This
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There is so much going on in the admissions world for our kids right now that Iād prefer to have the highly complex topic of race/ethnicity in admissions in a separate thread. Just my 2 cents.
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The difference is that we absolutely KNOW that wealth is a tremendous advantage in college admissions. But there is no evidence at all that lying about race or ethnicity is actually providing an admissions advantage to āundeservingā white kids. Sure you can go to reddit or facebook and find second or third hand information about kids who might have tried it. But I donāt know of any evidence that there are any meaningful numbers of fake Black or Hispanic kids who got into selective colleges and universities based on checking off a box on the application or writing an admissions essay about their supposed Black, Hispanic, or Native American roots. When you show me actual evidence, like, for example, 5% of the incoming freshman class at Harvard or Michigan or wherever falsely claimed to be Black or Hispanic or Native American and were admitted on that basis then I will agree that it is an issue.
Why does this matter? Because it undermines the legitimate efforts of colleges and universities to increase their racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity while doing nothing about the real unfair advantages that wealth and family legacy provide.
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Do you think all the POC who have attended, are attending or will attend elite universities will complain about legacy when their children apply?
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The discussion of the role of race in admissions is limited to one, and only one, thread on CC which is linked below:
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why?
I agree, so I will stop discussing. Seems we have a lull in admissions decisions at the moment, so discussions are veering into other topics.
I expect that I will be joining the rejection VIP area of the WL bar soon. S21 is waiting on two more schools and then we are done.
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Iāve been watching this thread with a bit of fascination.
Iām very curious, how on earth do you know what a student who is not your child wrote on her college essay? I donāt even know what my own child wrote, much less what her friends or kids at her school wrote.
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The girl in question asked her friends to help edit the essay. They were appalled. My daughter mentioned it to me.
Because 10,000 posts later, nothing is settled, and everyone ends up hating each other. 
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You also now donāt have to even check the box to state your race and can just leave it blank. But of course, for college kids then take that to mean youāre either caucasian or asian.
There are a lot of disparities and unfairness in the college process. What about a white kid who lives in an affluent area, goes to a public school, but doesnāt hire a college counselor, essentially takes all honors and AP classes, does their own college research, doesnāt have an admissions portfolio as you put it, but is passed over at many colleges because they are deemed to be privileged, yet another kid with the exact same stats at the high school with the same experiences, may even live next door to said student, but just happens to be hispanic. We all know which one will get into the elite colleges and which one wonāt. I have no issue with URM and diversity in schools, I think thatās vital, my niece and nephew are multi-racial, however, there is no way for a college to truly know which kids are privileged or not other than just a few assumptions they have and make. There are just not enough people out there to do the work, etc.
But back to the original point at hand. Tons lie and thatās the bigger issue. I know someone who bought a common app essay from someone. Got rejected from every school she got into except 2 because she got busted. That afterall was pretty dumb. Colleges can easily put essays into a plagiarism program. It didnāt work for her, but after freshman year she was able to transfer to a top school like Michigan. So ultimately it worked out in some fashion.
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This just reminded me of one. Get this.
I know of someone who is valedictorian of a huge school in NY . Some people had her password for some reason and logged on to her google docs and looked at and reviewed all her college essays!! She only noticed because she happened to look at her history and saw that it said she had been on when she wasnāt.
Brought it to the attention of the school and apparently it records the device you log in with and they were able to figure out who logged in. This girl applied ED to a certain college and these people were applying ED to the same school! There were two of them that looked at the essays. Neither got in as far as I was told as they shouldnāt have and the girl did fortunately, but geez what measures kids will go through. Terrible.
Yes! That helped us rule out UTD
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The reason is listed on the Forum Rules, which are a part of ToS to which all users agreed when registering.
But bottom line, as @sushiritto correctly points out, discussions on the topic inevitably turn into a Sisyphean journey.
Rick Clarkās book has a good chapter on making a decision. His factors include will you feel comfortable (food/housing), safe (physically/intellectually), belong (vibe/school spirit/activities), successful (culture/big v small fish/confidence), thrive (best self/flexible curriculum/major v. G Ed. frosh requirements). Also a separate section on $ and job placement.
Then says trust you gut, and donāt second guess your choice after.
Also Grown and Flown has a good article.
Article
Also, had a chat with the husband today and we are going to reread the Fiske Guide descriptions of his very different schools with offers. Sometimes itās good to go back to the basics since itās been a long time since we originally looked at these schools.
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False. I read the Forum Rules and TOS nowhere is the word āraceā mentioned.
Joining you at the Reject Bar! Itās been a very disappointing two weeks. Cheers!
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A long, long time ago someone on this thread recommended a travel guide for school tours - getting there, good places to eat and stay, etc. Does anyone have that link? I tried to save it but canāt find it on my desktop. Thanks!
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Before COVID we used Daytripper Universityā¦it never failed us ā https://daytripperuniversity.com/
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Ditto. All valid points but for me, so much of this falls squarely into the category of Life-Is-Not-Fair which I cannot control nor is going away.
So in the sense that I acknowledge itās impact I choose not to fixate on what others potentially do because itās distracting to me and my kids and likely a drain on happiness. Itās ironic that Institutional goals are actually DRIVING the escalation of hysteria/manipulation and potential for bad behavior in the application process.
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