<p>Reflecting back over this long admissions process and evaluating my son's acceptances, waitlists and rejections, I have come to the conclusion that being AA (and male) did not really boost his application in any significant way. This is NOT to complain, he was accepted at some wonderful schools, but rather to honestly report what his experience was. There is so much hoopla over the advantages of being a URM, the supposed boost of adding points to URM SAT scores and accepting URM students with lower gpas, that I wondered how it would affect his situation. Looking at the stats that most students report here, it is clear that those who have been accepted at ivies and top institutions are well qualified to attend ANY school. My son is a more typical student with stats in the 1200/1860 SAT range and a gpa of 3.2. He was in the 50% or above for every school he was admitted to and denied from schools where he would have been in the lower 25%. Did his application get some extra attention because of his URM status? Maybe, but in spite of excellent recs and ECs and a college prep curriculum, he did not get accepted into to schools where he was less qualified. And we are totally ok with that. </p>
<p>I wonder how our experience compares with others on this site? Do some of you feel being AA significantly helped your application?</p>
<p>(Congratulations to all the fine students here on your acceptances and wonderful achievements! You make all of us proud and we look forward to seeing what the future holds for all of you.)</p>
<p>Personally, I think that my URM status did kinda helped my application. I got into the school that I truly wanted to go to, and I think it was because of my ECs and the workload of my schedule at school. I mean, I'm sure that my workload and my commintment at school and in my community, helped and seeing that I am AA, made them look over my application more, but I think that it was my chosen field (which is medicine), was what really made them look over my application more and in depth. I don't know many AAs that want to go into medicine, and maybe that's just at my school, but I think it set my appliaction apart, along with my letters and everything. Oh and thanks for the congratulations! Congrats to your son as well!</p>
<p>Bananapop: I am sure your application was excellent in all respects! My son also wants to go to medical school and he indicated that as well. I am sure that both of you will be fine doctors, we need more AA in the medical field. </p>
<p>The point I am trying to make is that being an URM might get your application some extra review, but you have to have the stats and qualifications to be accepted. </p>
<p>Bananapop: where are you headed for pre med? My son is trying to decide between Marquette and Saint Louis University and plans to major in biology.</p>
<p>HeartArt: Thanks, and I think that you are right, to get accpted, you need "the stats and qualifications". I mean it is now 2009, a lot more AAs are going to universities, trying to get an education and prepare themselves for the workforce. As shown on CC, there are just as many smart, talented, AAs as there are in other races. Yay biology majors! I am also majoring in biology, I love science. I'm heading to a state school in the south. I didn't apply to any ivies, basically because it didn't interest me, personally. I have heard that Marquette is pretty good for pre-med. =]</p>
<p>I don't think it helped me at all, b/c I come from a disadvantaged community/attend a predominantly white high school/ and I am in the top 14% in my school with a 1650 SAT (yes that's total) I didn't expect to get into ANYWHERE good, but I got into BU/Northeastern/Holy Cross/Bryn Mawr and 4 other schools/my life has been a series of obstacles dealing with my health, my mother whom abandoned me (who just had her seventh child last week) & my father when I was 1 :(, going to Haiti & coming back when I was 9/as well as dealing with my dad's diabetes, The work I've done is what got me into schools. I don't see where it helps anyone? It's what you do, not what you are. :)</p>
<p>p.s. I think I'm going to Bryn Mawr, but I'm waiting on Spelman, my #1! I've done the most I could to benefit my own community but I want to change the world, and I will, I want to be a doctor too!! :) o & tell your son about this program on this link: SMDEP—Summer</a> Medical and Dental Education Program</p>
<p>Thanks for the link superwoman, I will share it with my son. Honestly, the strength in your application is that is show a young woman who is hard working, tenacious and willing to persevere under difficult circumstances. You are remarkable. Colleges want you because they see a student who is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, so congratulations on all your acceptances. </p>
<p>I know you have a big decision to make about what school to attend. Here is my 2 cents: Go where you will get the most help academically (tutoring, study groups, etc.) because medical school acceptances are very numbers driven. Your GPA and your MCAT scores are of the utmost importance, they will get you an interview. Med schools are more interested in stats than the name or prestige of your undergraduate institution. </p>
<p>Why is Spelman taking so long in getting back to you?</p>
<p>Thanks :) & Yes Im already making a chart of how ill accomplish my goals of a high gpa & MCAT score for Med School, and I already know where I want tog: Harvard Medical, not b/c of the name but because Ive liked it since I was in middle school lol...its pretty sad lol, but Im looking forward to college very much. I wish i knew why they were taking so long! I applied in November and then my school didnt send my first quarter grades so i ended up being put in the RD pile, after that they requested an inteerview...which confused me, i think i might be considered for one of those full-ride or partial scholarships but I dont know yet...we'll see, i should be getting something today! Im so excited!</p>
