<p>So according to you Mr. Diamondt, those Asians and whites are just unlucky to be born as who they are because they must try harder than lets say..blacks and hispanics to get into the same college.</p>
<p>Kids, don't blame the colleges, blame your parents.</p>
<p>Just write it down. Have some pride in who you are.</p>
<p>It makes no difference.</p>
<p>If you leave it blank, they assume you are a non-urm.</p>
<p>"Colleges want diversity, so if you don't like it then don't apply."</p>
<p>Yeah, since true diversity exists when people look different..I won't get into this with you, but don't kid yourself.</p>
<p>hoedown: Straight from the Common Application:</p>
<p>"The following items are optional. No information you provide will be used in a discriminatory manner."</p>
<p>If its not used in a discriminatory manner, then I don't see why they have it...if they want to find out how many of each race are accepted into each class, then put a little "optional" question down on the class registration or housing registration (if freshman are required to live on campus). Saying it will not be used in a "discriminatory manner" means that an African American with a 1400 SAT should have no better chance than an Asian with a 1400 SAT, which we all know is complete BS.</p>
<p>The only race that can be verified is American Indian (by contacting the bureau of Indian Affairs) All other races are unverifiable.</p>
<p>I don't think it means what you think it does, live-, because some of the schools which accept the common application DO consider ethnicity and are upfront about it. If you follow some of the press about affirmative action over the past five years or so, you'll find that a number of schools take it into consideration. Many of them may have statements about it on their websites, too. You may not care for it (that's a different issue), but you're uninformed if you believe all colleges say it makes no difference.</p>
<p>You should look further into it and not overinterpret a loose phrase on the common app. You'll find out more about your prospective colleges' admissions practices from their own sites. I suspect the way they are using "discriminatory manner" differs from what you're thinking. Probably they're focusing on the fact that they may use underrepresented status as a plus, but not use non-URM status outright against another person. We can argue about whether that doesn't, in the end, have the effect of "discriminating" against whites and asians, but whatever you or I think, a little more reading into the practice of admissions would indicate clearly that this is not the way the common app means it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
In many cases the ethnicity is obvious from the name of the applicant. I have a distinctly Scandinavian last name; they'll know I'm white
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is not a safe bet for any college to make; they'd be foolish to assume they can correctly guess your race from your last name. I'll give you one example, my friend whose mother is Mexican and dad is Norwegian.</p>
<p>Another example: Henrik Larsson, the Swedish soccer player, is not white. You sure wouldn't know it from his name.</p>
<p>Henry, Vieira, etc, etc. The list goes on. Half the French soccer team is composed of black French players that you can't tell them apart from the others by their last names.</p>
<p>Something to keep in mind ... equity and equality are NOT the same thing. And many colleges are playing a balancing game - between ensuring truly diverse and interesting student bodies (as defined by more than race but certainly including it) and offering an equitable admissions process. In addition to race and ethnicity, schools often consider an applicant's first-generation status (or, if parents did go to college, where they went). </p>
<p>How does this matter - and where does the equity argument fit in? Schools that are not overly formulaic in their application reading are better able to assess a student's file if they have some context in which to consider the student. It is well-documented that standardized tests are not created equal for all, so when a college has some more information about a student and where they come from (this includes race/ethnicity, first-gen status, where a student attends high school, etc.), they are better able to make an EQUITABLE decision, even if it doesn't seem quite equal. The more information the admission office has, the more equitable they can be. This is not discrimination; it is precisely the opposite. (And, by the way, it's not just URMs who benefit from this.)</p>
<p>As further evidence that it's not just URMs benefiting, keep in mind that the Supreme Court ruled in the Michigan case that considering this wide variety of factors is perfectly legal. Moreover, in their ruling they stated that diversity (specifically racial and ethnic diversity) is critical to offering a good education to ALL students - INCLUDING THE WHITE KIDS.</p>
<p>I checked the box that says I'm white; I'm not ashamed of it nor do I think it will hurt my application. I believe that I can get in on my own merit. If I don't then it wasn't meant to be, I won't go saying it was because I wrote down white.</p>
<p>Be proud in who you are and I can tell you that if a school rejected you for your race, then you should not want to go there.</p>
<p>No, well, I'm Asian. Korean. My last name screams it. Seung.</p>
<p>1) I don't believe in tryinig to weasel my way out. If I get in, it's because they want me and I deserve to get in, regardless or despite me being Asian.
