<p>Don't blame Affirmative Action. Blame yourself for being overqualified.</p>
<p>Since WUSTL rejects or waitlists students it perceives to be using it as a safety school, it took a gamble by guessing that you were one of those students. So, why are you so upset? That they saw right through you?</p>
<p>Makes sense to me. At a lot of universities, there are just as many Asians as whites (UC's, anyone?). And WUSTL is nobody's safety. Ever.</p>
<p>Honestly, you're a valedictorian but your scores are average for an ivy and probably a bit below average at HYPS. You have no outstanding EC's. If you don't get accepted to top schools I would not think it was just because you're Asian. Many kids with your stats of all stripes don't get in.</p>
<p>Not really sure if Li really has a case against Princeton but thought this thread would be an opportunity to ask people a question about affirmative action I've never found a good answer for.</p>
<p>With all the outrage over blacks/Hispanics supposedly getting undeserved preferential treatment and Asians feeling a reverse sort of affirmative action, why not institute an affirmative action with a socioeconomic basis rather than a racial one? Granted, there are correlations between socioeconomic status and race but it always seemed more fair to me. Maybe someone more acquainted with public policy and affirmative action could clarify?</p>
<p>^ Yes... that's been brought up a number of times, and I agree with your views. </p>
<p>But ultimately... affirmative action is not about socio-economic status. It's about ethnicity and "representation". Whether representation is the appropriate answer when the core problems of the issue remain (such as the lack of educational funding for urban districts, or the failure of said districts to attract good teachers) is the issue being debated. Personally, I think AA is a cheap solution to a bigger issue, which lulls society into falsely believing that something is being done while nothing really is. Just look at the average socio-economic conditions of someone receiving AA help into top schools. Not exactly someone from stereotypical schools in South LA is it?</p>
<p>Wow, I hope the investigation is proved false. That is horrible!</p>
<p>I heard today in my USGAP class that this kid studies at Cornell?</p>
<p>^ Nope... </p>
<p>He got into Yale... then transferred to Harvard as an undergraduate. Apparently, Yale wasn't good enough for him.</p>
<p>I agree with Gryffon5147 that often affirmative action is used to gloss over that we as a society are not addressing the real issue of a lack of equal opportunity because of the gross inequalities in our educational system in K-12. So the colleges try to get diversity by admitting kids of various ethnicities that are for the most part from the same class.</p>
<p>I also find it interesting that people will get upset about racial affirmative action, but, not affirmative action for legacies, jocks, oboe players etc. </p>
<p>For the lawsuit like the one described to prevail there would have to be objective measures of merit by which all applicants can be ranked. I don't think SATs and gpa's are this. There is a lot more that goes into being a great student and creating a learning community, such as intellectual engagement and diversity of all types (racial, economic, geographic, religious, interests, talents etc.)</p>
<p>OP you sound like an angry asian man!</p>
<p>They were probably afraid if they didn't accept him he'd bring a lawsuit. Some people just can't handle a rejection...</p>
<p>I feel that Affirmative Action itself - even though its designed to combat discrimination - is a form of discrimination itself against people who lose against it. It's the Asians that are losing places to Hispanics and Black Americans. If I was black with even a 2250 SAT and good ECs/GPA, I could expect to have the Ivies as safeties, while if I was an Asian with those stats I would be lucky to get into more than the lower Ivies.</p>
<p>we all can't look back and complain about what has happened. Affirmative action exists and until it ends, there isn't anything to do about it</p>
<p>
[quote]
why not institute an affirmative action with a socioeconomic basis rather than a racial one?
