<p>I agree with tuesdayair. ^^ go for your passion and don't let others lead your life.</p>
<p>I will say again - I do not believe that Asian-Americans are at a disadvantage in the admissions process. Korean and Japanese nationals, to some extent, are at a disadvantage because they apply in greater numbers than other international students and most schools want to try to have a diversity of countries represented. I know of no school that has quotas for the number of Asian-Americans that they will accept.</p>
<p>Schools do, however, want students who bring a variety of talents to campus. Academic excellence will generally not be enough to get you into the top schools - just as incredible sports talent in the absence of strong academics won't get you in either.</p>
<p>polyglotmom is wrong. Asian high schools do have competitive sports teams, however, unless it is a sports school, these pursuits will always take a backseat to academics.</p>
<p>BTW, I agree with the last two posters - DO NOT choose your pursuits based on building an application. Your formal education is about 1/4 of your life. When all the testing, applying, getting in, and graduating are done, you have you to live with. Build the person you want to live with for the rest of your life. "He once impressed an admissions rep" will not make a good eulogy.</p>
<p>Does Asian-Ameriacan count as URM?</p>
<p>do they considered you asian american if you're half caucasian? writing out my nationality was weird because I don't even consider myself caucasian or asian mostly because I don't look like either</p>
<p>I'm half-half and don't really consider myself Asian-American. But by asking me where I'm from, you should be prepared for an extremely complicated, long response :) Us Third-Culture Kids...</p>
<p>Does being ethnically Asian really put you at a disadvantage? I would think that if anything it would HELP, but I don't think it's nessecerily a bad thing. If you're a stereotypical Asian than yes, but I don't believe that if you're a well-rounded student that your ethnicity will hurt your chances.</p>
<p>Welcome to AA.</p>
<p>hmmm, but does living international and being half of that ethnicity, although being a U.S. citizen matter? do they count that as international? i wouldn't say necessarily..</p>
<p>That's just what I am.</p>
<p>Hotchkiss said an American citizen living abroad counts as an international. I'm not sure about other schools though.</p>
<p>Would being a Tibetan (Asian) be considered disadvantageous as well???</p>
<p>I was rereading this thread and wondered what everyone's thoughts are now, after receiving the March 10 results. Do you think Asians were disadvantaged in the admissions process?</p>
<p>In my opinion, I think being an Asian might hurt if you don't stick out in the crowd. If you don't have any great and special EC's, and don't have a very good interview, your chances are that the interviewer is not going have a good feeling towards your chance. I think that not being special is a disadvantage for every race/ethnicity.</p>
<p>Well, I don't have a concrete answer regarding the disadvantage issue, but I'm an Asian and I did get into all ther schools I applied to.</p>
<p>It's definitely true that it's harder to get in as an Asian. In Asian countries, everything is very competitive, so Asians in general are brought up with higher expectations. But the schools only have a certain number of Asian students that they can accept; so the Asians compete against themselves. To stand out from a competitive crowd, you have to be really outstanding. This is why it's tougher for Asians, but this "disadvantage" doesn't just apply to Asians. It's the same thing with college and prep schools. Students at prep schools compete with the best to get in, whereas most people compete with the average applicant.</p>
<p>What happens if you're an Asian that:</p>
<p>-Knows English, it's your first language
-Very good at writing
-Gotten a lot of high percentiles for standardized tests
-US Citizen
-Lived in America for a longgg time
-Interested in sports like b-ball, soccer, and x-country
-Go to a prep school
-Not in science/math clubs, but more like community service, knowledge masters (mini brain bowl, pretty much), sports, and writing-related things.</p>
<p>I understand that thanks to the fact I go to a prep school & know English well helps me, but alongside all of these other things, is it more likely for me to get in than other int'l students? Any comments, thanks (:</p>
<p>a lot of Asians are good at English, are very good at writing, and score well on standardized tests. The fact that you're a citizen and that you're involved in sports will probably help.</p>
<p>I might be wrong though. i'm saying this from what i've observed</p>
<p>*Oops, forgot to add I'm Korean. I know that a lot of Asians are good at English, and I'm very sure a ton are good at writing (credits to all the asian novelist/journalists :D) but I don't see as many Koreans filling in that role than other races.
