Princeton and Affirmative Action..? Chances?

<p>I'm an African American male high school junior and have "good" stats:
3.77 UW GPA, 4.25 W GPA
2150 SAT,
Around 200 hours of community
President of my class
President of student govt. association
Captain of tennis team
Secretary of my school's Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity chapter club
Member of the National Honor Society(running for an officer position at the end of the year)
Spanish club officer
Founder and president of my school's NAACP club
Model United Nations
I also started my own EBay in 7th grade and have made thousands of dollars in profit since.</p>

<p>Here is a list of the awards I have received:</p>

<p>President’s Volunteer Award
President's Silver Volunteer Pin
Ft. Detrick Volunteer of The Year, 2005
Ft. Detrick Volunteer Award, 2006
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Academic Honorary Award
National Student Leadership Conference Nominee
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Certificate of Honor
President’s Award of Academic Excellence
President’s Education Award
Ft. Detrick Coin of Excellence
302nd Signal Battalion Commander’s Coin of Excellence
2008 Academic Letter
Tennis Varsity Letter and Pin</p>

<p>All of my academic classes have been honors and I am taking 3 AP classes this year (AP Environmental Science, AP U.S. History, and AP Microeconomics) and plan to take four next year ( AP Statistics and Probability, AP Language, AP Macroeconomics, and AP Psychology)</p>

<p>I already know the two teachers that I am going to ask for rec. letters and they think very highly of me. I also know my guidance counselor very well and know the principal and vice principals at my school, so I know they would write stellar letters of recommendation.</p>

<p>So here is my question...</p>

<p>I know that Princeton University is a very elite and highly selective institution. I want to know whether or not I could have a shot in getting in? I think my downfall is my 3.77 UW GPA.</p>

<p>And also, will being African American help my chances at all?</p>

<p>If so, how much?</p>

<p>Any shared personal experience is welcome and thank you in advance. =)</p>

<p>First of all, let me applaud you on your excellent extracurricular activities - your leadership and your wide array of activities/awards are very impressive. I'm afraid I don't know exactly how much affirmative action plays a role in Princeton admissions, but it should help them look past your less-than-glowing GPA and SAT scores. You should work on improving those, but even as you are I say you have a solid shot.</p>

<p>With that said, I have a question for you as an underrepresented minority applying for Princeton. Does it hurt your pride at all knowing you're pulling the race card to help you get in? Or is it "anything goes" to get into top universities? These questions don't carry an edge to them, I'm just curious bc I wrote a research paper on affirmative action not too long ago.</p>

<p>^^^^^^^^looooooooooooool</p>

<p>that's sad. :D</p>

<p>how is he pulling the race card? He will report his race as requested; it's up to the university what it does with that.
What hurts me is that the group of academically prepared and excelling AA students is small enough that it confers an advantage to be one; in college admissions, being rare is very good and that applies to many areas. I hope in another generation's time, they won't be rare enough to get any advantage.</p>

<p>In all honesty as another black male I agree with what Choi said. I mean AA is good as a "tip" factor, but i would hope that i could get in without it. On these boards it seems as if ppl have started using race and other disadvantaged backgrounds as if it is somehow an EC or something of that effect and I don't really agree with that.</p>

<p>But it's so true (that AA is a very big deal)... just look at stats... the Stanford forum is a very good example. Compare every asian that applied (all of them except for 1-2 were rejected, an asian ISEF winner was deferred) with any URM.</p>

<p>I really disagree, I do not think that AA is that big of a deal. Look on the Yale thread minorities with top scores were rejected, also many minorities have stars comparable to Asians. You can look at my post history if you want. But as a qualified minority I really do not think that AA will affect my decisions a whole lot. Except that one of my essays was about being the only black at science fairs. But I do not consider that playing the race card bc it actually impacted me.</p>

<p>Something that have noticed is that being Hispanic does not help a whole lot.</p>

<p>^ Havn't looked into Yale threads and Yale stats, but schools that I have looked into always showed minorities receiving on average 200-300 sat 1 points below nonminority students.</p>

