<p>This question is prompted by two recent threads on diversity.</p>
<p>My family is Caucasian, but D is adopted from Korea. I am wondering what bearing that may have, if any, on the college admissions/scholarship dollars.</p>
<p>We didn't think it would have any bearing. Then recently I heard someone venting that a Korean adoptee got a scholarship at some school (because of her race, he was sure) when his more-deserving daughter did not.</p>
<p>But then in another thread on CC, I noticed an Asian father being consoled that his son probably wasn't accepted at some schools he applied to because there were already so many Asians in college!</p>
<p>So now I'm wondering.... ideally race would not be a factor in this at all. But apparently, some believe it is, and their beliefs put them both into the advantaged and disadvantaged camps! </p>
<p>Which point of view is correct? Or are both camps correct, with the direction of the bias influenced by area of the country or prestige of the college?</p>
<p>I think there are lots and lots of adopted Asian girls in Caucasian families, and they apply to college in great numbers. I doubt it makes a difference one way or another -- functionally, they are going to present as white kids with a fairly common story to tell. Maybe some LACs that are trying to build a critical mass of Asian students will see it as a mild positive.</p>
<p>JHS, unless the girl tells the schools she is an Asian adopted by white parents, they will have no way of knowing. She will be Asian in the schools' eyes if she checks that box, and will have an advantage or disadvantage at particular schools if all the talk we hear is to be believed. Or it's simply a bunch of demographic data being gathered for no particular reason. (I doubt that!)</p>
<p>ChiSquare, I'd pin that dad down with details: What school offers what scholarship to Korean adoptees???? I'm guessing he's just upset at his own kid's results & is reacting in an ugly way. But you never know. I've seen plenty of scholarships with highly specific requirements.</p>
<p>We have a Korean born adopted s and I am wondering the same--When he fills out informational papers he checks Asian/Pacific Islander. I guess I figure that if he interviews they will take note anyway. Still I wonder about the schools that he might apply to without an interview.
I do look at the %'s of diversity on the school's websites and it seems that if the school is in the Midwest it might be helpful and on the coasts not so helpful.
Am looking forward to others opinions. Thanks for asking this.</p>
<p>From what I've heard - Out west and the Ivies, Asian will likely hurt. However, many Ivy-comparables and LAC's are supposed to desire any racial diversity - I've specifically heard Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Middlebury, and Emory as examples. So I would look for schools that have lower diversity numbers, especially with regard to asians, and especially those below the '20%' number which seems to be a common benchmark for diversity.</p>
<p>If it's the UCs or CalStates it won't matter since they don't factor race in admissions. </p>
<p>It seems that places that consider race a factor would only care about the race of the attending student since it's mostly about the race itself and not any background (i.e. rich/priviledged of the race or poor/disadvantaged of the race doesn't matter as long as it's the target race). Of course, not every college is the same in this regard.</p>
<p>
[quote]
...Self-reporting ethnicity is OPTIONAL on the Common Application, which is what many colleges (for example Harvard) use as their main or sole application form. Self-reporting ethnicity is also optional on the Universal Application, which various colleges, including Harvard, also accept. Every college in the United States is required by federal law to track voluntarily self-reported ethnic data on students. The colleges ask for this information, and have to report it to the federal government, but students don't have to report it...
<p>
[quote]
Then recently I heard someone venting that a Korean adoptee got a scholarship at some school (because of her race, he was sure) when his more-deserving daughter did not.
[/quote]
</p>
<p><em>rolls eyes</em> And I'm sure his opinion on this was completely objective, and he knew exactly what the other student's qualifications were, and what the scholarship committee said in their decision meeting.</p>
<p>Your question is a valid one, but I would take people's vents on this subject with about a tablespoon of salt.</p>
<p>Life isn't fair. Son would have done better with my generation's rules, and I with his. In my day girls couldn't go to many of the elite schools, or some had just barely become coed. Admissions weren't need blind and there weren't the financial aids. Fast forward- H and I earned our money and can afford schools for son. Can't hide H's Indian background... all those other Asian immigrants of the brain drain era now have college age kids competing with ours. And to think when son was born we thought he could do so much better than we did... progress doesn't always help each individual, even when you work hard to advance and your child has great credentials.</p>
<p>If i remember correctly from the other threads, your family is looking at smaller LACs not on the east coast. Am I right?</p>
<p>If so, I don't really think this is going to be as much of an issue. The type you are looking at tend to have lower numbers of minority applications and this may work out ok for you.</p>
<p>My daughter received merit money offers from 3 of the LACs she applied to - they wanted a high scoring minority. But of course, ironicaly, these were the least interesting schools to her because they were too white.</p>
<p>The OP and her adopted Korean daughter might be interested in Also-Known-As:</a> Home. It's an organization for Koreans adopted by American families. There is a teen mentor program. </p>
<p>She will be considered Asian-American for college admissions purposes.</p>
<p>Chisquare...Hubby's sister is also an adopted Korean born. She applied to several LACs in the Midwest. She was accepted to all and the ethnicity only mentioned when she interviewed. Funny story...when she was accepted to Otterbien in Ohio the Admissions people told her she would be awarded a scholarship for minority students. She was puzzled and questioned why. They looked at her and didn't know what to say...she had never thought of herself as a minority!</p>
<p>It's not a factor unless the student self selects a particular category correct? Then that factor becomes part of their identify. I agree with the poster who says don't self identify if you think it's an issue one way or another.</p>
<p>jonri - thanks for the link. I had not heard of that organization.</p>
<p>twomules - you're right, she is looking at small LACs. One of them being St. Olaf; one thing one often reads about that school is that it is "too blond". That may be one where her ethnicity would be a plus.</p>
<p>NorthMinnesota - I can relate. When D was a baby, it always surprised me when people asked if she was from Korea. It was like, how did they know that?! When you're a parent, you don't see race - a la Stephen Colbert (who may be my choice for president if the Dems can't get beyond American flag lapel pins). D self-identifies as "ethnically Korean, culturally white".</p>
<p>Or the time that I identified S as the "boy in the red coat" on the playground when asked which child was mine. The other parent could not figure it out. I really did not think about him other that my kid in the red coat...
So, in a lot of ways, this is an odd thing-race and admissions-to be thinking about after all these years of not....</p>
<p>Asians aren't considered to be URMs at all. To the contrary, they are quite overrepresented at top college and handily outperform nearly every other ethnic group. Whites, as you're probably aware, receive no boost of any kind, either.</p>
<p>JHS, do you have any evidence to back your claim that large numbers of adopted girls from korea are applying to top schools??? </p>
<p>I happen to think the opposite is true. If she discusses something like that in one of her essays i think it could provide a very unique and interesting view point and add to the diversity of the school.</p>
<p>If you believe the UCs don't factor in race how do you explain the wide gulf between average score for blacks versus asians or whites?? It is in the 100's of points.</p>