URM Question

Applying to College
1

<p>So, since I've started posting on CC, it's seemed more and more to me that URM status is a pretty big deal in college admissions (I'm an African American man, and that has seemed to give me a big boost in chances threads). But when adcoms consider that URM status, is it a major factor unto itself, analogous to 50 point boost on the SAT, or some such measurement, or do they consider it holistically? </p>

<p>For example, in my case, while I'm a black male, I go to a suburban private school that's 90-95% Caucasian. Would an admissions counselor view me--with regards to URM status--differently than a person that went to an urban public school with more students of color and a more "culturally black," for lack of a better term, point of view, even if we had the same economic background? I mean, if you're really looking for cultural diversity, you'd probably get a more stereotypically "black" cultural outlook from an Asian kid that went to a predominantly African-American high school than from me, who is in a culture that is not stereotypically black by any means. </p>

<p>I mean, I totally understand that my statistical "group," black men, have notoriously low statistics as far as going to college and especially top colleges. But I suspect that it's not the people who are in a culture that encourages them to succeed in college, as I am, but the people who are in an environment where "going to college" isn't a given, and is something that might even be frowned upon in certain peer groups, that are disadvantaged and "fall prey" to that statistic. So shouldn't the adcoms be worried about supporting people like that, rather than people like myself?</p>

<p>Sorry if this is a stupid or offensive question, but I'm really curious as to how colleges think about the whole minority thing. Does it really come down just to skin color and diversity "quotas", or is it really more of a cultural thing?</p>

2

<p>Its probably a mix of both. My GC told me I would be considered "diverse," as an upper-middle class white girl, because I was applying to schools in the NE from the West Coast, and attend an inner city public school which is 14% white. So while I won't help with diversity numbers, I am coming in with a way different experience than a number of the other kids. I think colleges are looking for all sorts of different kids, and being a black man from a primarily white private school is pretty unique.</p>

3

<p>It's holistic at public schools... the Supreme Court ruled that numerical formulas like the one you had described were illegal after Gratz sued the University of Michigan. I'm not sure about private schools though but I'd imagine most of them use a holistic system already.</p>

<p>I guess that means that your economic background would also matter. Since you go to a suburban private school, I'd imagine that you'd come off as less "diverse" than poorer and more urban blacks.</p>

4

<p>So what...you're only a good URM if you're also poor? How do they decide if someone is "diverse," enough?</p>

5

<p>No but, the entire point of AA was to help disadvantaged underrepresented minorities... an affluent URM may still contribute to racial diversity but obviously, will not contribute to economic diversity.</p>