<p>That would be impossible. I did not do well on the SAT only got 2070 but ok the ACT got 34 which converts to a 2270 to get 300 points on that would be over 2400. I thin AA only kicks in if you are from a disadvantaged background.</p>

<p>To Choi:</p>

<p>Firstly, Thank you for your applause lol. And I don't think I'm pulling any race card but I do believe that if being African American/Black will help my chances of getting into Princeton than I'm going to use that opportunity. My philosophy is...I didn't invent the system so I might as well use it to my advantage.</p>

<p>Really? I hope not because then that would be no advantage to me because I'm upper middle class. =(</p>

<p>erm, they look at your race because you contribute to their racial "diversity" (as their prospectus will tell you, they have %blacks, %hispanics etc etc) but social-economic diversity is not so quantifiable so they don't pay that much attention to it.</p>

<p>12 posts in a chance thread and I'm the only one who bothered chancing him. This is just breaking down into a debate about affirmative action. </p>

<p>I'm sorry if I offended anyone with the "race card" comment, I know URMs are only taking advantage of the existing system (which I would probably do as well). I asked if it hurts your pride because it seems like by using your minority status as a crutch, you're probably getting in above applicants who are technically more qualified. Just because you're black or hispanic doesn't automatically mean you've overcome any great challenges. You have to admit, affirmative action is a completely unfair practice. Aid in admission should be based on family income and background, not the color of one's skin. For instance, a well educated middle/upper class African American should NOT get more of an advantage than a poor, lower class immigrant Asian.</p>

<p>As for "diversity" - true diversity stems from different trains of thought, not different skin color. It's just easier for colleges to say they have diversity if they have students of different races.</p>

<p>Affirmative action makes no sense. </p>

<p>Basing it off race is absolutely ridiculous, seeing as how there are plenty of rich african americans in wealthy school districts who CLEARLY have plenty extracurricular activities and opportunities available to them. Socioeconomic status would make more sense considering that poorer applicants will actually stand a chance. </p>

<p>On top of that, I just don't see why affirmative action has to be used in the first place. If it's for retribution, that's STUPID. Then you might as well put all asians as URMs. </p>

<p>Like Choi said, I'd much rather have students from different countries (aka more international students) because they actually HAVE a different point of view on life.</p>

<p>Ok I don't mean to be rude, but the main reason for my starting this thread was for people to chance me and it has just turned into an outlet for everyone to state their particular view on affirmative action.</p>

<p>And to Choi and the guy above^^^^^^^^^
Being African American, regardless of economic status and struggle, does bring diversity to a campus. There are plenty of cultural differences that exist based on ethnicity that have nothing to do with being monetarily "comfortable". Just because my family is well off now (hasn't always been that way) does not mean I could not and would not bring diversity to the Princeton campus. </p>

<p>soo.....</p>

<p>still waiting on people to chance me? :P</p>

<p>
[quote]
Really? I hope not because then that would be no advantage to me because I'm upper middle class. =(

[/quote]
</p>

<p>You're well off, yet you have average stats... you defeat the purpose of affirmative action =P</p>

<p>It's still going to help you a great deal, however, in the same way that it will guarantee Dbate's acceptance.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Or is it "anything goes" to get into top universities?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yes.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I do believe that if being African American/Black will help my chances of getting into Princeton than I'm going to use that opportunity.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This is the right mentality, but don't go around rubbing in peoples' faces that you have a superior chance at admission. That's the thing that gets people riled up. you are doing that here, and you either know or subconsciously know it.</p>

<p>I am fairly sure that unis cross reference your race and your zip code to see if you come from an "underprivileged" urban ghetto area. Those are the people that get the real boost.</p>

<p>I wasn't trying to subconsciously or knowingly get people fired up.
I was just stating that it is unfair for AAs in many other aspects of life/society so if there is an advantage somewhere, such as college admissions, I'm going to take that opportunity. What's the difference between Princeton using my race as a tie breaker or boost the same way they would for someone who is a legacy or from an underrepresented state? I don't feel guilty about it at all</p>

<p>I think its unfair that you have to be from an underprivileged background just to qualify as "diverse" enough.</p>