<p>^
I agree about the psychological warfare part. Now ex-Princeton professor Cornel West had a lot of interesting thoughts about how white supremacy carries on even today in an almost undetectable way.</p>
<p>The main problem with it, though, is that socioeconomic boundaries are unquestionably larger than racial ones. In addition, since college admissions are a zero-sum game, great harm upon Asian Americans as a result of affirmative action. The only real way to solve the problem is to switch to socioeconomic affirmative action and somehow correct the pervasive racism and stereotyping which exists in our nation.</p>
<p>No, the real way to solve the problem is to stop with the band-aid approach, aka affirmative action, and patch up schools from Pre-K to 12th grade.</p>
<p>Then, this whole legacy acceptance thing needs to stop. Someone needs to tell the adcoms to stop admitting kids whose parents donated 200 million to Harvard or something. Replace the adcoms with robots. Correctly programmed robots = true color blindness.</p>
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<p>Whites have it made. Let me qualify his statement - he meant upper-class whites. If you are white, and your family is middle-class, you’ve got it made. You’ve got politicians working for you. The media working for you. The admissions committee working for you. Everywhere you look, you see your brothers and sisters, welcoming you with open arms. :).</p>
<p>Is there a link or something, I’m doubting you, but I could be wrong. I just haven’t seen any evidence that whites have it so much easier than asians.</p>
<p>I don’t doubt anything you say, but there are some private schools that are like that : P. I didn’t mean to stereotype private schools as a whole; some are very great. </p>
<p>But I know 2-3 in my area alone and it’s ridiculous how easy their grades are and how much they send to Ivies. Of course, anecdotal evidence is less desirable (for the both of us) and I think that this “debate” should stop : P</p>
<h2>I made this thread on a whim and didn’t forsee it get carried away into a pvt. school/AA/“suck it up” thread. Sorry in advance if it goes even longer lol.</h2>
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<p>Explain…? I think you’re way-dramatizing it. Culture has damaging effects (and beneficial effects) for all ethnicities. Plus, do hispanics and native americans go through it too? Then why not asian? I don’t really understand… are you saying that asians have an unfair cultural emphasis on education? (My parents are lax about school and would be happy to send me wherever - at least my dad. so again I feel like I’m grouped in a defined “ethnicity”) </p>
<p><em>hopes thread doesn’t turn into flamewar</em></p>
<p>You are wrong. Whites have a 70% chance of succeeding in America. Upper-class families have a 72% chance of succeeding in America. That’s the highest for any race. </p>
<p>The only way to read the article is to register at Time.com, which requires a number off your copy of Time magazine that came in the mail. Alternatively, you can look at a physical copy.</p>
<p>I don’t remember exactly what “succeeding” means in the context of the article; I know it meant >(income level). I only know about the article because my teacher has been obsessing over it for the last couple of days in APUSH.</p>
<p>I think that some of the disadvantage that high achieving asian kids might have (based on our school) is that many parents often push the same activities so kids have trouble differentiating as individuals. D and I were talking about the aspect of having a label for admissions “______ girl” (fill in some unique activity which I won’t detail here for privacy) that identifies you and sets you apart - kind of a tag. Her comment was, “As opposed to asian violin girl?” One could substitute tennis boy, piano boy, clarinet girl, etc. It’s tough to stand out at school that accept so few when your activities (while admirable and excellent) blend in with a stereotyped group. Maybe “the 1%” have an easy time getting into ivies, I don’t know, but for the real middle it’s always a crapshoot.</p>
<p>I’m “racist” according to many people, but I think I just feel pretty strongly about these things. I despise these types of comments made by numerous people. I attend a selective public school where I sometimes have to mingle with another school which is 99% black and hispanic(without exaggeration). Honestly, before I came to this high school, I was a bit more hopeful about the advantages given to many “minorities”. I don’t really know how much contact any of you guys had with black/hispanic people and I probably didn’t meet enough of them to draw any conclusions, but it is extremely depressing to see how motivated these people are. Sometimes I question, “what do these people grow up to become?”</p>
