basically my buddy and i both applied to Vanderbilt ED. we both have a 3.9 gpa but I have a 33 act and she has a 30. basically our other stats are the same. the real difference is i am white and she is black. i am not racist as this is my best friend but i am just curious about college admissions. is there a certain amount of blacks admitted and she is competing against them? i know i do not know what our recommendations letters stated so please do not go there. i am just curious.i am also not mad as i have been accepted by several other colleges.
You’re heavily implying that you were discriminated against because of your race. While that may be a factor, essays, volunteering, and extracurriculars are another possibility.
So many other factors can come into play…Did you apply to the same college? EC’s, Character/personal qualities, talents, the essay, and recommendations could all have played a factor.
Yes, that is what I am implying. I keep hearing that is the reason from my parents, teacher ect. Just wanted to know if there was any validity to it. As I stated, i do know know recommendations but every other aspect is similar.
However, being URM pretty much always is a factor (other than at Caltech).
Often a big one.
However, under holistic admissions, its hard to say whether she wouldn’t have gotten in if she wasn’t black. Do you two have the same socioeconomic status as well? You almost certainly didn’t have the same upbringing.
I had to google URM lol. I see there are a lot of factors to admission i did not consider. Who knows i guess i keep hearing talk from my peers and i start believing it.
You will never really know why. There are so many factors that go in to selective college admissions. Be happy for your friend, as I hope you are, and look forward to the other amazing opportunities that await for you.
Being a URM applicant at Vandy is a big hook.
Vandy has a LOT of white applicants with stats that are similar or better than yours. The school wants diversity, so being a strong applicant with URM status is going to be a good hook.
Likely, she was competing against other URM applicants.
OP: please read and understand this. Her acceptance didn’t keep you out-- her acceptance means a less-qualified/less-desirable black applicant was denied. You were denied because other applicants similar to you, were higher on the list than you. It’s a subject called “category admissions” whereby applicants are lumped together in categories and considered together.
That superstar football player that is disappointed b/c he didn’t get offered a spot? Why? Because there as another football recruit considered more highly than him. That recruit who was offered the spot was not competing with you nor your friend. They are in their own pool.
The slots allocated to each category are set way in advance.
Repeat after me: * it’s not all about stats.* ECs, essays, short answers, the particular hs currciculum, LoRs, how a kid took on challenges and had some impact, etc, all matter very much. Plus how the applicant handled the supp, what he seems to know about the school and his match, what they look for.
Ime, it’s not the sort of category admissions some people will leap to think. (I suppose the notion comforts some.) But when you are looking at an app holistically, some kids clearly have the “more” the competitive colleges are looking for. Even if one is a 33 and the other is a 30. There’s no way to put that quantitatively- it’s not more hs clubs or more hours in service, etc. Each app is really its own self-presentation, its own whole. And then they have to fit together a class. OP, best wishes.
^I concur – the category admissions isn’t as linear and all about stats. In holistic admissions, there will be applicants JUST like you, with lesser stats, that may be admitted over you. Similarly, in the schools you WERE admitted to, there were kids JUST like you with higher stats than you that were rejected – yet the college liked what they saw in you – over them.
It’s not all about the stats. Fully agree.
Did you get deferred or turned down?
Also maybe you wanted to major in Biology and there are a zillion of those and she wanted to major in Classical Languages and there aren’t as many of those. Maybe you were in a couple of clubs after school and she did extensive community service work. Maybe Vandy realizes that often test scores correlate with family income and she had a lower family income. Maybe there were many candidates like you to choose from but not as many like her.
It’s a sad part of life, but you can’t get everything you want. Previous posters have said it and it is true. Stats aren’t everything. She could’ve written a better essay and have gotten better recs and had better ECs. Or, you just weren’t what they were looking for. But please don’t say she only got in because she is black. It’s very offensive when people try to give acceptances an asterisk. 70 years ago, the exact opposite could’ve been true and imagine how it would make you feel if someone said you only got in because you are white. Never mind the hard work you did. Never mind the late nights of doing homework. Never mind the studying. You only got in because of your race. That would hurt you. Don’t discredit the work your friend did. You didn’t get in. Tough luck. No one should expect to get into a school that accepts 13% of it’s applicants. And no one outside the office of admissions can pinpoint the reason for an acceptance or a rejection. Please don’t let your friend know that you feel this way.
So are u saying Vandy has racial quotas, where only raceX competes in a pool against raceX for a predetermined number of slots for raceX students?
I’m sure there are more differences than that. So the opinion of your parents and GC is that scoring 3 points higher on the ACT makes you a better candidate? Colleges don’t admit solely on standardized test scores. If they did, the rest of the app wouldn’t be necessary.
Vanderbilt’s CDS indicates that several things are “very imortant” to them – GPA, test scores, ECs, essays, and personal qualities – so there are three things right there (besides race) that could tip the scale one way or the other. We don’t know what majors either of you applied for and sometimes that can make a difference too. I don’t think you two were competing for a seat, so even if she had been rejected it doesn’t mean you would have been accepted. However, if you had been accepted, your family and GC would no doubt believe it was based on your merit. Your friend deserves the same respect.
URM is a strong hook at a lot of schools, putting the student in a whole other admissions pool, just as legacy, development, contact, celebrity, athletics, first generation, challenging family situation/low income and other things would So you weren’t side by side in the process.
It is possible that the person would not have gotten accepted had she not been in the URM pool, yes, At my son’s school, two celebrity offspring were accepted to HPY schools when they were not even in the top 10% of the class, not taking the most difficult courses, not having the highest test scores. Yes, happens all of the time. When I look at Naviance data, the outlers with the lower scores and grades tend to have some hook that puts them into a special pool.
Sorry you were not accepted. Vandy has gotten very selective. It’s basically one of the “lottery” schools now - meaning applying is like entering a lottery.
Your friend was lucky - and luck is always a factor in life.
With your great stats I am sure you will do great in the college you do attend. Hard work and perseverance will always make you stand out from your peers as a college student.
There is no way anyone can know that race was the deciding factor in this case and for OP’s teacher to tell her that it was is inappropriate.
I don’t believe that the OP said her teacher mentioned race at all.
@scholarme: I would not put Vandy in the category of “lottery school”, at least during ED. Have high enough stats, and your chances are good at Vandy during ED. Stats need to be pretty darn high, however.
Also, admissions isn’t really a lottery (at least during ED). Go through results threads and you’ll see patterns.
In any case, in the college admission process, “merit”, like “beauty”, is in the eye of the beholder.