"Race" in College Admissions FAQ & Discussion 3

Applying to College
41

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A college cannot rescind your degree after you earn it.

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<p>This is false, read any schools policy for presenting degrees. Any time in the future if they find out that a piece of information on your application was false, it is grounds for rescinding your degree and it has happened before. </p>

<p>You can lie and say anything you want on your application. Heck, if you want, you might as well pay a few thousand dollars and get a forged degree from Harvard. Just know that the consequences of either will likely leave you a lot worse off then if you had been honest up front.</p>

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<p>I asked someone and the girl I know who got into Princeton and allegedly wrote that she was Hispanic actually was partially -- in fact, her mother's maiden name was Hernandez. She was 25% Hispanic (her mom was, obviously, half Hispanic on her father's side) but the girl I know did NOT by ANY means identify with being Hispanic in her life. She was white, but anyone who looked at her <em>might</em> have thought otherwise. She looked a little bit ethnic, so visually, she <em>could</em> pass for Hispanic...</p>

<p>Was this an ethical college admission if she got in on her stretched, but true, URM status?</p>

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<p>^ That's unethical but legal, according to the federal definitions of ethnicity.</p>

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<p>I think you should spend a little less time speculating about this girl.</p>

<p>Princeton is tough to get into. She did not get into it just because she put down hispanic. </p>

<p>It is hard to speculate about her home life and how much the hispanic side of her family has influenced her. Maybe she really enjoys spending time with them, listening to family stories, whatever. It is none of your business to decide the ethics of this.</p>

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<p>I do believe the school can rescind your degree after you've graduated.</p>

<p>I recall a case a few years ago. This rich airhead girl paid another person to basically do all her work, I mean for all classes for all four years...all papers, even take her tests when possible, while she partied. It was a pretty good school too, I just can't remember which one. Does anyone else remember where that was? There was a 20/20 or Dateline, whatever, on it. The girl who got paid was up front about the whole thing after they were finally caught. I'm fairly certain they took away her degree, possibly from both of them.</p>

<p>I know OP, you were just asking a hypothetical question. I'd say, perhaps one could get away with something like that, for a while, but the risks are too great, and the penalty for something like that would be severe, and rightly so. It just takes one person to spill the beans.</p>

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<p>2331clk,</p>

<p>I remember the story that you are talking about.</p>

<p>Also remember the scandal behind Heather Bresch, when it was discovered that she was given an EMBA when she had not completed the work</p>

<p>
[quote]
The conclusion of the investigative panel was stunningly straightforward: Mylan Inc. executive Heather Bresch did not earn a master's degree in business administration from West Virginia University and officials had no basis for awarding it.</p>

<p>But the panel's blistering report, released two weeks ago, also offers a detailed, inside look at how far officials were willing to go for the governor's daughter, inventing explanations, falsifying her records and repeatedly misleading the public.</p>

<p>Investigators unanimously concluded the decision to award the degree last fall, nearly a decade after Ms. Bresch left the program, was rife with favoritism.</p>

<p>The findings triggered the resignations of Provost Gerald Lang and business school dean R. Stephen Sears from their administrative posts, and launched widespread calls for the ouster of President Michael Garrison, a long-time family friend and former business associate of Ms. Bresch, whose boss, Mylan Chairman Milan Puskar, is WVU's biggest benefactor. Mr. Lang and Mr. Sears have said they will remain at WVU to teach.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08125/879034-298.stm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08125/879034-298.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Stanford states</p>

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<p>By applying for admission to Stanford University academic programs, applicants certify that the information they provide in their applications is their own work and, to the best of their knowledge, is complete and accurate. As also noted in the application materials, **Stanford reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission under certain circumstances, including: 1) if there is a significant drop in academic performance or a failure to graduate (in the applicant's current program); 2) there has been a misrepresentation in or a violation of any of the terms of the application process; or 3) if the University learns that an applicant has engaged in behavior prior to matriculation that indicates a serious lack of judgment or integrity. Indeed (and for example), Stanford may rescind an applicant's admission at any time, including after attendance and after degree conferral, if it determines that an individual has been admitted to Stanford on the basis of having provided false information or has withheld requested information. **The University further reserves the right to require applicants to provide additional information and/or authorization for the release of information about any such matter, and to place a hold on registration and/or the conferral of a degree during the investigation into any such matter.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/registrar/bulletin/68887.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stanford.edu/dept/registrar/bulletin/68887.htm&lt;/a>

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47

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What percentage do you have to be? If you're 25% does that count?

