<p>Just received my acceptance package in the mail! Though there weren’t any free goodies, there’s a nice large poster to hang up in my room (:
(Am I the only one who noticed an abnormally large amount of Asians in the group picture? lol)</p>
<p>hey everyone, yale scea applicant here (:</p>
<p>first off, congrats to all those who were accepted! for those who weren’t, this is what everyone says but you will do great things</p>
<p>anyhow, just wondering if any of you received a call from your admissions officer? apparently they call you sometimes when you’re admitted?</p>
<p>“During the ED round approx. 200 recruited athletes, 200 legacies, the other 200 slots are open.”</p>
<p>There are <em>far</em> fewer legacies accepted than that. Each class (ED and RD) has less than 80 legacies in it. Granted, a couple are probably accepted in RD and turn Columbia down, but there’s no way in hell that 200 (or even 100) legacies are accepted ED each year.</p>
<p>[Alumni</a> Sons and Daughters | Columbia College Today](<a href=“http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/fall12/alumni_profiles1]Alumni”>Alumni Sons and Daughters | Columbia College Today)</p>
<p>^You are correct. I still maintain the small number of minorities accepted during the ED round are extremely qualified. Just take a look at the results page.</p>
<p>It’s pretty disheartening to see all these posts of people who feel like they were entitled to an acceptance letter. Blaming it on AA isn’t going to change the outcome.</p>
<p>Yeah seriously - the entitlement in this thread is like, over 9000</p>
<p>As a white ed reject with stats at the top 25% of CU students, I find this conversation obnoxious. Nobody has a right to a spot and no minority took a spot from me. It is the prerogative of the school to assemble a class that resembles their own goals. At the same time, any admits that feel that they are any way superior or more entitled to their spot than those who were not admitted need an attitude check. That attitude will not fly in the real world and the fact that you met the arbitrary standards of the committee does not make you any better than anyone else. In the end Columbia chose the students that built the class that they wanted and that was not necessarily the smartest or most accomplished applicants, but the ones that met the goals of the school. My advice to anyone mad a AA is to get over it because the people successful in life are those who make their own success and never feel entitled to anything. Everyone should chill out.</p>
<p>"My advice to anyone mad a AA is to get over it because the people successful in life are those who make their own success and never feel entitled to anything. Everyone should chill out. "</p>
<p>A nice thought, but not necessarily true. Entitled people come in all groups and across the socio-economic spectrum, and many of them are successful. In fact, success frequently breeds greater entitlement.</p>
<p>Re: your suggestion that anyone “mad” at AA “get over it,” why? There are other productive courses of action, even if it’s just to express opposing opinions. One can become involved in the issue and work to change what they view as imperfect policies. There certainly exists a multi-layered industry devoted to supporting/maintaining AA as is, and activism for a cause you believe is worthwhile and rewarding.</p>
<p>"It’s pretty disheartening to see all these posts of people who feel like they were entitled to an acceptance letter. Blaming it on AA isn’t going to change the outcome. "</p>
<p>I didn’t read a single post by anybody who felt they were “entitled” to admission. And of course bright people are qoing to question AA. There is strong evidence that AA actually hurts the population is is trying to help. Books have been written on the subject… this is one of the newest.
[Mismatch:</a> How Affirmative Action Hurts Students It’s Intended to Help, and Why Universities Won’t Admit It: Richard Sander, Stuart Taylor Jr.: 9780465029969: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Mismatch-Affirmative-Students-Intended-Universities/dp/0465029965#_]Mismatch:”>http://www.amazon.com/Mismatch-Affirmative-Students-Intended-Universities/dp/0465029965#_)</p>
<p>One reviewer’s opinion of the book:
“As a longtime defender of affirmative action, I used to think the so-called mismatch problem was an overhyped myth. But Sander and Taylor make a convincing case and, more important, good recommendations to keep affirmative action alive – without preferences.”
—Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune</p>
<p>For highly qualified URMs, it must be awful to achieve something and know that others think it is ONLY because of AA.</p>
<p>Everyone on here is making me sad. Can someone assure me that this argumentative and ignorant attitude extruding from both sides of the conflict does not envelope actual Columbia?</p>
<p>I was not arguing about the merits of AA. I was simply stating that Columbia is a private institution that can use whichever metrics it chooses to accept students. It has been upheld in the supreme court that they have the right to do so and it will stay that way until the court eventually overturns the ruling. This argument has been fought way too many times on CC and it is pointless as the two sides will never agree. There is no choice for those not accepted but to move on, because whining will not change admissions’ mind.</p>
<p>Some people just blindly assume things about whites, minorities and etc. I mean you have to assume a lot of things just to support AA. Someone even said (albeit with poor grammar) that minorities have to go through more than whites because they live in bad neighborhoods. How racist is that? What are you going to tell the white students who live in poor neighborhoods? That their plight doesn’t exist and doesn’t matter because of the color of their skin. Meanwhile a minority regardless of their financial background is inherently more disadvantaged than that student.</p>
<p>70% of people on welfare are white, but of course they aren’t as important as those “po po black folk than need the white man’s help to get ahead.”</p>
<p>Today, the argument of “If you don’t like AA then you don’t have to apply to that college. There are plenty of colleges that accept you on merit.” </p>
<p>Is equivalent off “well if you don’t like discrimination against minorities at a college, you don’t have to apply to that college. There are plenty of colleges that accept people based on merit.” in the 60s and 70s</p>
<p>What exactly defines merit? Does a higher SAT or GPA make someone necessarily a more desirable student? Obviously race does not make one applicant preferable to another, but the qualities that cannot be quantified also are important. You cannot say the process right now is not merit based, you are just unhappy that it does not meet your definition of merit.</p>
<p>I guess saying things like “oh dear, you are so entitled” or “stop blaming AA” and etc. makes you feel very progressive and Park Slope cool and you can’t wait to brag about how beyond race you are to all your friends. I can see how some people can justify their opinion without directly benefiting from AA itself. Still, deep inside we all know the truth.</p>
<p>What defines merit? </p>
<p>Sure a high SAT score and GPA is part of it, especially when applying to a selective school. But also leadership within your school and community, volunteer work should be important. How passionate you are about education outside the classroom and your dreams and aspirations. </p>
<p>Now now, let’s not assume I am unhappy. I am perfectly happy dear. I don’t think using AA to boost the chances of a few students because the school has “enough Asians and Caucasians already” has anything to do with merit. What is your definition of merit? </p>
<p>Rewarding someone based on who their parents are surely isn’t merit.</p>
<p>“Obviously race does not make one applicant preferable to another…”</p>
<p>But in college admissions, it does. A poster yesterday called qualified black males a scarce commodity or something to that effect, and as such, more coveted by adcoms. Yes, exactly.</p>
<p>Yes, I am saying some of you are expressing an entitled attitude. No, I don’t think AA is fair. But you know what? It’s not worth arguing about. I’m not saying you aren’t qualified, but I’m saying realistically, you have to roll with the punches. I know how annoying it is to be an Asian male - I am one. But what can we do?</p>
<p>The policy is unfair and we are lucky to live in a country where it is ok to express our discontent. Right now, there is a court case pending in the Supreme Court that could make racial discrimination in college admissions illegal. Having an internet movement behind it could never hurt.</p>
<p>I agree completely with hpyscm. Some of you will be thinking though that it is important to talk about it so that we may change it. Well, we are just kids. We do not have the ability to change things like that. Anyone who does is beyond idealistic and needs a reality check. I am not saying if AA exists or not, because it really doesn’t matter. Either you got in or you didn’t for some reason which you will never know because you were not the one to make a decision. You can either dwell on it and try to figure out what caused the outcome or move on and try your best in the next chapter of your life regardless of what it is. There is so much misguided intelligence and passion in this thread that could be used to make things happen, rather than focus on things that aren’t. Calm down, move on, and enjoy the fact that your biggest problem is whether or not you got into college and not that you might die tomorrow from starvation. Enjoy life, you are privileged enough to have that option.</p>