<p>^ Your completely right. In fact, I'd like to see more admissions offices try to account for this by asking questions about HS quality and parent income on the application in an effort to evaluate an applicant within the context of their opportunities.</p>
<p>^ They do. It's called affirmative action.</p>
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His posts come off as condescending, arrogant, and elitist.
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<p>i wonder what happend to muerteapablo. i hope he didn't get rejected from all HYPSM and other ivies bc then he will be stuck with cornell</p>
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They do. It's called affirmative action
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<p>Not really. Affirmative action often gets bastardized into de facto racial quotas. Not that I have an inherent problem with race-based admissions policies, but I feel that more often than not race-based admissions policies effectively end up giving a leg up to students who already have a lot going for them. I know at Harvard the vast majority of black students are not descendants of the American slave experience, but rather sons and daughters of recent, well-educated West African immigrants. Sure, they're offering the perspective of being a recent immigrant to America, but they're parents may already be doctors or lawyers.</p>
<p>There are reports coming out of the LACs that they are paying "consultant fees" of upwards $20k per student to "land" minority admits.</p>
<p>And Applejack, I wouldn't be so quick to assume laurstar07 was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. In my experience, a lot of people from less well-off backgrounds hold the same views because they feel that if they could make it through the obstacles they faced, other people might as well too.</p>
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^ They do. It's called affirmative action.
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<p>Nope. Defenders of affirmative action will paint AA as a program that takes poor, hardworking kids off the streets of Compton and puts them in the classrooms of Harvard.</p>
<p>That's not reality.</p>
<p>AA is used to increase racial diversity. It's as simple as that. Harvard, Yale, Cornell, etc. will take any kind of URM they can get: rich, poor, immigrant, whatever. The majority of URMs admitted under AA come not from low income families but rather from upper middle class families. Sure, the URMs at Yale are poorer than the ORMs at Yale. But, they are still way more wealthy than the average American.</p>
<p>Sorry to say it, but I simply don't think overcoming adversity will bring you much of an advantage in college or grad school admissions. At my interview at UCLA Med School, I talked about growing up in an African American neighborhood on a household income of less than $10,000 and attending underacheiving schools (one of which had to be shut down by the school district). I didn't get accepted. I didn't even make the waitlist. This is with stats way higher than their accepted averages. Stats higher than Harvard or Johns Hopkins Med's averages.</p>
<p>I don't consider my background a disadvantage because I don't think I would be the same person without having had that childhood. At the same time, I'm peeved that a med school that prides itself in producing doctors that will help underserved wouldn't even give me a 1st-tier waitlist.</p>
<p>What norcalguy said.</p>
<p>I'll add that I actually think Cornell does a better job than most privates of finding and admitting high quality students who have overcome a lot economic or familial adversity. And it can even stand up to a fair number of publics too. Not the UCs or UT, but certainly Michigan and Virginia.</p>
<p>This, coincidentally, is one of the things that makes Cornell a "more stressful and challenging place" than similarly positioned privates. But it's one of the things that makes Cornell, Cornell.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it's a shame that more alums didn't appreciate this and give back to support more student scholarships because it appears that we are being absolutely slammed on the financial aid front these days.</p>
<p>By the way, here's an incredible story about current Cornell basketball player Andre Wilkins.</p>
<p>Budding</a> Star Aims to Help Red, Children | The Cornell Daily Sun</p>
<p>Other Ivies recruit their basketball players from the prep schools. Not Cornell.</p>
<p>I <3 Cornell so much, I bleed red.
Top that one Cayuga.