(the standardized test thing, it's just to say that usually those types of tests are ones that you can't study for, so it "shows", I guess, that I'm not a memorizing type of person?)
Then again I could be completely wrong as usual :O</p>
<p>If you separate yourself from the stereotypes, you’ll have a higher chance of getting into the school of your choice. I am East Asian and did not fall under the stereotypes because I was a late academic bloomer and struggled during my freshman and sophomore years. Here were my academic/extracurricular credentials. </p>
<p>3.01 GPA (improved from a 2.5)
27 ACT, 1750 SAT
JV Football, Grade 9-11; Varsity 12
JV Swimming, Grade 9
Model UN, Grade 11,12
Youth Football Camp Counselor/Volunteer
Volunteer for Tzi Chi Foundation and Lee-Ming Cultural Association
Attended Chinese classes once a week
Georgetown Summer IR </p>
<p>*I did not take an honors level classes till junior year and a near-full honors course load w/one AP class during senior year. I also taught myself the APUSH curriculum in a period of two months and passed the AP Exam at the end of junior year, inspiring some high and low-achieving students. Sports commitments forced me to limit my extracurricular activities and many clubs at school was composed of people who committed just to beef their college resumes.</p>
<p>Although I was not targeting the schools considered top-tier, I got accepted to Temple, Penn State, Drexel, American, Seton Hall, and Delaware. I did not get a rejection letter and my guidance counselor was surprised I got into American since the majority of the acceptances were Ivy League rejects and top-tier bound students. Eventually I choose to attend American and enrolled in a International Relations program considered top-10 in the nation, beating half of the Ivies. </p>
<p>Tony Dungy says “Success is uncommon, therefore not to be enjoyed by the common man. I’m looking for uncommon people.” People have to find their own path to significance and admission officers are eying those who follow that path with a vision to succeed. If your credentials fall under the stereotype, you should write your admission essay that makes you stand out beyond the Asian crowd. If your able to do that, you will definitely have a higher chance of getting into your dream school. </p>
<p>For the ivy colleges, look at their self reported demographic stats. Most have a 50% Caucasian class and 14% Asian class. Problem is, the 14% ceiling no longer reflects the # of Asians in the general US population. That means a white girl can apply for that 25% of the class (more seats) whereas an Asian girl can only apply for the 7% of the class. Asian girls as a group are competing against each other for those slots and have the highest average GPAs and SAT scores per racial group. </p>
<p>To play devil’s advocate to the above post, why should an Asian have to bury their talent or interests in favor of something else just to stand out? It isn’t right. Colleges need to do away with racial quotas and look at creating a diverse class looking through a different lens. Agree with those who suggest socioeconomic status vs. race.</p>
<p>I vote socioeconomic instead of race. Schools like racial diversity because it looks good but doesn’t cost them anything if they can get some wealthy minorities. :(</p>
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<p>Actually, since Asian Americans total less than 6% of the entire U.S. population (Wikipedia), the 14% Asian population in the top schools means that Asians have more opportunity, comparatively. Studies have been done that show that the most over-represented group (versus population) are Jews, and Jews are subsumed in the “Caucasian” statistics of the class. Comparatively, it is harder for a white non-Jew to get into these schools than a white Jew. That’s just facts. One reason the colleges like Jews is that the Jews have a strong tradition of “giving back” and service – meaning, they donate in a BIG way to their colleges. By contrast, Asians are generally not donors (there will be exceptions, of course) – in some way, for many, the name college is no more than a Birkin bag, something to show off class and wealth and prestige. After they pay for that and get it (i.e., graduate), why on God’s earth would they keep paying for it (by donating!)? That’s the cultural disconnect between Asian culture and Jewish culture and the colleges know this and so Jews are over-represented vs. their application numbers (vs. overall population). If Asians want to have higher group acceptance rates, they need to step up their financial commitments to the colleges they graduate from . . . .</p>
<p>I expect this situation applies to the prep school world as well, where prep school prestige is the latest Birkin bag.</p>