Holistic admissions and Affirmative action are two very different things. Affirmative action is directly related to ethnicity and representation while holistic admissions is directly related to the individual qualities of a candidate beyond their objective data.
Truth is, without holistic admissions the ivy league would be crammed full of those “robots” ( we all know that kid with a perfect gpa and SAT but zero personality or involvement). I say crammed because there are too many academically qualified students for the spots available. How do you choose between 2400 and 2350? If the 2400 is a robot and the 2350 is involved in unique ways in their community the decision is cut and clear.
I think something that makes it especially difficult for Asians, particularly Chinese applicants, is the cultural uniformity of many Asian countries and their emigrants. Many Asians all hold the same values and the same priorities and because of this many Asian students have very similar profiles.
Many of them have impeccable grades, envy worthy test scores and a strong commitment to a music EC along with the standard National Honor society and school clubs. They also all tend to have their hearts set on a very similar set of majors. This is a stereotype but it is a stereotype for a reason. It is true of every competitive Asian applicant that I know personally. Their achievements are impressive but they usually have very little to distinguish themselves from other Asian applicants.
Holistic admissions is difficult to understand because it is so subjective. Very few applicants have the power to objectively evaluate their application. To see how standard and stereotypical their application is, how boring their essay might be, how run of the mill their EC’s might be. Holistic admissions is about admitting a person, rather than a test score or a GPA. For you to win at that system, your application must present you as a person, an individual.
I don’t envy the Asian applicant but I do not think it is a death sentence. The Asian population at UPenn is 27%, at Princeton it’s 20%, at Stanford it’s 21% and at Columbia it’s 22%. Most campuses have it as the second largest ethnic group on campus. It’s clear that top schools DO admit a significant number of Asian students, but they also snub a lot of Asian perfect scorers, but they also snub a lot of perfect scores from every ethnicity. I know someone personally, a white female with 3.9 unwtd 4.5 weighted 35 ACT 780 and 790 SAT II and an award winning pianist plus she had a medical research internship and yet she was rejected from every Ivy league school. It happens, it’s brutal. the first thing she did was write a letter about it in the newspaper, whining about being a white girl and how affirmative action ruined her chances. Buck up. Get over it. She ended up taking a gap year, then getting denied the year after to all but U of Michigan.
Don’t blame others for your rejection. This attitude and the way it was applied to other aspects of her life was probably the sole reason of her rejection. The way it impacts your life to live so bitterly is hardly worth it. Go to the school that you got into and make it your own personal Harvard. Take every opportunity you have instead of whining about the ones you missed and you will find yourself in a much better position in the long run.