<p>I've been holding in a grammatically-correct, properly capitalized rant for quite some time, but I believe it is now appropriate to rage against the machine... pun intended.</p>
<p>-We (as the members of this fine web site) have this really terrible, terrible habit of automatically dismissing all Asian applicants as over-represented minorities. Even the 4.0 GPA, 2400 SAT kids whose parents happened to come from Taiwan get thrown into what I call the "nice job, kid, but you're screwed," pile. Anyone ever happen to realize that Asians make up around 20% of Harvard's undergraduate pool? They're getting in, and I'm pretty sure the fact that their geographical origin is farther east than most of ours isn't keeping them from attending fantastic colleges. Putting down kids who worked their asses off because of their race is downright ridiculous.</p>
<p>-STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT 3.8 and 3.9 GPA'S. Yes, I'm aware you got four or five B's--how terrible. Every year, high school students get into fantastic colleges with 3.3, 3.4, or (how TERRIBLE!) 3.2 averages. Acknowledge the fact that yes, pal, you did quite well in high school, and suck it up. A few B's never hurt anybody.</p>
<p>-I will admit to participating in this mindsuck, but the "What Are My Chances" forum has become out of control. The only ways to appropriately judge one's chances of admittance to a school are to consult the university's official statistics and class profile; check one's high school's Naviance Family Connection web site to see what other students at a school were admitted with what true, unbiased, REAL statistics; and meditate. A lot. None of you--besides AdCom representatives, former or current--can give any sort of "chancing" besides your best guess. It's a potentially damaging system, and it needs to stop.</p>
<p>I'll most likely think of more things to complain about in a bit, so feel free to drop your comments, questions, and (more than likely) complaints here. I'll be here all night, folks.</p>
<p>-Adam</p>