<p>LOL…
I am a bit surprised by some of the misleading information that is floating on here.
Admission review classifications are usually based on students Geographical Regions. So, you are in competition with other students from your High school and Region - Race or no Race.
The key word there in the TEST scores published is “AVERAGE”. So, no high or lows are reported. In addition, an average SAT scores in Orange County CA or Manhattan NY, might be 2350, while in Mississippi or NEW MEXICO, is 2100 - Race or no Race. And IVY’s like other institutions try to diversify their student body mostly by Regions/Gender/Academic interest.
In all, your test scores are just that. What usually separates students from others are their extracurriculars, leadership, other skills/talent, academic/career interest etc. So work hard for a great test scores, but work even HARDER on other aspects of our application.
Best of Luck to you.</p>
<p>Ccco, you are so wrong in so many ways! I am too tired to point them out…somebody fill ccco in please. I have no idea if you are a HS student or a parent, but I can assure you that you are WAY off base.</p>
<p>For private schools or public schools in the states that affirmative action is still allowed, they may use a race factor in the admission process. As a result of that, those races with preference (e.g. AA, native American) would have a higher admission rate and therefore a lower admission stat. Asian is usually over-represented in applicants for top schools that the admission rate is lower and therefore a higher admission stat.</p>
<p>@t26e4 excuse my ignorance, but what is that?</p>
<p>Would it be bad if I said “prefer not to answer” on the common app when it says race?
…
Well, I guess it wouldn’t make a difference. I have to say my birth country… which is China… and my middle name was my first name in the orphanage I was in… so… I guess they would know regardless.</p>
<p>I agree with coco2018. You can’t just look at SAT scores and say that there is racism or the expectation of different scores for different races. </p>
<p>You would also need to look at the economic status and quality of each student’s high school. Are some of the black or Hispanic students coming from inner city schools that don’t do much prep work for SAT scores? If so, their scores may not show their true potential, and they may well have high GPA’s, and have shown that they can work hard and overcome adversity. Another quirk in the score comparisons is that there are probably more black football and basketball players than white ones, and they are required to take the SAT’s, but the dirty truth about college athletes at the larger schools is that they are recruited more to make money for the schools than to obtain a degree.</p>
<p>Some really low SAT scores (from athletes and/or poorer schools) would bring down the average of the black or Hispanic students as a whole much more than a few really low SAT scores would bring down the average as a whole for white students, since there are far more white accepted students than black or Hispanic students.</p>
<p>Seems like folks are not aware of the Arcidiacono study:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/20/mismatch#sthash.O9ZdEmiR.dpbs”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/20/mismatch#sthash.O9ZdEmiR.dpbs</a></p>
<p>No, it is not just SAT. Duke looked at achievement, curriculum, essay, personal qualities and recommendations as well… The only way to explain it away is “category admissions”.</p>
<p>I doubt these institutions would be any less “prestigious” if there is less diversity, or less sought after for that matter. According to James Traub, Karabel conceded that the elites ramped up the admission of URM “almost overnight owing not to some midnight conversion but to terror at the rising tide of black anger and violence”. There you have it.</p>
<p>These are bastions of privilege, intended for the powerful and their present and future underlings. Others not of that ilk attend by invitation only, and their numbers are strictly managed. You can say they are the lucky sperms. </p>
<p>Then again, if the elites are not full of scions of the ruling class, the plebeians would not be clamouring for admission in the first place, would they? What delicious irony that is.</p>