<p>Some minorities are not disadvantaged but appear as if they were. How fair can this game of college admissions process get if an Asian(a strange minorities that is put at a disadvantage) with a far more qualifications get rejected, and a black person with 1900 SAT score and not much other things get accepted into a top school? (I’ve seen this happen).</p>
<p>Anyway, as CrazyPluto has mentioned, I don’t see much point in discussing the advantages/disadvantages for minorities.</p>
<p>CrazyPluto, I think you’re a great candidate for top schools, and UPenn might be a great fit for you. Whatever you do, I wish the best in your endeavors!</p>
<p>Different people have different ways of standing out. Ethnicity is only one factor, but if you want to talk about ethnicity, then I’ll put it this way:</p>
<p>An Asian kid who’s the captain of his school’s varsity basketball team will stand out about as much as a black kid with a 2380 SAT score.</p>
<p>So yeah, that’s why I don’t buy it when some people say Asians have a harder time getting into selective colleges. (And I’m not referring to anyone in particular here, just in general.)</p>
<p>@chrome
…ummm what? So you’re saying that Asians should pander to admissions committees by participating in certain activities that would set them apart, when all african americans have to do is get a good sat score, and then wondering why people think its difficult for asians to get in to top schools. Sorry but I’m allergic to bull. Look, I’m not saying diversity is a bad thing, in fact I support it, but lets be honest, the OP’s resume attached to a URM status would make him a lock for the top schools. Also, to the person who cited the statistic that 23% of stanford is asian while only 4% of the country is asian-how much higher would that percentage be if race did not play a part in admissions? I just call em like I see em.</p>
<p>^I’m not saying anyone should do anything; I’m merely saying that’s the way it is. You completely misinterpret my message when you say all black students have to do is get a good SAT score. Obviously, one thing doesn’t guarantee anything.</p>
<p>I’m just saying that a high SAT score on a black student’s resume isn’t much more or less helpful than a varsity sport on an Asian student’s resume. </p>
<p>IceQube, how is my “analogy” bigoted? I’m merely stating the situation, not making a judgment on whether said situation is “fair” or not.</p>
<p>The best way to know individual admission chances is to apply. The best way to learn about policy and regulations on race and ethnicity as factors in college admission is to read the FAQ: </p>
<p>Some people here are being incredibly misleading by saying “you don’t have to be an upper middle class engineer/doctor/etc.” because it implies that in order to be any of these things you MUST go to HYPSM. Will being Asian somewhat reduce your chance at being accepted to these top schools? Yes, but they won’t completely diminish your chances if you’re an otherwise stellar applicant. You simply have to make yourself stand out. In my experience many of my friends with stellar scores (particularly people who were raised in China, where the educational system is widely based upon sitting silently and listening to a teacher) are simply that - stellar scores. They struggle with writing interesting essays, their extracurriculars are generic, and they rarely participate in class. It’s a crapshoot for everyone regardless of race, but if you show colleges that you’re more than just numbers your chances will skyrocket. A 2380 alone won’t necessarily get you into Penn, but a visible passion will.</p>
<p>But, more importantly, just because you don’t get into HYPSM does not mean that you will not have success. There are thousands of hugely successful people who went to less prestigious schools and even (GASP!) state schools. Don’t limit yourself to Ivies/MIT/Stanford because there are tons of incredible schools that will put you on the track to success. The most important thing you can do is get involved, try your hardest, and excel wherever you go, whether that be a prestigious Ivy or a local state school.</p>
Not even involved in this thread, but that made no sense. Life was extremely unfair for blacks before the civil rights movement. It was much more significant than having a more difficult time getting into HYPSM. I sincerely hope you meant that as a joke, civil rights and asians being admitted to college are simply incomparable.</p>
<p>I hope the next adult generation of Asian and African Americans ( As in their parents were born in Africa) dumps this elitist attitude. You can be a successful person without studying medicine, law, or engineering. And Just because XYZ university isn’t in the Ivy League/MIT/Stanford it’s still a vey good school where tons of successful men an women have studied.</p>