@SAY UMich is ranked 29th. NINE spots below Berkeley. How is that not elite?? And don’t all public colleges have lower tuition for in-state students lol?
ThisIsland Univ of Mich is a very fine school. But for the purposes of CC it doesn’t qualify in most people’s mind because the admission rate is around 50%. The elite college admission game is mostly limited to just a 2-3 dozen schools with admission rates under 20%. The most elite schools have rates near or under 10%. This is where the real competition exists. If a HS student has strong grades and scores they will almost always be admitted to the schools ranked 20-30th. UVA is probably he most elite public college especially for an OOS student. UCLA and UCB have high standards for many students but because of holistic admissions they dramatically lower the standards for some students. The real lowering of the standards however occurs in the way they handle transfer students. UCLA and UCB are awarding thousands of degrees to students that have SAT scores 300-500 points below what is required for standard admission for non-hooked students. Keep in mind Ali above is a HS student. You can evaluate her interesting understanding of statistics for yourself.
Is the question asking the applicant the race with which he identifies most, or is the question asking what is the predominant racial makeup of the applicant? What if I have 25% Native American blood and 75% Asian blood? Can I put down Native American, especially if I identify with Native American culture more? What if you don’t know exactly the makeup of your race? Can you decide not to check this section? Personally, I think they should do away with this question.
@websensation - you can put both or one of them (or don’t answer the question at all), but in the case of Native American, you may get follow-up questions as that is one race that seems to require some “proof” - many colleges want to know tribal ID/membership.
Yes
Yes, if you’re registered with a tribe
Yes
My mom is half black, half Asian and my dad is white. Would I check off just white; white, African-American, and Asian; or white and African-American because that would give me an advantage? My mom only checked off African-American when she was applying to college, but I feel like for me this is unfairly gaming the system, since I’ve never dealt with the racial discrimination that black people (like my mom) have dealt with.
@DavidVazquez I think it’s really great that you’ve been insightful in considering your identity. I’ll message you!
For college admission purposes, your are black. Grab any advantage you can, and run with it.
@Zinhead Not as big of an advantage as most people think. Most African Americans in Ivies are first, second and third generation migrants with mostly +2150-2250 scores. The ones that aren’t migrants are mostly recruited athletes. You should encourage honesty not deceit because universities are going to find out either way.
White guilt video has parents in an uproar.
That video makes a lot of good points that IMO it is appropriate for high school students to consider. I don’t think the video is particularly well produced though. And the final conclusion, that AA helps level the playing field…well it’s a worthwhile effort but mostly too late to make a real impact.
^^^ Ummm, except the video clearly implies that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to stay in/win the race…simply not true. There are thousands of examples proving otherwise.
True. I like the video of the people stepping forward and back with privilege instead, I think it’s more accurate and probably more useful.
The source is clearly middle of the road and has no agenda, certainly…
Ahh yes, the “I don’t see color” routine. Aka “I refuse to acknowledge racism still exists so don’t you dare make me even the slightest bit uncomfortable by reminding me that it does.”
Contrived outrage is contrived.
I’m a straight white male. In any number of settings, that has made - and will continue to make - my life easier by far. I consider myself fairly progressive, yet Harvard’s Project Implicit still pegs me as subconsciously prejudiced against blacks and hispanics, and I’m inclined to believe the results. The least I can do is admit that blacks, hispanics, women, and members of the LGBT community face huge obstacles that I never will.
One can debate the effectiveness of affirmative action (I personally favor low-income preferences instead of racial preferences). That’s a point parents and students can and should discuss in detail and with nuance. Denying that racism still exists in the US is sticking one’s head in the sand. Acknowledging that it exists but denying that your town has an issue is fine…and also the same view you’ll hear from every suburbanite on the face of the earth. Not all the world’s prejudice can lie “somewhere else.”
The occasional reminder of our good fortune cultivates humility and reins in any budding sense of entitlement.
A really poor analogy. When was the last time you saw a white person medal in track…
^^Well, white folks are certainly in a minority among track medalists, but there are at least a few in pretty much every Olympiad. For example in the last Olympic games in London 2012, Galen Rupp and Leo Manzano, both of the US, medaled in the 10,000m and 1500m respectively. The Russians win all kinds of medals. And if you include Arabs as “white” you pick up several more from the talented Algerians and Moroccans.
@NotVerySmart, (funny user name, as you seem quite intelligent!) , I agree with your opinion of giving low income preferences over racial ones. I am happy to say that although I am “white”, my children have grown up in an environment where we have an extremely diverse mix of racial backgrounds. We are in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles, and my neighborhood has many latino, asian, indian, and african-american families. I want to see diversity in our government, businesses, and professionals throughout the United States. However, I feel that kids coming from economically poor areas, with little to no college advisement deserve the benefit of “checking the box” on their college applications, much more than ANY minority child coming out of my neighborhood.