<p>Look nic, they are private institutions. No one can tell them how they do it, nor do we even know how they do it. For all they care, they can decide to accept every 4th person with the initials AJ and get away with it. And maybe they do do that? All we know is, you can never predict how they’ll admit.</p>
<p>Another issue with financial AA: environment plays a huge role. A poor kid living in a trailer park where I live is much better off than a poor kid living in the inner city, a hell of a lot better off. So finances are not easy to apply either. AA certainly is a complex issue…</p>
<p>Man, I always contradict myself whenever I talk about AA</p>
<p>To nicsagenius, what other choice do elite colleges have but to look beyond the numbers when schools like Harvard are able to fill their freshman class 2-3 times over with academically qualified students from their applicant pools. There must be other things that need to be looked at. Also, it’s not superficial because a college education is much more than what you learn in the classroom or in books and someone’s life experiences are just as valuable. So accepting a student who is capable of doing the work at a school but with slightly lower scores and has gone over hurdles to become who they are should be on our nations best campuses. For the record, you are not the only person I’ve seen on CC who thinks that they know enough to judge someone’s future potential in college out of bitterness from their own rejection.</p>
<p>AA is practical in that colleges adding diversity while helping out some of the less socioeconomically advantaged. In the process, they are admitting some of the wealthy black students who really don’t deserve an admissions boost, but by doing this they can retain some of their money by not having to offer money to all AA students. Need-blind institutions, however, really should be practicing socioeconomic AA and not racial AA.</p>
<p>plenty of valid points about the pros and cons of affirmative action. i agree with you nic, its not fair. but the bottom line is, life ain’t fair. do what you can to overcome it. if it truly bothers you, go complain to the universities or somewhere it will make a difference (i.e., not an internet forum). but in life, the cream always rises in the end. just shut up and do your best, and everything will be ok.
/rant</p>
<p>yes the point that private institutions can do as they please has been driven home and I understand that, this thread was not meant to change the system ( not that a CC convo can haha) but I simply wanted to know some opinions about this because i feel so passionately about it and my brother and sister will be applying for college in the next few years and it hurts to know that they have their race working against them, they have enough stress i mean we are not rich and our school is very bad but now we have to be held to a different standard than the other kids at our school because we are not black!</p>
<p>No, you’ll be held in comparison to your background. If you go to a bad public school, then they’ll take that into consideration.</p>
<p>OP’s essays were probably awful. Your grammar isn’t even high school level.</p>
<p>“OP’s essays were probably awful. His grammar isn’t even high school level.”
FYP</p>
<p>No person, black or white, Hispanic or Asian, should have to endure the suffering and consequences of the sins of yesterday’s white man. Nor should any person, black or white, Hispanic or Asian, should reap benefits and receive compensation for the sins of yesterday’s white man. The foundation on which the basis of affirmative action is built upon is ridiculous. There is no way to compensate for the cruelty committed by the sinful acts of white men in the course of America’s history. And by punishing today’s white man is absolutely ridiculous. Would that free all the blacks of yesterday?</p>
<p>Well, while we’re at it, why don’t we question the legacy system as well?</p>
<p>^^AA does not punish white people, not even statistically. A Princeton study (google it, its been posted numerous times on this forum also) determined that white admission rates are not affected by AA. Asian admission rates, sadly, are (I think it was a 5% decline). I do agree with obstinate though, that part of the reason for this is a huge pool of qualified applicants from that ethnic group and a negative sterotype against overachieving asian students, which is sometimes fulfilled (I think part of the reason for this is cultural carry over from the school systems of countries like China, there is literally no unstructured time in many kid’s days over there starting in elementary school, and placement exams for middle school (!!!) are extremely important). In addition, its not like in the 1960s with the onset of equal rights all the problems caused by hundreds of years of slavery and discrimination just disappeared. Not to mention residential discrimination and de facto school segregation that continues to this day.</p>
<p>AA isn’t designed to make up for past mistakes (if that were true, schools would admit more Japanese people for example).</p>
<p>AA is the result of not having enough asian deans and presidents.</p>
<p>many many of you argue against the OP by assuming stereotypes, the asian student must of been pressured to have reached those good stats, while the white kid wasnt?
the black kid must of been working 40 hours a week and wasn’t pressured by parents at all?</p>
<p>someone here mentioned that an asian student should be at a disadvantage because they lack the mindset…you cant possibly measure that through a college app. (?)</p>
<p>To deny a student with higher stats because of his race’s average standing relative to another is wrong, it does not consider the student an individual…you cant possibly know if the asian student has had it “harder” than any other student.</p>
<p>AND ON A SIDE NOTE, I have seen on college apps that it is sometimes OPTIONAL to enter in your race…all colleges should practice this.</p>
<p>Asians make up 4% of the US population and about 15% of HYP. Black and Hispanic are about 15% of the population each and about 7% of HYP each. By a very nonscientific estimate (which is completely screwed if I am thinking of the numbers wrong), a random Asian is something like 10 times more likely to go to one of HYP than a random Black or Hispanic person.</p>
<p>What about schools like Brown that were connected with the slave trade way back when? Don’t those schools (and there are many) have a duty to make up for past mistakes and try to bridge that gap in achievment that is partly their fault??? </p>
<p>[Brown</a> University Committee on Slavery and Justice Home](<a href=“Brown & Slavery & Justice”>Brown & Slavery & Justice)</p>
<p>Yakyu Spriits- Calm down I am writing these posts in a hurry from my cell phone. So thanks for your concern about my grammer but my essays were good enough to help me gain admission to some of the top schools in the US, can you say the same?</p>
<p>oh and even though it is optional for you to state your race on your college app the school can easily find out because many schools write your race on your transcript, there is no way to hide your race!</p>
<p>" Asians make up 4% of the US population and about 15% of HYP. Black and Hispanic are about 15% of the population each and about 7% of HYP each. By a very nonscientific estimate (which is completely screwed if I am thinking of the numbers wrong), a random Asian is something like 10 times more likely to go to one of HYP than a random Black or Hispanic person."</p>
<p>That is the number when AA is exercised. Take a look at Berkeley or Caltech, two colleges that for the most part avoid AA. I don’t want to say that those are what the percentages SHOULD be (as I’m sure some Asians at Berkeley and maybe even Caltech were HYP rejects) but they are probably more reflective of the ratios of academically qualified students by race. In reality, there are probably far more than 10 Asians that are academically qualified for each qualified African-American.</p>