"Race" in College Admission FAQ & Discussion 10

<p>students passed up by the ivy league because of being in the wrong ethnic group are the ivy leagues loss and other colleges win.</p>

<p>I doubt anyone’s passed up because of being in the wrong ethnic group.</p>

<p>I remember reading in the JBHE that Harvard has imposed on itself a limitation of 100 black students per undergraduate class in order to enable other universities to matriculate well-qualified african american students. >.></p>

<p>Does it hurt to be a white male applying for top colleges? Which demographic has the best shot, and why does any of it matter? I thought these colleges preach equality but then they don’t grade everyone on the same scale so to speak. Just wondering, and thanks for your responses.</p>

<p>It doesn’t hurt. It’s not painful at all. You just may not be accepted. Highly qualified and talented kids from all kinds of backgrounds be selected for admission. Just be on your game and you’ll do well.</p>

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<p>Isn’t that a quota? Oh, of course not, silly me. It’s a “target” / “goal,” and those aren’t quotas.</p>

<p>I rarely post but read here extensively. My junior daughter (black, though I am white) is applying ivy/top tier and we have visited extensively since February. From the stage at info sessions, the top schools are EXTREMELY passionate about WHY diversity is important to the learning process. At Yale they made it plain it is NOT about SAT/ACT, but what you can bring to campus. He was SHOUTING that you do not want to sit next to 20 other people with the exact same background as you. At Brown they made it clear they didn’t care if your school had any AP classes; we WANT you here to inspire the learning process. At UPenn, Tufts, etc… the same. My daughter is at a 2200 SAT and 32 ACT; I would never encourage her to apply anywhere that she was not qualified to attend.
So my question is - if the best in the nation holds the position that diversity is critical to education, and you do not agree, why do you still aspire to attend these schools?</p>

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<p>Define “diversity.” Do you mean an environment with varied interests, ideas, and talents? Or do you mean a student body that is mostly white, not too Asian, and just enough black and Hispanic?</p>

<p>I mean an environment with varied interests, ideas, talents, and backgrounds.</p>

<p>You forgot that last part, dude. Racial diversity is cultural diversity.</p>

<p>Is it most likely that the next round of college applicants won’t be allowed to judged based on ethnicity?</p>

<p>What would make you think that?</p>

<p>Wishful thinking</p>

<p>Eh…it seems like the time is ripe. Supreme court case and all. I don’t think the ultimate decision, even if it is against affirmative action (as I think it will be), will be so global that all American universities are affected.</p>

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<p>No, it is not. Among other things, culture varies by region. A school whose students are from different racial classifications but who all grew up in the same zip code is less culturally diverse than a school whose students are from all different parts of the United States but who all belong to the same racial classification.</p>

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<p>This is simply not true. I mean, it’s totally wrong. There is huge variance in cultural endowment between races, even races living in the same zip code. :/</p>

<p>I’m not saying that there isn’t any cultural difference between a white person living in the northeast and a white person living in a different region of the US, but seriously those differences aren’t as profound than those found between races, let alone more profound. That’s a ridiculous assertion to make.</p>

<p>And, of course, there’s that, and there’s the assertion that racial differences aren’t cultural differences. I agree that the two aren’t one in the same, but the overlap is hard to overstate.</p>

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<p>Is it? Suppose we both travel to Zimbabwe. You seriously want to tell me you have more in common with the locals because of racial classification than you have with me from nationality?</p>

<p>This thread is about due for an update, of course, especially because there will soon be a new Supreme Court case decision on the main issue discussed in this thread. I’ll be gathering facts for the update over the next while.</p>

<p>Definitely anxious to see what the Court decides.</p>

<p>The informed speculation on scotusblog.com is that Justice Kennedy is writing the opinion in Fisher.</p>