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We are not Asian, but I know that at my D’s school, there were several very highly qualified Asian boys who didn’t get admitted anywhere. I don’t mean just schools they loved…I mean they were shut out. They are now scrambling to register at local state schools. I have no idea what their applications were like or any other factors, but it is very odd. College admissions is not a meritocracy. As long as people understand that, people will be less disappointed. I understand that much more now than I did in 2018 when my older D was applying. I have one more to go. I will advise her to put her best foot forward and let the chips fall where they may. There are things that she cannot and should not want to change about herself, and she should be proud of who she is and her accomplishments. These kids will end up in a school that loves them and they will be successful. The elite schools can fill their classes any way they choose. We must all adapt our expectations to the current landscape. Good luck to all of you.
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Well said. Based on what I saw in 2022, admissions to top school become fairly random for all “qualified” candidates. There were certainly some head scratchers in our area.
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They had all-reach or no-safety application lists?
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I sure hope no one at the school wrote something in the apps to cause this to happen. It would have me wondering.
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Yes, that is my understanding. I don’t think they had any true safety schools. Maybe schools they considered safety which were not. My D applied to 3 safety schools and was admitted to all 3. But I know others who thought those same schools were their safeties, and they were not. So these days even many traditional safety schools are no longer safety schools. And then people complain that kids are applying to too many schools…what choice do they have?
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This is odd. I’m partly Asian and in our area I have generally seen Asian American students to get into better colleges than other groups. The same seems to be the case this year.
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It is random, and yet it isn’t. I know of several candidates who utilized ethnicity in a strategic way and were very successful. If a student fits a certain ethnic mold, is full pay and has good numbers, they are getting the pick of litter. I saw it first hand several times. This is a game. The schools are looking for smart kids and full pay is a big bonus, regardless of what they say. And the big bonus for them is to publish those admissions stats. The admissions demographics is what they really want. People are certainly welcome to disagree, but these are facts.
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That’s good to hear. I can only speak to what I have seen and heard locally.
The second part is clearly not true for all schools.
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Not all schools is fair…but a lot of the highly selective schools. Why do they ask the FA question on the application if they are need blind? I’m not saying that they call FA and ask for your numbers…but they know. And once they hit the WL, need blind no longer applies.
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If tuition revenue comprises 5%of the school’s budget, no one cares about full pay status.
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Agreed. We are full pay and it didn’t seem to help at all.
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I wonder how many high achieving students (whatever race) who got shut out applied only (primarily) to statistically reach schools (less than 20% admit rates) and whose EC’s are a massive list.
IMO applicants who think their chances are improved with more “stuff” with impressive sounding titles and multiple LoR’s are not helping their causes. Top schools are looking for a mix of students that will enhance the intellectual and community life of their schools. There are only so many productive hours in a day/week. An excessive list creates doubts on both the credibility of the list as well as the quality of participation.
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As I said, full pay is a part of it. I never said it was the biggest part. Your D will have a much better chance getting off WLs as a full pay. That has been told to me by countless people, including the school GC.
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Dad, are you comfortable sharing your DD results? I’ve been following your posts in many overlaps…
Or applied to a list that was all-reach for them. Seems that this is common on these forums. The lucky ones post before they apply and get “you need a safety that you like and is affordable” replies. The unlucky ones post after they get results where they are shut out, financially shut out (all admissions are too expensive), or are admitted only to colleges that they do not want to attend.
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You need to demonstrate that you have something that the college wants. period, full stop. A college in Maine or Vermont (two of the “whitest” states in the country) are going to want ethnic and racial diversity more than a college in the middle of Chicago or California. A small, tuition dependent college is going to care about full pay a lot more than a college whose endowment is bigger than some countries GDP. A college with a highly regarded orchestra but without a music performance major or affiliated conservatory- is going to be a lot more excited about a talented cello or oboe player than a college with a full on, “we train professionals” program-- because the former needs the talent even if it isn’t conservatory level, and the latter admits via audition so they can cherry pick exactly what they need when they need it.
A common mistake is to assume “my transcript is my transcript, my EC’s are my EC’s, here is my list”. You need to show a college you are what they are looking for. Believe it or not, there are fine institutions trying to increase their enrollment of Asian men. They are not named Berkeley, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a great education there!
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True. These particular schools are looking for Asian males, while these particular ones are not. Those parents didn’t know the unwritten rules, those rubes!
So I guess the answer is to apply to 50 schools and hope that a few of them are looking for an applicant just like you! Maybe 75? Why not a 100? I mean there is no way to know what a school is looking for so why not cast the biggest net ever?
I think what you are saying has some truth to it, but how ridiculous is that? Look what it leads to.
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