“Saxby”, “Tagg”, “Braelyn”, “Declyn”, pretty much all “XXX-yn” names, and names w irritating weird/creative spellings also didn’t my short list.
Well good for you GMT. What your point is re: racism in employment I’m not getting.
Society is just fine when kids suffer because their parents thought “Buffy” was a cute name 20 years ago and now employers think she’s an airhead, or Biff is a dumb jock? Or is it only OK when a name suggests a certain race or class?
Again @GMTplus7 do you not see the difference between "I don’t want my child associated with a psychopathic cannibal"and “I don’t want my child associated with black people?”
ACT scores of 30 and 33 are indicators that both are capable of doing the work. There are dozens of other factors that the admissions committee considered.
Goat, I’ve studied at a number of institutions and have been employed in a wide variety of work environments. I have found that the racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse ones are the most rewarding and enjoyable. If that means that the occasional equally qualified ORM or majority student has to go to their second choice prestige school instead of their first, I’m ok with that.
These conversations take a pretty predictable course. Indeed, they are a bit suspicious when started by a new poster. Here’s the boiled-down answer:
- You can never be sure exactly why one person was accepted and another was denied. The decisions are complex and consider many factors. Also, colleges aren’t deciding which of two specific candidates to admit. The reasons one candidate is admitted may have nothing to do with the reasons another candidate is denied.
- All that being said, URM is a positive factor in the evaluation, and it’s obvious that there are some people who are admitted to Vanderbilt and similar schools who wouldn’t be admitted if they didn’t have URM status. You can’t say that for sure about any particular candidate, though, even if they have somewhat lower stats.
- Some people think it’s a good thing that URM is a positive factor, and some think it isn’t a good thing. The arguments go on and on over this, and there’s no point rehashing any of them here.
- Finally, here’s some advice for the OP: if the person is really your friend, congratulate her and tell her that you have no doubt that she deserved to be admitted to be admitted to Vanderbilt and will do great there. If she says, “But some people think I just got in because I’m black,” you should respond, “Well, prove them wrong by doing well at Vanderbilt. I have faith in you.”
@Hunt She should do #4 even if she is lying or is one of the people who thinks that she only got in because she is black?
4 is what a decent person should do.
Been lurking on this thread for a minute and keeping my thoughts to myself. Anyone who knows me via my posts knows I am an AA graduate of Yale (82) and my D is there now as a freshman. I’m not going to even comment on the things I have heard over the years, and my D hears currently about why or how we both got into Yale.
The only thing I want to clear up is that there are no “full rides” to HYP or any other Ivy. They are NEED BLIND!! That means they figure out your family’s contribution and they give you the rest. Period.
Yale is $61,000 this year - tuition room and board. If your family can pay full freight, they will pay no matter how smart you are. If they can pay $30,000, you get $31,000. It works that way. If your household income is less than $60,000, then you get full tuition, room, board and expenses. That is full financial aid, not a full ride merit scholarship. There is a difference.
Well said, @Hunt.
@Tperry1982, Thanks for the financial aid explanation.
Tperry, if anybody tells your daughter she got in because she’s URM, she should say, “No, it’s because I’m a legacy.” And vice versa.
Just kidding, of course.
You’re not alone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_v._University_of_Texas
@uafootball27 I hate when students get butt hurt over affirmative action. You can’t get everything you want in life. Get over it.
Wow, i was not expecting so many comments to the post. let me say that i wish i did not post it as there is not hard feeling towards anyone and do not wich to start a racial conflict. in no way was i saying i am more qualified than she was i was just asking if there is a slated amount for urm students and was she was competing against them. i see now there are more factors than test score, gpa and ecs. sorry for the post guys i am kind of ashamed of it.
This thread is a good learning opportunity, @bookwormace. I hope you’re happy for your friend.
Okay, I’d call that a “full ride” scholarship. And, it’s obviously on financial need, not merit in that other than gaining admittance there was no additional competition for it.
Does “full ride” have connotations I’m not recognizing?
Usually “full ride” is used for merit scholarships.
You asked if there were a certain number of blacks admitted and if your friend is competing against them and I think that that’s basically correct – and I think you are right that it’s not just grades and scores, etc. That’s probably not in accordance with political correctness, so sorry if anyone is offended. I just skimmed through the comments but I’m sure you’ve gotten a lot of great input. I really just wanted to say I don’t feel you wrote anything that should make you feel ashamed. While your post is quite humble, I sense you are quite confident; and with a 33 ACT you should be! Good luck!!!
I am late to this discussion, but an incident where I live made me want to join in.
There is an AA kid here who doesn’t look or culturally identify as AA. He looks and identifies as Asian. Yet, he has a black father, an immigrant from Africa. His classmates are quite upset and jealous that he got a likely letter from Yale and may well run the table for acceptances. I have never met the kid, but understand he is not well liked by his peers, and not due to just his URM status. He is cocky and overly competitive, they say.
I do know that he has very strong stats, 2200 plus SAT, top ten in his class (people, not %). His ECs are rather weak. I also know that this kid has overcome a lot in his personal life. His family is low SES, which he hides, and both parents are immigrants with poor English and poor grasp of how it works in the US. (I recently had to work with them and was surprised at how culturally unattuned they were. Nice people, but believe me, this kid has had to make it on his own. Mom and dad cannot be helping him.) So I will just state that there may be more going on in the AA friend’s life than OP knows. Peers of the kid I described do not know how little $ his family has or what his folks are like.
@bookwormace,
Did you and your friend read each other’s essays? Essays have a huge impact in selective private college admissions. Try that first before necessarily jumping to any conclusions.
do ivies give “full rides” for athletics? or any scholarships for athletics?