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I really don’t know of any advantages if you are white or an ORM.</p>
<p>I am a white student who applied to many top 50 schools, as well as a few top 25. I “preferred not to respond” on the race sections. I have to be ashamed of my skin color if I want in at these schools with a 2180 SAT in the 98th percentile and a 4.0 UW gpa.
If I was black, I could proudly display it on my application, right an essay about my struggles with the oppressive white race, and be a shoe-in at any school in the country.</p>
<p>^ You sound highly qualified. I hope you get admitted where you will be happy.</p>
<p>Preferring not to respond doesn’t mean you have to be “ashamed”. If you are, those are your own issues you need to work out. </p>
<p>PS- that whole “black/minority kids write about racism” thing is cliche and utterly false. Not all do that. Not even majority.</p>
<p>If you have 2180 and 4.0, you hold no special trump card for a top private, no matter non-white or white. Same for 2400/5.0. Your LoRs could still dxxn you or the immature nonsense in your app could create an unworthy impression. </p>
<p>And, I haven’t seen a single “poor oppressed racial minority me” essay. Oh, yes, a handful of essays this year about how dad beats mom (just freaking wow for a college essay- ugh.) But, not from minorities. Adcoms want to be impressed by the whole package, incl LoRs- not buy into some sob stories. They’re usually seen as a measure of immaturity and an undesirable attitude one would carry into college. If you have to rail, better be making one heck of a good point- and fast.</p>
<p>@NuclearPenguins
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<p>[Coalition</a> for Asian American Children and Families - Home](<a href=“http://www.cacf.org/]Coalition”>http://www.cacf.org/) - “We’re not even allowed to ask for help”: Debunking the myth of the model minority- Not every Asian kid is doing great in America either. A few are good at math and science and now its “news”. Also, people groups from the middle east are classified as white. You will have to enlighten me as to the discrimination they have faced. </p>
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<p>Okay, I get what you were trying to say now… I just didn’t understand you there for a minute. “Blackness classes?” Do you mean African American Studies? “Latinoness class?” Do you mean Latin American Studies. Because I’ve taken classes in both of those areas, and they were quite eye-opening… I personally didn’t want to comment on the minority experience in America. Therefore, I didn’t fully understand where you were going with that particular comment. </p>
<p>Just the same, I don’t think that being a URM, athlete, musician, alumni, or full pay should get you a lower academic pass into a school. I don’t agree with ANY preferences. None. If you are ready for college then your academic record should show that. Giving a full pay student a pass when they have had every financial advantage sounds like academic welfare for the wealthy to me. </p>
<p>@Nihility
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<p>My URM daughter had similar stats as yours and did not get into a top 25 school. She did not. If you are proud to be white, write it on your app. I just don’t think it makes the HUGE difference some on CC say it does. Like “lookingforward” says you need to be a strong applicant no matter your race. I see lots of white people and so-called ORMs get into college everyday. And just so you know how a lot of people in this country live their every day lives, you should know that if the first time you’ve ever felt ashamed of your race is when you applied to college… you’ve lived a very proud 18 years. </p>
<p>Honestly, I just do not understand where the perception comes from, that, if my child has a 4.0 and over 2000 on their SATs they should get into any school they want, and if they don’t then its because of AA. When it could have been any one of a long list of preferences that caused you to get the shaft.</p>
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<p>Are you serious? Did you enter a coma on September 10, 2001 and wake up last week?</p>
<p>@fabrizio
Are you saying they are not classified as white?</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg_race-ethnicity]Standards”>http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg_race-ethnicity]Standards</a> for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity | The White House<a href=“a”>/url</a> White
In Directive No. 15, the “White” category includes persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East.</p>
<p>Otherwise, the discrimination I have only recently seen, since my coma that is, against middle eastern people has been religious in nature, not racial.</p>
<p>Fabrizio isn’t saying that they arent classified as white. S/he was referring to your comment about discrimination against ME’s. </p>
<p>It doesn’t matter what kind of discrimination- racial, religious, it’s still discrimination.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. But since this is a discussion on “racial” issues in admissions, I just assumed that was the discrimination he was referring to. Plus, most apps don’t ask for your religious affiliation??? At least none that used the common app to my recollection.</p>
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<p>Who are they?</p>
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<p>I never said every asian kid is doing great in America. </p>
<p>As for the middle eastern thing, are you kidding me? Unless you live in a cave and are cut off from the rest of society, I find it hard to believe how you are unaware of the discrimination against arabs from the middle east. Yes, they are classified as white, but discrimination isn’t limited to race. I hope you know that.</p>
<p>Just for further confirmation, here is the dictionary definition of discrimination:</p>
<p>dis·crim·i·na·tion [dih-skrim-uh-ney-shuhn]
noun
1.
an act or instance of discriminating.