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</p>
<p>A good question. A lot of scholars are asking that question. </p>
<p>BW</a> Online | July 7, 2003 | Needed: Affirmative Action for the Poor </p>
<p><a href="http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffp0621.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffp0621.pdf</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ff0615S.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ff0615S.pdf</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.tcf.org/Publications/Education/carnrose.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.tcf.org/Publications/Education/carnrose.pdf</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.tcf.org/Publications/Education/kahlenberg-affaction.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.tcf.org/Publications/Education/kahlenberg-affaction.pdf</a> </p>
<p>A</a> Thumb on the Scale | Harvard Magazine </p>
<p>The</a> Best Class Money Can Buy - The Atlantic (November 2005) </p>
<p>The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: Recruiting a New Elite </p>
<p>Cost</a> Remains a Key Obstacle to College Access </p>
<p><a href="http://www.jkcf.org/assets/files/0000/0084/Achievement_Trap.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.jkcf.org/assets/files/0000/0084/Achievement_Trap.pdf</a> </p>
<p>Promise</a> Lost: College-Qualified Students Who Don?t Enroll in College (IHEP) </p>
<p>Colleges</a> reach out to poorer students - The Boston Globe </p>
<p>"Honestly, you're a valedictorian but your scores are average for an ivy and probably a bit below average at HYPS. You have no outstanding EC's. If you don't get accepted to top schools I would not think it was just because you're Asian. Many kids with your stats of all stripes don't get in."</p>
<p>What would be outstanding ECs to you? I've devoted most of my life to martial arts and piano and I think I am fairly talented in both. Most people quit their ECs within a few years because they were pushed into it by their parents and I have been doing each of mine for over 10 years. These two main ECs are ECs that I am and have always been passionate about. So, I don't know what you mean by me not having "outstanding ECs." Do I have to win the Nobel Prize for you to be satisfied? Why is it that Asians are always held at a higher standard than others? I know plenty of white kids who have only joined school clubs, have worse grades than me, have worse SATs than me, and yet they still get into top 20 schools (and some of them had legacy which partially explains how the heck they got in).</p>
<p>"Edit: Oh... and that kid, Jian Li is an idiot... "</p>
<p>And who are you to call him an idiot? He's a true Asian for pointing out the unambiguous prejudice against Asians that has begun to come out into the open in America in recent years.</p>
<p>"Don't blame Affirmative Action. Blame yourself for being overqualified."</p>
<p>What do you mean overqualified? I am overqualified for the University of Washington but they still accepted me.</p>
<p>I was born in Pakistan and immigrated to the US at the age of 3. I am technically classified as "ASIAN" but being from a third-world country I can't be in the same category as Japanese or Chinese applicants. So am I still an Over Represented Majority (ORM)? Am I still "ASIAN"? Or am I a URM?</p>
<p>PS - I am also extremely economically disadvantaged; being a recipient of the Questbridge Scholarship would confirm this.</p>
<p>Pakistanis and Indian applicants are not uncommon. You aren't a URM as the colleges define it. Good luck w/your admissions</p>
<p>I heard that it's only beneficial to report your race if you're Black or Hispanic. Whites and Asians generally do not get an advantage when it comes to race.</p>
<p>Is Aztec/Mayan or any of the native mexican races considered native american? cause if it was, then why doesnt every mexican check it? most mexicans are mestizos(mixed race)</p>
<p>
[quote]
My violin teacher once told me about a previous student she had who's stepfather was a hispanic and adopted her as his own child. Therefore, on her college applications she put down she was 'hispanic' (she took his last name), obviously she was caucasian, but I guess with adoption papers she could prove otherwise. Anyway, she ended up getting into Oxford University, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and UPenn. I know it sounds a bit cunning but it worked. Last summer at a college Q&A session, I was informed that if you have a last name that SOUNDS hispanic (ex. Garcia, Hernandez, etc.), but you're either caucasian or asian (asians aren't considered a minority in the college admissions process, except UCBerkeley because they removed affirmative action), then don't put down your race. Of course don't lie, but since it's an optional section, don't willingly put something down that would make you seem like "one of the many".
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</p>
<p>yeah, but on the common app you need to put your parent's ethnicity/birthplace....</p>
<p>I was kinda outraged when a girl in my class who looks 100% asian put mexican on her SAT because she is 1/16 mexican. She has Asian parents that stress academics and I'm guessing her brother also put 'mexican' on his app. Her brother graduated already and got accepted all the ivies and it was probably because he put "mexican". This makes me angry because I am black/mexican myself and it affects me that she abused the system. She grew up and was treated by people as an asian, so she should identify herself as asian. I grew up looking like a mexican/black in a school full of asians, so i deserve the right to put black/mexican. ugh. why cant we all be one race. lol</p>
<p>lol sorry for triple post :</p>