<p>@IAmTheGOAT the world would be a better place without discrimination anywhere of any kind. On that note, I can agree that the admissions process is not 100% perfect. I don’t think a perfect process exists anywhere because the perfect criteria that also includes intangible human factors doesn’t eixst.</p>
<p>I think the system now makes the most sense. Some of everyone gets in versus days when whole groups were systematically denied access. A rational discussion can be had when all sides decide to respect one another. Thanks for doing that in your last post, there are people across the country that need to learn this lesson.</p>
<p>If admission offices did not consider race, there would be a severe lack of diversity within highly selective colleges whose applications are mostly filled my asian and white men and women.
HOWEVER, that does not mean that URMs are “stealing” the slots that more the more qualified population could fill… The fact of the matter is, URMs have to be just as qualified as others in order to be accepted, but because less of them are applying, the acceptance rates within minorities are higher…
URMs are NOT and CANNOT be accepted based solely on race… That kind of thinking can be detrimental in the college admissions process, for URMs and the rest of the population alike.</p>
<p>And I love how people talk about how URMs are admitted even though they are underqualfied or less qualfied than their hypothetical ORM counterpart, but have never met black or Hispanic person who had not accomplished something, exceeded in school, or done something worthy of being in a top tier school. Just because a URM was admitted with stellar but average (for selective colleges) stats doesn’t mean they were admitted solely because they were black, thus giving them an extra ‘edge’; on the contrary, I see white or asian men and women being admitted everyday with the same kind of stats! How is it any different?</p>
<p>@neonerudite, have you looked at any data on students at UC Berkeley? I mention it because it is a top-tier university that does not consider URM/ORM status in admissions decisions. It would be interesting to see how data from UCB squares with your beliefs and views. I think it would support some of them, but I do not know. I do think you may be surprised with regards to others, this for example:</p>
<p>@ItsJustSchool I stand mistaken, I should have stated that there MAY be a discrepancy in diversity between schools that consider race and school that do not. I’m not certain how the admission offices work, but my guess it that by looking at race and accepting the right percentage of people of different backgrounds, those schools are trying to actively encourage diversity and make sure that no race is underrepresented in their school. Again, I could be wrong.</p>
<p>@neonerudite Why is diversity only determined by race, and not, say, social class and other factors? You could have a school filled with 90% Asians. Is that school automatically not diverse? But what about the individual experiences and backgrounds of each student? There are so many countries, cultures, traditions in Asia, even within Asian countries themselves. How are these factors taken into account when you say this school has 90% Asians - it’s not diverse? And my point doesn’t apply to just Asia/Asians of course.
I suppose my main frustration is how “diversity” seems to be mainly determined by race when there are so many other factors that create true diversity (in my view). </p>
@mineO3O I’m not saying that diversity is based solely on race; I just mention race in conjunction with diversity because that is the topic on hand. However, I am aware that different backgrounds of students also contribute to the diversity. But there would be a problem if a school were primarily asian, as other races would be seen as being underrepresented or ignored. I guess these are the problems colleges are hoping to avoid by looking at race in admissions.
And if a school were 90% asian, I do not see that as very diverse as the background of students is only a fractional part of the diversity of a school.