2.
treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.</p>
<p>Read the second one. No mention that race is the only limiting factor.</p>
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<p>You are misconstruing the whole argument. I’ve taken those classes too. But they are HISTORY classes, not HOW TO classes. African American Studies isn’t only for people trying to be “more black”. African American Studies and Latin American Studies are akin to taking a class called The History of Basketball. A class titled The History of Basketball does not teach you how to play basketball, it just explains the history (well obviously, duh) behind basketball and how the game came to be. Now, going to the gym and going to basketball practice is what will improve your skills in basketball. I’m sure there isn’t a place people go to and practice their _______ race so they will improve their skills in being _______ race.</p>
<p>Trying to twist my words around really isn’t working too well for you right now.</p>
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It doesn’t make a HUGE difference, but there is definitely statistical significance. Usually 1 standard deviation BELOW the average.</p>
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I actually laughed at this. Nice.</p>
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<p>I find this mind boggling. Do you actually believe that since the government classifies Middle Easterners as whites, Middle Easterners do not look any different from European whites and thus are not discriminated against on the basis of how they look?</p>
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The Common App now has an optional question for “Religious Preference”</p>
<p>[U.S</a>. News - Affirmative action in college admissions? Supreme Court to hear case](<a href=“http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/21/10466979-affirmative-action-in-college-admissions-supreme-court-to-hear-case]U.S”>http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/21/10466979-affirmative-action-in-college-admissions-supreme-court-to-hear-case)</p>
<p>We learned from Dale and Krueger that students from disadvantaged family backgrounds benefited the most from attending more selective colleges.</p>
<p>Now this:</p>
<p>[Do</a> employers care about a university’s reputation? - The Globe and Mail](<a href=“http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/frances-woolley/do-employers-care-about-a-universitys-reputation/article2313152/]Do”>http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/frances-woolley/do-employers-care-about-a-universitys-reputation/article2313152/)</p>
<p>No wonder both URM and ORM want an elite education so much.</p>
<p>Sure why not??? I grew up on an indian reservation, I don’t have a drop of Native blood btw I know a lot of people who are half native and will look white or more indian and they are not always necessarily “registered” with the tribe…I see this more in people who are 1/8,1/16, 1/32 Indian looking totally white and never even been to a pow wow…I don’t think this is fair to my fellow Natives because they deserve that spot more (the living conditions are horrible and everybody on the rez is below poverty, some indians are rich but not by u.s. standards)…not fair to play the Indian card when that’s not the type of “Native American” admissions people are looking for. Sorry bud better to just post hispanic!</p>
<p>The law suit seems to help… this year more of the Asians in highschools I know are getting into top colleges.</p>
<p>With the similar stats, only two got into top colleges two years ago and three last year. This year we already know 5 of them got admitted. </p>
<p>Asians need to keep up the fight. I already see top colleges refraine from obvious descriminations this year. </p>
<p>Someone said this in a post “…unless you believe quite wrongly that some races are inherently smarter than others.”</p>
<p>Talking about college age Asian-Americans, they are mostly second generation of top 1% of Asians. While entire Asian population is about the same as entire white population intelligence-wise, this special second generation Asian-Americans (whose parents came as graduate students) who were born in America are still about top 1% of American population.</p>
<p>About 30-40 years ago, there was a wave of Asian graduate students migrated to America. They first had to be top 10% to get in to their colleges in their country, and then among top 10% of college graduates to be able to get scholarships to come to America. They were smart, however, the language barrier made their level of success lower than they should have. Now their second generation who grew up in America with fluent English are dominating. </p>
<p>No matter how this generation of Asian-Americans are oppressed, they will still shine. The top colleges who delibrately rejected them will see the consequences in the near future - when other colleges become stronger in academics and current top colleges fade.</p>
<p>well said Findmoreinfo, VERY well said.</p>
<p>It seems to me there is a rather simple solution to all the problems surrounding ethnicity and race. Colleges simply need to remove the field on applications where you fill in your race. This way, no one can be discriminated against no matter if he or she is Asian, Native American, African American, Hispanic, etc.
Furthermore, if a person’s race is evident from his or her name, college admission councils could simply assign each application a number, refer to applications by that number, and not look at the name.</p>