<p>“Uffurmative Ahkshion is the bane of this kuntri. How kuld they let hur en!”</p>
<p>LMAO. :)</p>
<p>^ HAHAHAHAHA I JUST GOT IT. I thought it was in another language at first, and I was like wth…LOL WIN</p>
<p>Moses Goldberg, Jewish is not an ethnicity or race, it’s a religion…</p>
<p>@overachiever92: There is actually a Jewish ethnicity</p>
<p>^ No there isn’t, check the Common App (lol :P). Besides, it’s a ridiculous concept to start with. It’s like me saying I’m half-white half-Buddhist or half-Latino half-Catholic. Makes no sense.</p>
<p>jewish implies white (no offense to those jews that are of color)</p>
<p>You can be Jewish without practicing Judaism. I know someone of Jewish descent who is a practicing Christian. While Jewish does imply white since they are usually of European descent, Jewish is not a religion, Judaism is.</p>
<p>I agree with ColumbiaDiva, however,we need to bear in mind that Jews do have several different lineages (Ashkenazi, Sephardi, etc., so calling them a race is an awkward tool at best, since it really only requires that 2000 years ago your linneage was x, not today, after extensive interbreeding and regionalization, it is a difficult tool, but it most certainly is a factor). </p>
<p>Unlike Catholicism, or really any other religion, Judaisim was never one spread by widespread, diverse conversion. Therefore, by and large, the racial background for persons of Jewish descent is to a large degree shared.</p>
<p>What about working class white students in poor rural school systems? The types of kids who typically have access only to sports or ROTC as an EC. Would HYP cut them a break if they barely broke 2100?</p>
<p>^ Yes they would</p>
<p>I understand AA with regards to African-Americans, but not Hispanics. There is no reason as to why Hispanics should get AA, given that such a designation to Americans only really came into being a few decades ago.</p>
<p>^um, Hispanics definitely get the benefit of Affirmative Action, as well as African Americans, Native Americans, and other underrepresented minorities in elite colleges</p>
<p>Is it really Affirmative Action? Or is it these top colleges need more of those minorities because they are URMs, if Asians were URMS, I guarantee they would get a boost</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that White European immigrants who have only spent a negligible amount of time in the U.S get a major boost in admissions if their stats are High 2000’s+ and a ~4.0.</p>
<p>I hope that is true, as I was in that situation when I was applying to college. But then again, I’m also part Hispanic, and at the time I was international, so a lot of the schools applied had justification to not invoke AA; now I’m a full blown Permanent Resident, one day looking forward to defending the Constitution of the United States of America as a citizen, so maybe my transfer application to Columbia will be looked at differently 
For Country, For Columbia!</p>
<p>uh scales…
asians definitely ARE minorities in society (I’m sure theres more African Americans in U.S than asians). But at the same time, they do not consitute a minority in elite college admissions, since so many get “qualified” scores</p>
<p>Affirmative action is used to give low-income minorities a better chance. However, it is skewed in today’s world. </p>
<p>Example: There is an African American girl at my school who has a new outfit everyday and spends all of her time on Facebook making videos of herself, making senseless wall posts, and updating her status every 50 minutes. She has copied off homework and schoolwork, has around a 3.4 GPA, and is basically not that interested in academics to be blunt. Yet she is applying to schools like Princeton, Yale, Brown, and Duke (with an arrogant tone, I may add). If Affirmative Action rejects a hardworking ORM to accept her, so as to “diversify” the school, then something is clearly not right. (of course, she hasn’t been accepted yet, but 95% she’ll be accepted at one of these)</p>
<p>Colleges could at least adopt a socioeconomic standpoint on all of this. Like many CCers from other threads have posted, There are URMs who have a high family income, tutors, and many advantages. Since many of the top colleges are need-blind, they can’t tell if a URM is richer than the middle-class Asian kid. Basically, it all comes down to the old split: The Rich Win, the Poor Lose.</p>
<p>I smell another big Bakke v California coming up in a few years due to all of this discontent. Haha.</p>
<p>^ I think you may have the concept a little confused. Underprivileged situation has never been a factor in Affirmative Action</p>
<p>And the girl you described…there are definitely rich minorities, many of who get in top colleges with mediocre scores because of the leg up they have with Affirmative Action. Even though its not very fair, yes, they are admitted precisely because they advance campus diversity.</p>
<p>Once again, fairness is not a very good standard to evaluate Affirmative Action, since on the surface its always going to be perceived that its unfair. But then again in the long run the diversity achieved with Affirmative Action actually tremendously benefit the student body.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree with this.
Diversity is very fun.</p>
<p>I think the only way to “fix” the unfairness is to get more qualified URMs to apply. </p>
<p>On a side note, ever since UC vs. Bakke, UMich has been implementing very effective outreach programs to keep its diversity up. </p>
<p>/oh dang is this off topic?</p>
<p>With AA, you can’t just look at the individual cases, you need to look at the sum effect of the class. The girl mentioned above with the 3.4 may find her way into college, citing herdships or something else, but then, she has lied to the adcom. Under no circumstances, from the limited snapshot of her that I have been given, that if she applies truthfully will she get into an Ivy. She lacks the motivation and desire to do so. They want that visceral feeling of desire and passion and hunger. They want you to bare your teeth at them, show that the minute they take their hands off the scruff of your neck you’ll bite thier hand off-type power. They want you to do very, very well with your degree and donate back into their endowment billions upon billions of dollars. The point being of all this, is that this girl, unlike most of the succcessful URM’s in Ivy admissions, does not seem to have even the slightest bit of drive or desire for true success, so I seriously doubt she could feign it well enough to impress the adcom.</p>
<p>Even as a URM, one needs to have characteristics which will make you valuable to the school, the alumni network, and the endowment, and she seems to lack value to all of those.</p>