Poverty and the Ivy League

Applying to College
1

What i really want to know is, will Ivys and Ivy calibur institutions who claim they want diversity really give poor kids an advantage.

Lets face it, all ivy schools have Recruiting officals on their Board of Admissions. Atheltic Recruitment, Minority Recruitment, International… But none for poor people. Who on the admissions staff advocates for the poor. And will it really be a tip factor like URM status and Athletic Recruitment is.

Plus if they are need blind that means they dont look at incomes. But that contradictorily and adversly affects their ability to seek the poor students. How will they know a kid is poor unless the kid talks about it. Even if you check to see if they are first in family to go to college or have a college fee waiver you are still guessing.

Also i am for Affirmative Action, but look at the population. The 2005 Census Preliminary numbers show that America is 14% black, 15.6% Hispanic, 4.26% Asian, 6.5% other, and the rest white. But we have Affirmative Action so the colleges can reflect that.

BUT GET THIS, AMERICA IS 13.9% BELOW THE POVERTY LINE. And in total is 19% “Poor”. But NO college right now has stated they Practice True Socioeconomic Affirmative Action.

In fact Harvard probably has less than 2% from below the poverty line, so shouldnt they start some sort of affirmative action so they can at least try to equalize there pop proportion to that of the national pop proportion. It will help them reach out to minorities also, but wont disenfranchise the white and asian populace, since 31% of poor are black, 30% Hispanic, and 33% white, with the rest classified other.

AND IN THE END NO ONE SHOULD BE AGAINST SOCIOECONOMIC AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SINCE IT IS TRULY ONE OF THE MOST CLASSIC FORMS OF SOCIAL REHABILITATION (GIVING TO THE POOR).

Then the next question is, Who is Poor.

For most State U’s, a Family Income of 40,000 a year is a little below average but not so far out. For Harvard, its something, so they offer no family contribution for that. So for schools that are just out of the Ivy League, like Northwestern, Caltech, JHU, G-Town, Caltech, Stanford… what would they consider poor. Also how would they screen for situations where a family income of 60,000 has to provide for a family of 9 or 10 or something.

2

<p>The applicant should point out his issues in his application. For one, the college will have his high school profile, so they'll know exactly what kind of high school he comes from. This tends to indicate the area the applicant lives in. The applicant should also indicate that he is below the poverty line somewhere - in the "extra comments" section of the app, in the essays, perhaps in an extra note? I don't see why someone who has suffered poverty would not talk about it on an application.</p>

3

<p>I've always said that affirmative action should be based on socioeconomic status and income rather than race. As AA stands now, it does nothing to remedy the REAL issues facing minorities.</p>

<p>I actually think that if we took part of the colleges endowments and sent it towards the poorer high schools, we'd eliminate the need for AA altogether.</p>

4

<p>The biggest hook goes to poor URMs. Otherwise it's a small tip factor, give 2 equal candidates the'll take the one who had fewer opportunities.</p>

5

<p>Isn't this one determining factor for the determination of low income?? Also the SEOG is another.</p>

6

<p>But when you apply early, then no one knows that you are eligible for the pell grant</p>

7

<p>Many financial aid offices will speak to early candidates and give you some idea of how they look at your numbers. Also, you can file a FAFSA now and have it sent to the school....it is free.....and the school will have a FA form for earlies. I guess you are asking how you can get the school to identify you as low income in the need blind process is that it???</p>

8

<p>Income, I believe, is a large factor. However, you need to make that known on your app... There was an article about some poor girl from a crappy HS in the Harvard forum with only a 1180 SAT score! and she got into Harvard... Even though I think that's a little TOO low, even though she's low income, it just shows how much they will take that into consideration. WHen you have a poor person from an under-represented state and a rich person from the NE, the poor person from Wyoming will obviously be accepted over the wealthy one.</p>

9

<p>Drawingdot7- you asked
[quote]
Lets face it, all ivy schools have Recruiting officals on their Board of Admissions. Atheltic Recruitment, Minority Recruitment, International..... But none for poor people. Who on the admissions staff advocates for the poor.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Check out the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI). They do just that. So before you start complaining no one does it....check out resources, okay?<br>
<a href="http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/hfai/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/hfai/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

10

<p>stupid socialist liberals. You should get no special treatment because your poor, the addmission guidlines should be the same for everybody regardless of income or race.</p>

11

<p>"There was an article about some poor girl from a crappy HS in the Harvard forum with only a 1180 SAT score! and she got into Harvard"</p>

<p>1180? Are you sure it's not 1280? Are you talking about CaliforniaCutie? If so, it's 1280.</p>

12

<p>Silencenow-
[quote]
the addmission guidlines should be the same for everybody regardless of income or race.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>They are. Let me now quote myself, whoo hoo here goes, "so before you start complaining...check out resources, okay?" In this case, that involves clicking that little blue hyperlink and reading about the HFAI. "There is no separate application process for the HFAI. Interested students, including transfers and international students, should instead apply to Harvard through the regular application process by the established deadlines, filling out all applicable financial aid forms."
Summary....same admissions guidelines.</p>

<p>Don't worry about special treatment, you won't get any <em>just because</em> you can't spell in your rude above post, just like poor people don't get different "addmission guidlines" because they are poor. If anything, it will give you sub-average treatment in the form of sarcastic responses such as this, instead of a polite response.</p>

13

<p>Nope, this girl got an 1180 and got into Harvard. It's an inspiring story.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=84331%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=84331&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>