<p>I think it did help. I got into every school I applied to including 4 ivies. Many other students were rejected with 2200+ sat, and I got in with a sub 2000 scores. But I know I still deserved to get in based on other factors, it just that a white applicant may not have got in on other factors as easlity as i did. I think a 1200/1860 is a little too low for urm status to make up for. Generally I see 1950+ black applicants getting into schools that take mostly 2200+ scores. But good luck to your son, I'm sure he will do well wherever he goes!</p>
<p>I really think that it helped for me. I only had a 3.5 gpa and 1870 SAT scores and I got into Rice. I did though have sat ii scores in the 700's and wrote very passionate essays about overcoming a rough childhood. When I look at the stats of the other students, I notice
a) very few of them are black
b) most of all the posts (rejected or not) have higher stats than me.</p>
<p>I don't think being black helped that much. I got rejected from Harvard and Princeton but accepted to Yale and the difference was Yale allowed full research papers to be sent whereas the other two did not. I think that was the deciding factor and God :).</p>
<p>Something that is also notable is that schools seem to vary their standards somewhat. Like Stanford would take a URM with lower scores but HYP would reject in an instant. The proliferation of URM status as a boost is probably more common at schools that don't always recieve the cream of the crop in terms of accomplished minorities. But at the very top it probably plays only a marginal factor as SO many people are very accomplished.</p>
<p>It is my opinion that being a URM, in combination with starting out in a disadvantaged background, partly helped my admissions case- not as a deciding factor, but as a tipping point. While my testing was already in the range for the schools applied to, there were a few less than savory parts (non 4.0 GPA, 620 on one of my SAT 2's (though this only came into play at Yale, because the other two subject scores were strong and most schools look at your best two)) that I think weren't counted against me as much because of my background. But then, it also didn't help to a point, because I did see alot of URMs with significantly lower "stats" getting into certain schools that I was waitlisted at. Hmm.</p>
<p>HeartArt, it is difficult for any student, even a urm, to gain admission with bottom 25% stats. Remember that many applicants in the 50-75% of the applicant pool are not admitted. Depending on the schools to which your S applied, his numbers may just have been too low. My D's numbers were strong enough for Kenyon, Oberlin and several other top LACs, but, in my opinion, not strong enough for Amherst and Williams, so she didn't apply. If, however, she had applied to Amherst/Williams and been rejected, the rejection would not mean that being urm didn't help her - - just that with her weak numbers, urm status wasn't enough to get her over the bar.</p>
<p>Superwoman, whether b/c of your urm status or the hardships you face, you must have gotten some boost to be admitted to BMW with an SAT composite of 1650. AS with most applicants, it is both what you do and who you are.</p>
<p>"I did see alot of URMs with significantly lower "stats" getting into certain schools that I was waitlisted at. Hmm.</p>
<p>^^ That just means you got more of a boost at some schools than others, and at the schools that wait-listed you and accepted other urms with lower stats, those urms got a significant boost.</p>
<p>nyc: you are right it IS difficult to be admitted with 25% stats (for anyone) and I also believe that it is better for a student to be in an academic setting where they can be challenged but not overwhelmed. Getting As at a top 100 school for example, is better IMO than Cs/Ds at an Ivy. But having said that, his SAT scores were still in the 85th percentile and if other students are reading this, please do not be discouraged if you do not score above a 1950 on your SATs. There are still many fantastic schools who will welcome you as students and where you will get a great education. There is a place for everybody!</p>
<p>^^^ Agreed, hence my reference to the schools that were a good match for D and those where she likely would have struggled. But even at the schools where I was certain she could handle the work, admission is so competitive that as a girl form NYC with a solid (but by no means stellar) academic profile, her chances would have been less than 50/50 w/o the urm boost.</p>
<p>My son was a QuestBridge finalist with a 1430/2060 SAT and 3.95 GPA unweighted. He also had, IMO, a nice list of extracurriculars. He was rejected at Yale and Wharton but accepted at Notre Dame EA, Wesleyan, Vassar, Villanova, and Temple U's Honors Program. He has decided to go to Notre Dame. His scores and GPA were achieved without the benefit of expensive SAT tutoring so I hope schools take that into account when looking at socio-economic status. Notre Dame was the most welcoming and generous, although the other schools put together nice FA packages as well. I am just relieved that this process is over!</p>
<p>superwoman -- Good luck with Spelman (and congratulations on your other acceptances). One of my wife's favorite students just got accepted to Spelman with a very nice financial aid package, an essential as her EFC is $0. Like you, she is Haitian. Her Upstate NY high school is not used to seeing kids head off to Georgia or anyplace south of Staten Island for that matter, but she was tired of the snow and cold of NYS and has family in that part of the South.</p>
<p>blzmom: There is a great kid who posts here, NDBrother, you should pm him and put him in touch with your son. He will be happy to welcome another AA male student at ND and would have lots of great advice about the school. Congratulations to you and your son!</p>