian American students.</p>
<p>I am not Asian American, however, our valedictorian this year, an Asian, is headed to MIT in the fall and she said that she felt so invited there as opposed to another top notch school that she got into (no need to call out other colleges here haha). She felt that the overall environment was not only pleasant for her as an Asian American, but that overall, the school takes care of all of its students very nicely.</p>
<p>Well, I'm Asian, Asians did not send a delegation of lawyers along with the hispanics, african-Americans, and native Americans and did not wish to be represented in affirmitve action.</p>
<p>One Dartmouth Admission officier said something to the effect: "Asians are already overrepresented in the colleges, also there is a sterotype that Asians tend to be education hungry hard workers."</p>
<p>I've moved this post to the MIT forum to get more MIT-specific responses.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Asian American students have the highest suicide rate on campus.
[/quote]
What is the source of this statement? There hasn't been an undergraduate suicide at MIT since 2002, so I'm not even sure this is a relevant statistic, if true. In addition, a student would go to MIT Mental Health if he or she needed to discuss mental health issues, not to the Office of Minority Education.</p>
<p>The Office of Minority Education states that it exists to provide support for underrepresented minority students. A little over over 25% of current MIT students are Asian (minority stats here</a>), so Asians at MIT are not underrepresented relative to their proportions in the US populations.</p>
<p>(I should add, perhaps, that I'm an MIT alum who graduated in 2006, and am not Asian-American.)</p>
<p>I know there are some Asian-Americans here (oasis and KnightMair to name two I know well), and even as a non-Asian I know there is a vibrant Asian community for those who want to take advantage of it...primarily centered around cultural clubs, which there are many of.</p>
<p>Plenty of my good friends are Asian (including several of my fraternity brothers). I also have friends and brothers who are African-American or Spanish-American - it's hard to not meet people who are of different ethnicity. And I think being exposed to a wide range of people is one of the most valuable parts of the college experience.</p>
<p>You're <em>really</em> worried that MIT doesn't value Asian-American students? Asian-Americans are hugely overrepresented there. There are tons and tons of Asian cultural groups, and Asians are integrated into pretty much all parts of the campus community.</p>
<p>Like Mollie said, the point of the OME is to provide services for underrepresented minorities. Asian-Americans are not an underrepresented minority.</p>
<p>Yeah, just because Asians are "students of color", doesn't mean that they're underrepresented minorities. They may be underrepresented in the US in general, but not at MIT. It varies from school to school. If you think about it, at Historically Black Colleges, Caucasians are actually the underrepresented minority.</p>
<p>I'm confused about the question, to be honest. </p>
<p>Asian Americans represent over 1/4 of the student population and it's nearly impossible not to see "yellow" faces on campus. In fact, I think the fact that there's so many Asians here make MIT even more "Asian-friendly" (or if you will) than the traditional Ivies.</p>
<p>I don't think you have anything to worry about really. After visiting in April, everyone was so friendly and helpful that it doesn't matter what race or nationality you are - no one cares. That's the thing that attracted me to MIT the most really, and why I ended up choosing it, the whole down-to-earth personality of the students I met and how everyone mingled naturally. The atmosphere really made you feel comfortable. </p>
<p>There were a few events hosted by various Asian clubs on campus throughout the preview weekend, and everyone I met there were super nice too. It's not really a question of having services provided, I think, or having a group of people valued. It's how much you can get out of the experience yourself, and from what I saw, anyone who's willing to try and make friends and make the most of their time at MIT is more than happy. Just my two cents :)</p>
<p>Oh, and I'm Asian, in case you were wondering.</p>
<p>yupyup!! the taiwanese club was passing out free pearl milk tea (bubba/bubble tea, depending on which part of US you are from) during CPW. And Oasis (Chris da blogger) made red bean soup for us! (although it tasted good... it didn't look that appetizing, as his friend said... "what are you talking about?red bean soup? that looks like a pot of dirty water XP)</p>
<p>1/4 of the school is Asian... so what are you worrying about?</p>
<p>^ Wow, you ate my red bean soup?! You should have introduced yourself to me! XP </p>
<p>Anyways, if you can enlighten me on how to make red bean soup "look better," please do tell. I'll try to find a white pot next time so it doesn't look as bad. heh. =p</p>
<p>I think part of the reason that services aren't provided is that 25% of the student body is Asian, which is hardly a minority (34% is Caucausian).</p>