2) Even if I did want to weasel my way out, I wouldn't be able to: what other race has a name like Seung?
3) No ********ting, no hiding, no trying to dodge. I am what you get.</p>
<p>I just put down my race in all my apps. Except for Boston College, which mysteriously doesn't let me fill in my race. o_0 Anyone have a solution for that?</p>
<p>I'm Native American, and I didn't check any boxes. I think it's the right thing to do. Don't give the admissions offices any opportunity to discriminate between races. Don't be defined by who your ancestors are, for most of us there is nothing to be proud of.</p>
<p>It doesn't really matter, they will guess your race from your last name. However, I refuse to fill in the race questions, because I think it is stupid to categorize people by their skin color. You should have pride in who you are, but this pride should not be derived from the color of your skin, it should come from individual talents and family history. I don't go around celebrating the fact that I'm white, but that doesn't mean that I'm not proud of who I am or where my family came from.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
It doesn't really matter, they will guess your race from your last name.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>Personal evidence, I'm black, my last name is Britt, my family obtained that name through slavery from rapery from a British slave trader as many slaves did when crossing the Atlantic. You take the last name of either your master or trader for indentification. Sayingthat you can identify a black family from a white family by last name is so flamboyant that I want to seperate every Britt, Jefferson, Turner, and Dennis in Massachusetts by race by simply seeing their names.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
those Asians and whites are just unlucky to be born as who they are because they must try harder than lets say..blacks and hispanics to get into the same college.
[/QUOTE]
How many Asians are applying to Stanford as opposed to blacks? If Stanford was race blind admissions for instance, what do you think the the next admitted class would be like?</p>
<p>If Amherst didn't actively seek out minority applicants I garuntee you it would definitely decrease from 32% students of color, since +/- 1/3 of their students of color can be linked backed in some way to teir diversity campaign and open houses. Subtract that over four years and you take a good look at the Amherst, Williams, or Swarthmore College you want to attend, which all host the same program? Not nearly the same institution without that level of diversity. If you want to attend Grove City College then feel free and go ahead, but I know atleast that every Amherst applicant at my school does not want to attend the school if it did not have that same level of culture and diversity that attracted them to the school in the first place b/c the quality of education at these elite LACs is not just in the classroom, the school even states that half of it exists outside of the classroom.</p>
<p>
Wow, I admire your beliefs but you must be really hardcore...if you have even reasonable stats you could pretty much have your choice of any top college if you told them you were Native American.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Wow, I admire your beliefs but you must be really hardcore...if you have even reasonable stats you could pretty much have your choice of any top college if you told them you were Native American.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thank you. I really feel like it was my own accomplishments that got me accepted to Rice ED now, since my race was not a factor. Otherwise I would have my doubts about actually being qualified to attend the school, thinking that maybe I am not smart enough to go to Rice, but because I am Native American, I got a foot in the door. I could have limited myself and it took a lot of effort to not mark it, knowing that it would help me get into my dream school, but I knew it was against mine and Martin Luther King's principles to allow affirmative action to help me get into school.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
but I knew it was against mine and Martin Luther King's principles to allow affirmative action to help me get into school.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>And that's a can of worms that I don't opened today on college board, so I'll just inform you that Dr. King did have ome strong opinions on reperations, economic and social equity, and many other aspects of higher education which we do not have time or bandwidth to cover, because we'd also have to brind in W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, and Frederick Douglass to make that arguement fair. So to any readers afterwards, do not acknowledge or open up this arguement.</p>