<p>Are you Asian?</p>
<p>It’s a noteworthy essay topic.</p>
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<p>It’s a life story few Americans have, so it may be worth mentioning.</p>
<p>News stories about a new scientific research report: </p>
<p>[washingtonpost.com[/url</a>] </p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gbaY-zXGnJT9cqaDNkrD2kdt3TsgD97SUEA82]The”>http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gbaY-zXGnJT9cqaDNkrD2kdt3TsgD97SUEA82]The</a> Associated Press: Africans have world’s greatest genetic variation](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/30/AR2009043002485.html?hpid=topnews]washingtonpost.com[/url”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/30/AR2009043002485.html?hpid=topnews) </p>
<p>[International</a> Team Publishes Largest African Genetics Study | GenomeWeb Daily News | GenomeWeb](<a href=“http://www.genomeweb.com/international-team-publishes-largest-african-genetics-study]International”>http://www.genomeweb.com/international-team-publishes-largest-african-genetics-study)</p>
<p>Interesting New York Times article: </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/us/politics/03race.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/us/politics/03race.html</a></p>
<p>Hi, everyone on CC!
I’ve been hearing that being an asian can be “anti-hook” in the admissions.
I don’t know why but it’s probably because Asians are not considered minority…
Anyways, yes, I am an asian plus an immigrant.
Would this be a double anti-hook? 
What if I studied in English-speaking nation only for 3years and have better stats than others? Would being an immigrant (with green card-canadian) still hurt me?</p>
<p>Being Asian will hurt your chances in schools that practice a holistic admissions process, which is pretty much all the major ones with the exceptions of the UC’s. Being an immigrant will not hurt your chances except when applying financial aid to need-aware schools.</p>
<p>The disadvantage for Asians arises from the fact that there are so many high stats Asians applying to the same top schools, and the schools have a quota for every group. It is actually an advantage to be Asian at schools with low Asian populations–you will be seen as a minority at those. It is neutral at state school which can not consider race.</p>
<p>Being an immigrant with a Green Card will not hurt you.</p>
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<p>Not true at all. There are literally hundreds of LACs and other top schools that are seeking to improve their diversity quotient. </p>
<p>But if not a US citizen or permanent resident, you will be considered an International by most (if not all) colleges.</p>
<p>Are you first generation? First generation might help you in college admissions.</p>
<p>What’s with all these claims of Asian discrimination?</p>
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<p>In 2005, Espenshade and Chung of Princeton published a paper concluding that compared to equally qualified white applicants, Asian applicants are treated as if they have fifty fewer SAT points. They concluded that Asians would be the biggest winners if affirmative action were abolished.</p>
<p>Naturally, their finding was highly controversial and much loathed, especially by many parents here. (It was quite common to read highly educated people resort to name-calling. These respected researchers became “hacks” with “agendas.”) However, it is a testament to their sound methodology that there has only been one published critique of their paper. In 2006, William Kidder argued that Espenshade and Chung conflated negative action with affirmative action. Kidder did not dispute that Asians are treated worse than equally qualified whites in admissions. He simply claimed that Asians would benefit far more from the elimination of negative action than the elimination of affirmative action.</p>
<p>The recent Duke study shows the differences in sharp relief. Just scroll down half way and look at the graph of this article:</p>
<p>[News:</a> Testing for ‘Mismatch’ - Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/20/mismatch]News:”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/20/mismatch)</p>
<p>No. It is not just test scores and GPA; I am sure a lot of folks wish it is though.</p>
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<p>Yes, but we human beings are not much more than biological “tubes” tortured by emotions, and the primary emotions are fear and greed. ;)</p>
<p>CanuckGuy, those are some interesting stats on Duke. I think that this just confirms what a lot of us already know.</p>
<p>Canuckguy: I have serious problems with their methodology, mainly where they say “because this is the average GPA of blacks at our school, that’s probably what you’re going to achieve. Are you sure you want to attend?” The idea that we’re all stuck in what the average is seems incredibly insensitive and downright foolish.</p>
<p>What if when you started high school someone told you: “most students have a GPA of 2.5, so that’s probably what you’re going to get. Are you sure you want to attend?”</p>
<p>Tokenadult - I’m so happy to see some of your posts and stats. Here’s what I wrote in another forum:</p>
<p>When applying for colleges, I’m thinking about advising my daughter to check “other” in the race section. Would this make her application stand out? Our so-called “race” is technically white, but all four grandparents immigrated to the US from Russia and Poland with nothing but the shirts on their backs. No different from many of our friends and neighbors who came from Mexico and live here in Texas…some of whom earn more money than we do! Yet, just because they mark “Hispanic” on the college applications, they were awarded not only admission preference, but much more scholarship money (all things being equal with their white peers). In fact, one friend looks Irish - red hair and freckles and all…his white father is the President of a wealthy corporation, and is married to a wealthy Hispanic lady. Yet, the child got a full ride to an Ivy because of ethnicity (no real stand-out as far as grades.) My family experienced discrimination too, especially during the cold war with Russia. I’m thinking we could explain the “other” means that we’re not the long-term "WASP"s that were here for generations, and experienced political and ethnic discrimination along with financial hardships rather than race. It’s discrimination all the same, and we had to work hard to overcome our poverty as well as ignore derogatory comments. Another neighbor’s daughter had higher SAT’s , GPA, and folks earned more money than hers. Her bi-racial friend got a full ride to an Ivy, while she got 20% help to a liberal arts college and wasn’t admitted to any Ivy. I find that disturbing and discouraging for my children. Any thoughts, especially from you as well as others out there? Thanks…</p>
<p>artist26: Your family is white, end of story.</p>
<p>Even the vast majority of white people in this country <em>aren’t</em> WASPs. Pretending that you’re something you’re not is dishonest and could potentially be grounds for rejection if found out.</p>
<p>It doesn’t ask “did you experience discrimination?” It asks your race.</p>
<p>Every college applicant can simply decline to indicate a race or ethnic group when applying. And, yes, if a person has tough life experiences, whatever those tough experiences are, it is a good idea to describe those in an application essay or in some other part of the application file. </p>
<p>Good luck to all the class of 2010 high school students getting ready to apply to college class of 2014.</p>
<p>Yes, you are free to decline to answer.</p>
<p>Use the essay to talk about experiences.</p>
<p>Yes but the question is a bit more complex than that. It asks for RACE but what is RACE? I mean, ofcourse they’re going to look at race and economic history and factor those in, but his question was which box should he check to have the best chance of getting in. Like me for example. I have a hispanic name (Ronald Duarte), I grew up in a hispanic neighborhood and was raised by my hispanic grandmother, yet I dont know a word of spanish and I look whiter than your Irish friends. So the question becomes, what is race? Exactly half of me is white, and half of me is Hispanic…so just because I look far more white than hispanic, does that mean Im suppose to check “white”??? I doubt they’re asking you what you look like so why not use your parents or grandparents as leverage to mark a different ethnicity? Whatever helps you get in, helps you get in period. They’re not going to ask for proof of your ethnicity for christ sake.</p>
<p>Don’t worry. You can check the Chicano box with no ethical qualms vintij!</p>