Yes & Yes. I believe that “top” colleges and not so top colleges choose the best of the applicants from the URM pool to help their diversity goals. I think that at the very top colleges the quality of the URM applicants is such that the colleges have their choice of the best URM applicants in the country. Competitive applicants that can succeed (and not drop out) at those schools. Would ALL the same students be selected if admissions was completely color/race blind? I think not.</p>
<p>After the very top tiered schools are done cherry picking the best of the applicants then the rest of the colleges settle for the best of what is left over to meet their own diversity goals. Would ALL the same students be selected if admissions was completely color/race blind? I think not.</p>
<p>Folks, Interficio does not KNOW his race/ethnicity will give him an advantage. He has heard it will. Just like many kids have heard getting a 2400 is a shoe-in for Yale. Or that any kid who starts a charity and raises 10k can have his pick. </p>
<p>And, aglages, I think folks who are involved in admissions, who actually read and rate app packages, have a different perspective than you. Decisions are based on the kid’s accomplishments first and a matrix of other considerations later. (I’ve already noted some, above.) </p>
<p>I wish all the high performing kids out there the very best. If you get in to your top schoice schools, be proud. You will have been through a multi-review process, 3 or 4 different individual readers, and come out on top.</p>
So says you. All colleges are extremely secretive about their ethnicity goals and specifically how those goals are met. At this point it is just you insisting that everything is even handed…and quite frankly that just seems self serving.</p>
<p>Best I can figure, you are a parent, not involved in admissions. And, Interficio is a hs student. And, I do have a different perspective than you, based on my experiences. You have used terms like “milking” and “exploiting,” which presume someone is getting something not fully derserved. Since the topic is minority admissions to top schools, I find that offensive. Unless something more substantial comes up here, I am off this thread.</p>
<p>No offense to you, interficio; just that your words were quoted. Good luck.</p>
<p>Again, you are not an admissions officer. Race per se is not always an entranceway to ivy league schools. But occasionally it does set apart an applicant who does have good scores and/or has overcome significant obstacles and has achieved high scores (maybe not comparable to the average applicant), but astonishing nevertheless for the resources which the student lacked. Admissions officers admit them not just for diversity, but because they know (or hope) that with the proper resources, these often-disadvantaged applicants (which <em>tend</em> to be URM’s) would quickly reach the levels of the advantaged, average applicant, i.e. If Student B, who happens to be African-American, achieved a 2000 SAT despite going to the worst school system in the U.S., he obviously has the capacity to have done much better had he had the proper resources. Ugh, I’m ranting. Hopefully, there’s lucidity in there. Either way, aglages, you don’t know how admissions utilizes race and you should realize that scores are not the sole deciding factor (and RACE isn’t either!). It is fairly clear that there is some personal chagrin in this for you; may I inquire about this? A child of yours rejected from Harvard? Or is this just your usual self?</p>
<p>I hate when people say that. Your ethnicity has nothing to do with your being racist. You could be anti-hispanic, too.
Just like how people say the ones who are most overt anti-homosexual are most likely homosexuals themselves.</p>
<p>Some CC’ers are idiots who need to be backhanded in real life. But the majority are pretty chill people. :D</p>
<p>But we are all college hungry vultures, who will use any means possible to get into top schools, we know what helps get people in, being a URM is one of them, just like being an athlete, or a first gen. college student etc etc.</p>
No…are you? More importantly do you have access to the stats of freshman college applicants? If so…perhaps you could share how many AA applicants applied at X college and what their acceptance rates were along with their “measurables” like GPA and standardized test scores compared to the Hispanic, white and Asian candidates. Perhaps then we can determine EXACTLY how much of an actual advantage a URM has in the application process instead of all the mumble jumble about evaluating whole person potential.</p>
<p>BTW - you are aware that only a very small minority of the total URM college student population actually attends Ivy League schools. What are the stats for those applicants (compared to the non-URM applicants) after the cream is skimmed off the top?</p>
<p>^Admit you are taking an angry position, generalizing, and indicting a whole group of people. Admit that you go on the offense, demanding people provide sufficient numerical evidence to convince you. And, perhaps, realize that, in context, this can be viewed as subtle racism. Please think about all this before you cut and paste more of our comments.</p>
<p>Yes, I wrote on page one, I am involved with admissions for an Ivy. I tried to share my perspective, based on my own experience and that of peers, including other schools. Clearly, not good enough for you. I am sorry for anyone reading this thread who has to see words like milking or exploiting and a jeering tone, especially hs kids who’ve worked hard.</p>
<p>“Measurables” are not the sole deciding factors in admissions. Therefore you wont ever be able to support your argument except through speculation and fallacious prejudice. I’m quite done here. </p>
<p>I’ve come to the conclusion that 95% of posts on CC will eventually devolve into an argument.</p>
<p>AA is only one factor in the equation. It’s not like every minority that applies to ivy leagues gets in. You also can’t say they wouldn’t have gotten in because of lower stats. If ivy leagues only admitted the top people based solely off of “merit,” then their average GPA would be 4.0, and their standardized test scores would be perfect, but they’re not. Is it fair that colleges look at what state you live in to help your chances? By definition, IS/OOS aren’t fair then. Is it fair that essays are read subjectively? Is it fair to give an edge because somebody had a parent attend their school? Say what you want, but AA is just one factor in the scheme of things. Private colleges like ivies can do admit pretty much whoever they want. If you don’t like it, nobody is forcing anyone to apply there. If a minority gets in, it certainly isn’t due to race alone. URMS that apply won’t get an acceptance letter on a silver platter, and have to earn it like everyone else. Once in college, they still have to put in just as much work as everyone else if they want to be successful academically.</p>
Who said they were? I suspect that you know that if those numbers were released that it would become very clear that the playing field isn’t close to being level.</p>
<p>
Probably a good idea to take some time away from this thread to try and figure out whether you are actually a URM or not. If it’s any consolation to you another poster posted the following and found this thread “substantial” enough to return.</p>
Hopefully, there’s lucidity in there. Either way, aglages, you don’t know how admissions utilizes race and you should realize that scores are not the sole deciding factor (and RACE isn’t either!). It is fairly clear that there is some personal chagrin in this for you; may I inquire about this? A child of yours rejected from Harvard? Or is this just your usual self?</p>