<p>today my friend told me she put hispanic when she applied to uci even though she’s asian and i told her it didn’t matter but her and my friends say that its because of affirmative action but then i said no because of prop 209 and they looked at me like i was crazy/stupid…?
is it true? I’m black and Im just wondering and im not trying to start a debate over AA</p>
<p>schools are not really supposed to but in reality they do, but your friend might get in trouble for lying on her application. Plus hispanics are not the main minority now, it is blacks, especially males</p>
<p>anyways UCs are not really looking at race this year, they are actually looking more at money</p>
<p>Really? I heard it was a combination, with one dominating the other slightly.</p>
<p>Wow, you're friend sounds like a complete jerk, no offence to you. I mean really, that's as malicious and selfish as you can get.</p>
<p>You're right, prop 209 banned AA iirc. But they do give you points for varying socioeconomic factors.</p>
<p>Affirmative Action still exists in the UC's. Why else do they have a writing prompt of "explain how things are from your world" or something like that. That is basically asking for all the minorities, especially blacks, to talk about their troubled lives and how they have been persecuted in society. There are other parts of the application where admins can give minorities extra points such as "individual excellence."</p>
<pre><code> Whether the average UC black applicant is disadvantaged or not is another thing. I know from my personal experience, the black students at my school are well off and they will definitely get into a higher UC than me if they have similar stats because of their race. However, it is probably true that the bad areas of town have a higher percentage of black students. It is merely politics for what side you are on, pro AA or against AA.
</code></pre>
<p>In response to the OP, I hope your friend gets caught because it is unfair to state an untruth that would give her an unfair advantage. You sign at the bottom of your application promising that all the information is correct as far as you know. I am pretty sure you would know whether you were Hispanic of Asian.</p>
<p>Uhh... what your friend did pretty awful. But alright.</p>
<p>In my own experience, I marked my race as Hispanic and even wrote about being Mexican-American (although briefly, that wasn't my focus) in my personal statement. I was rejected everywhere except Riverside and Merced. I had a 3.5 GPA and 1600 SAT/23 Act. I don't think AA helped me! Haha!</p>
<p>However, my family's income is above normal and I'm from a high preforming school. And my dad went to college. (My mom did not though) Perhaps if my family was more "disadvantaged" they would have taken me into more consideration? Who knows.</p>
<p>They pretty much tailor the essay questions and part of the application to as they put it "evaluate you in your own context" which is essentially affirmative action. It's wrong but it's not going to stop anytime soon.</p>
<p>Hmmm... I am white and loved the UC question because it allowed me to talk about my mom... I don't think the question is tailored to URMs at all.</p>
<p>UCs are good when it comes to AA, mostly because by law they cannot. So instead they take into consideration "hardships/ect" which means that ALL people who have suffered... not necessarily URMs, however a large amount of URMs do fall under that category.</p>
<p>^^^ thank you.</p>
<p>Yeah I'm asian and i didn't find anything wrong with the essay topic. Hardships can apply to anyone.</p>
<p>She's going to get in trouble over something she had absolutely no advantage of, at least I hope so.</p>
<p>Since Prop 209 we do not use race, religion or sex as an admissions factor; actually, we can't view any of that information when reviewing the application. Even when a student includes this information in the personal statement or other areas of the application there isn't any admissions criteria that allows us to consider it. The 14 criteria that each campus reviews are found at <a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/general_info/uc_reviews/freshman_app.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/general_info/uc_reviews/freshman_app.html</a></p>
<p>This information regarding race and sex are used only for statistical reasons. This way the state and other governing agency's can determine if the UC's are doing an adequate job serving the whole state of California. Is it okay for a student to miss represent them self; no. Will this have an effect on the admissions decision; no. The only effects this will have are:
* The student might receive information from cultural clubs at the campus that don't apply to the student. I would work with the campus to correct this error so you aren't offered any incorrect scholarships or invitations to cultural events.
* The state and UC system think they received an application from one more student from a specific ethnicity. With many students not reporting their ethnicity; we are already aware that these numbers are skewed.</p>
<p>My African American D got into several, but not her top choice UC with a 2000+ SAT, good (at least outside of cc!) ECE's, and 3.95/4.12 GPA. There would have been more then 95 African Americans student at UCLA in 2006 if Black students where given my "advantage". Of course her only "hardship" is she doesn't ever meet any other African Americans. Anybody know how many African Americans where admitted to UCLA this year?</p>
<p>Being black or hispanic..ONLY helps when you're from low socioeconomic status, first generation, you come from a historically bad region , (aka East LA), and LOW performing school.</p>
<p>if you're privileged ( aka, you come from a good school, ur not first generation, and your middle class to upper class), then you won't be any different from the traditional asian or caucasian that applies.</p>
<p>... That's awful. D: ***. I got into UCs with "Asian" marked on my app! -__-; In fact, my most memorable college essay was ABOUT my Asian heritage.</p>
<p>I don't think the UCs take race into account anymore. It's more socioeconomic/hardship, I think.</p>
<p>in response to UCD post</p>
<p>o noes, i can't look at their race and their name is Hernandez Garcia, hmmm which race is that?</p>
<p>or this John Nguyen, dam that's hard to figure out his race.</p>
<p>just some situations to show how prop #098509138 can't make AA go poof.</p>
<p>But the UCs aren't like privates. It's not really a single person making decisions on the apps.</p>
<p>AA is admitting someone regardless of other things because they are a minority. But a minority with no hardships etc is going to get the points. And a minority with a 3.0 1500 SATs isn't going to get enought points to get in no matter how much of the hardship points they get. So it's not AA.</p>
<p>technolize: For confidentiality we do not get to see the name of the application we are reviewing. So unless race is mentioned in the personal statement we do not have enough information to determine the race of the applicant.</p>