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<p>I think 25% is the minimum "safe" number. There's a good chance that if you have been in the US long enough that you have at least one black or native american ancestor. I know that one of my great grandfathers was a native american, for example. I know people who have used a 1/8 composition to their advantage in admissions and it hasn't had any adverse effects so far (they graduated 2 years ago from Harvard).</p>

<p>My personal opinion is that race-based admissions are largely counter-productive. When I mosey on over to the UFlorida boards I notice that the minorities that got accepted to UF through what we endearingly call "holistic admissions" tend to have low stats but also come from affluent (200k+) backgrounds. I don't think giving advantages to rich minorities does anything; schools should target income brackets exclusively.</p>

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<p>Harvard states</p>

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[quote]
</p>

<p>Admission Materials</p>

<p>Occasionally candidates for admission make inaccurate or incomplete statements or submit false materials in connection with their applications. In most cases, these misrepresentations or omissions are discovered during the admission process and the application is rejected. If a misrepresentation or omission is discovered after a student has registered, or registered and completed courses, the offer of admission ordinarily will be rescinded, the course credit and grades will be revoked, and the student will be required to leave the College. If discovery occurs after a degree has been awarded, the offer of admission ordinarily will be rescinded, and the course credit, grades, and degree will be revoked. Such cases may be referred to the Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid rather than to the Administrative Board of Harvard College. </p>

<p><a href="http://webdocs.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/ugrad_handbook/2007_2008/chapter5/admission_materials.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://webdocs.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/ugrad_handbook/2007_2008/chapter5/admission_materials.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>

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<p>so only asian americans are hurt by the UC's new decision?
Asian American....36%(C)...29%(pL)...32%(pH)</p>

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<p>


</p>

<p>This is the credited response about lying on a college application in general. Your lie just might cause your college studies to be nullified. </p>

<p>The thread were the question was raised on lying about URM status has been merged into the general FAQ thread on race and ethnic identification in college admission (and thus moved to the correct forum, from the off-topic forum where it was first posted). Please read the first several posts in this thread and follow the links for official definitions. Please note as well that it is always possible to decline to list any ethnic affiliation at all on a college application, and many colleges admit many students (as show by one early post in this thread) who don't self-identify by race or ethnicity.</p>

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<p>Just for the record: Hispanic is not a race. It means that you are from a Spanish speaking country. So if you are from Spain or Mexico, then you are Hispanic. There are hispanic blacks, Jews and blue-eyed blonds who may have been born, raised and educated is Spain (for example), who are absolutely hispanic. "Looking Hispanic" is a stereotype.</p>

52

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"Looking Hispanic" is a stereotype.

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<p>Correct as to the current federal definitions, which don't imply any particular pattern of physical appearance. Review the definitions linked to in the first few posts of this thread.</p>

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<p>do the UCs have sort of racial advantages. i looked at collegeboard and they didnt consider ethnicity. is this true to some extent?</p>

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<p>Being Asian definitely IS a disadvantage in UC's.</p>

<p>Probably African American + Native American are advantages.</p>

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<p>how about being hispanic? would that be a good advantage in the UCs?</p>

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<p>Hmm... Hispanic probably is an advantage.</p>

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<p>lol at none of you guys knowing what you're talking about... i'll just get out of this thread and let you guys continue.</p>

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<p>Speculation gets blown way out of proportion on CC.</p>

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<p>Most colleges don't release sufficient data about their admission practices to make it possible to be sure what's an advantage and what's not an advantage in admissions. Some of the previous court cases on affirmative action in college admission (see the previous post earlier in this thread for citations of the cases) relied on compulsory discovery of college documents through the pretrial legal process to determine what the actual practices were.</p>

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<em>coughMarileeJonescough</em></p>