OH!</p>
<p>/sleep-deprived lameness.</p>
<p>@ CayugaRed re basketball story:</p>
<p>Although I truly respect that guy for making it out of his ghetto and attending an Ivy, the article makes the guy sound like a saint because he doesn't kill people and sell drugs. The author really sensationalizes the kid, portraying him as a miracle worker, not simply a guy who refused to succumb to the pressures of his environment.</p>
<p>And also, who cares where Cornell recruits from? IMHO, your statements imply the liberal rhetoric that only poor minorities can enrich a campus culture and not rich prep schoolers. I attended public school by the way.</p>
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liberal rhetoric that only poor minorities can enrich a campus culture
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<p>Diversity is about different ideas, hobbies, etc. IMO, it is an inherently racist idea that minorities contribute to diversity because it implies that minorities have different ideas and hobbies simply because they're minorities.</p>
<p>I don't know what article you are reading, but the article I read was pretty balanced and straightforward. There is nothing melodramatic about it. It's an inspirational story about one student who has had to overcome obstacles in his life. For anyone who has ever had to face adversity of any kind (whether it be familial, socially, or physically), it's a motivating story to us all.</p>
<p>And I care where Cornell recruits from. As an alum, I want to ensure that the best students possible are given an opportunity and the privilege to attend my alma mater, and I know a lot of my fellow alums feel the same way. My local alumni chapter hands out $50,000 in scholarships to students every year, and we definitely like to see the students receiving the funds to be heterogeneous bunch, in keeping with Ezra's creed that "any person" should be allowed entry to study Cornell, provided they meet the academic requirements. </p>
<p>But seriously, check out Princeton's roster. I count 12 kids coming from prep schools. Cornell has 5. </p>
<p>Given that every recruited athlete in the League needs to pass a minimum SAT/GPA average, I'm not that concerned that the academic caliber of student athletes is watering down the quality of the student body. And I certainly knew a couple of students from wealthier backgrounds who weren't recruited athletes who weren't exactly the brightest apple in the bunch. I suspect that extensive SAT tutoring, essay prep, and highly-paid college counselors helped them out a lot.</p>
<p>And whoever said that only poor minorities can enrich a campus culture? Some of my best friends and roommates at Cornell attended a prep school, and I think they made wonderful contributions to my Cornell experience.</p>
<p>You read between the lines too much.</p>
<p>^^I only hope I can be as good an alum as you are :-)</p>
<p>It's pretty easy. Read the alumni magazine, volunteer with your local alumni chapter a bit, interview a couple of high school applicants every year, and donate a bit of money when you think you can spare the cash. Generally speaking, when you are going out for a couple of nice dinners a month, you can spare the cash.</p>
<p>A lot of alums fail to realize how much the donations of prior alumni helped to shape their own experiences at Cornell.</p>
<p>The Bible suggests that individuals tithe 10 percent to charity. Even if you tithe 1 percent to Cornell, that would be pretty outstanding. Hell, I only give around 0.5 percent of my annual income to Cornell these days, which is really small considering what a central role it has played in my life.</p>
<p>^^haha...I'll try to think happy thoughts about shaping the experience of future Cornellians as my student loan repayments bring me closer to the brink of bankruptcy :-D</p>
<p>Like I said, when you can afford it.</p>
<p>You would be shocked at the amount of recent grads in banking or consulting making $100k a year who don't think they can afford a $250 check. And yet they go out to the ritzy New York clubs and order $1000 bottles as table service.</p>
<p>^^oh....I have many friends like that. Drives me absolutely nuts.</p>
<p>But...I did donate to the senior class campaign and got a nifty window sticker :-D However...I was surprised that we have 53% participation....is that what it usually is?</p>
<p>53 percent is extremely good. I doubt my class reached 45 percent.</p>
<p>Individuals tend to underestimate how much small contributions to the world matter. If every Cornell alum donated just $10 dollars a year towards financial aid, that would be an extra $2.5 million dollars towards undergraduate scholarships, that would be enough for 80 full tuition scholarships to Cornell.</p>
<p>I'm not saying that donating to Cornell for undergraduate aid is the best use of your money (research dollars seem to go a lot further), but there are certainly a lot worse uses for one's money. What's more, is that the recent literature coming out of psychology research is that a simple $10 donation a month towards a charity of your choice can deliver a lot more happiness than a $10 glass of wine at the trendy bar down the street.</p>
<p>I find it extremely annoying that people assume that someone recruited from AA has to be poor and from an immigrant family to be "worthy" of AA. I didn't grow up in an impoverished household, to say the least, but I have lived all my life surrounded by people of different nations, languages, and cultures, and been immersed and challenged in all of my ideologies by people of different ethnic groups. My "different perspective" doesn't come inherent from my being of a different race, it comes from my growing up and speaking to people who have lived the immigrant experience, and the cultural values that have been instilled in me, regardless of what type of financial background I grew up in. </p>
<p>That said, everyone has a different experience to contribute, and so AA shouldn't be based on that.
AA tries to equalize the proportions of students from different backgrounds, so it is more reflective of the population as a whole. So when 14.8% of the population is Hispanic, but only 6% of Cornell is, that's when AA comes in. Although the US as a whole is 74% White, and Cornell is only 48%, I guess White/NonHispanic should be considered a URM too.</p>
<p>Another thought on AA. Since the Application questions that ask for race are technically optional or have have a "prefer not to respond" choice. Don't URMs have a choice as to whether or not they'd like to include their URM status in with their own application? If so, don't URMs who select their race in that question passively support AA? Don't they understand that that decision could cause them to be admitted over a more qualified Caucasian or Asian applicant? I think it'd be extremely noble for a URM to decline to list their race. That way, they wouldn't know their admission was because of their own accomplishments and not because of AA? Not to offend anyone, but is this correct?</p>
<p>Don't I have a tendency to phrase potentially offensive material as a question?</p>
<p>In theory, that would work, and I did know one conservative minority at Cornell who never put his race down on any sort of application. Certainly many white and Asian applicants do not put their race down on the application, but it's pretty easy to tell an Asian surname, except if the candidate is adopted.</p>
<p>However, I think an applicant's race might often come up in the letters of recommendation. And don't a lot of schools ask for a picture of one's self?</p>