<p>Yea I agree…I dont think the SATs can fully assess the potential of a person.</p>
<p>many AA come form a background where they arent offered the opportunity for expensive test prep, myself for example. Therefore getting a 1950 without expensive prep–or in an environment where the SATs arent even considered important-- should be considered just as good as a person who pays hundreds of dollars on prep and gets a 2400.</p>
<p>I firmly believe in affirmative action. after intensively studying the history of blacks in america and the opportunity that this country has denied them, i will take full advantage of any extra-leeway that i am given. and hell nooo, i do not feel guilty…nor would i feel ashamed</p>
<p>So Millancad, I firmly disagree with your ideology.</p>
<p>^ you kind of answered your question!
The SATs are important but there are some special cases…
My advise is apply and see what happens.</p>
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<p>I’m sorry to step on this mine, but I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree. I didn’t have expensive prep, but did have enough common sense to know that I had to consider the SAT exam important if I wanted to get somewhere. I strove to get the highest score I could because I knew I was competing against folks who could afford to spend hundreds of dollars on prep. The average CR score in my school is a 450; there is no emphasis on SAT prep: I studied my butt off because I knew it was important and got an 800. Being in an environment where that exam is not considered important may be a reason for not doing well, but it certainly is not an excuse.</p>
<p>I’m a proponent of affirmative action–to a certain extent. Just thought I’d clear that up before the rest of the individuals here jump on me.</p>
<p>But in the greater scheme of things, colleges are free to determine their own criterion for admissions, and if that includes factoring in the factoring in of one’s racial background, so be it. I really don’t care what the criteria are as long as they work. 
I’m not about to start a crusade over this, because in the greater scheme of things, it’s not terribly important.</p>
<p>ksarmand-- Yes you are basically reiterating my point. “there is no emphasis on SAT prep”…yet you still managed to breakthrough the odds to score high.
In most asian/upper-class white homes, there is a strong emphasis on SAT prep, which means 8 times out of 10, that child growing up in that environment will score high.
It looks better to come out of an environment with little emphasis on education and still be successful academic, than to come out of an environment where education is strictly (insert word here) by the parent–such as most asian families–and to score high on the SAT.
I never said it should be an excuse.</p>
<p>are colleges playing on stereotypes with this whole affirmative action thing?..i would say so, but whatever. and yes there are a few instances where whites and asians do have lower scores yet still get admitted…but when you look at the majority of the statistics…A.Action is clearly a strong factor in admission.</p>
<p>And yes Inconclusive–I have answered my own question. After reading the responses, I am a bit more clear on the whole thing.</p>
<p>And I think this topic is very important be/c, like i said before, there are many people here on CC who automatically condemn an applicant applying to an Ivy-League with a sub-2000 SAT score.</p>