Did the admins ever make a decision about this?
Weasel, a decision couldn’t come too early! At last look, 101 pages on the “race unknown” thread, weaving the same old tired misinformation about AA, accepting that as face value, & building entire false arguments around that. We have been there, done that, for over 4 yrs now on CC. Oy vey.
I tried to re-center the discussion until the usual flames & flamers erupted. Left because I couldn’t stand the deceptive nature of the debate any longer. Some of these people have not even been following the trends in admissions over the last 3+ years, which are geography & economy, with minority status a poor third. Yep, some people have a “right” to attend an elite U.
I think it’s definitely misinformation when a person claims that a school is 24% Asian and then gives a source that doesn’t corroborate that claim at all, all the while acting offended and insisting that the 24% figure is a correct one.
^Take it to a PM guys. Jeez.
The percentage correction was made on the other thread, and of course the correction is in my favor. The discussion of that is on the other thread.
Weasel, I wasn’t trying to bring it over here. fabrizio likes to stalk me wherever.<br>
(So sorry about that.)
I actually don’t have an interest in a PM diversion, because the problem is that the disinformation is a public situation on CC, with the urban legends continuing to generate centrifugal force of their own. PM’s are not the issue, because it’s not personal for me; it is for certain other posters who’ve been campaigning wherever possible. I’ve been absent from the discussion by choice for quite some time. The only reason I re-emerged is that someone asked me to join this thread; hence, 
Others like to follow & fan the flames. For them, it’s polemic; it doesn’t matter what the facts are.
But yes, I’ll bow out because I’ve weighed in already on what someone asked me to weigh in on. It would be helpful to have an AA subforum within the Admissions Forum. Within that subforum, my own opinion is that some hyperlinks to some of the more authoritative discussions on the issue would additionally be helpful. Those figures, and those citations, have illuminated, not ignited. It has tended to be that when hard information emerges, from people who have experience with the issue in admissions, the flamers vanish.
As Hunt or Tyler or someone else said, the information/communication mission of CC is better served by having avenues where interested parties can find that & sort that out for themselves.
Hard information, is that stuff like William Kidder’s supposed refutation of Espenshade and Chung’s study? Or, is it that stuff like The Shape of the River, which stated that absent “race-conscious” admissions, black and Hispanic enrollment would decrease, thereby disproving the ubiquitous claim that race isn’t a big factor?
No matter what side of the discussion you’re on, a subforum is useful because these questions will always be asked, and it’s important for new users with these questions to know that this question is hardly a decided one.
The policy is still evolving, but see the current FAQ thread
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/568159-race-college-admissions-faq-discussion-2-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/568159-race-college-admissions-faq-discussion-2-a.html</a>
for an attempt to have a civil, informative, readable discussion on the contentious issue of affirmative action policies in college admission.
To quote Fabrizio,“Or, is it that stuff like The Shape of the River, which stated that absent race-conscious admissions, black and Hispanic enrollment would decrease, thereby disproving the ubiquitous claim that race isnt a big factor?”. I am inspired to check into these sources you provided for further education on this subject.
I always check the box “other” on government questionnaires because I do not want to be treated differently by any larger institution, based on my genetic heritage.
My son filled out the common app. this fall. His counselor encouraged him to answer the qs on race, finances & household; sections I would have skipped. My child checked at least 3 boxes for ethnicity(“check all that apply”). The choices provided only describe his genetic makeup in part(almost Heinz 57).
It is hard to believe that in the year 1010, our own government and its schools continue to make race an issue or even a statistic.
My other child’s public high school was up for review of its California State charter and was advised to aim for further diversity. This recommendation had to be based on either the observation that visually the skin colors don’t appear diverse or students who checked certain races on their questionnaires, didn’t check the boxes these administrators are looking for. The school applications did not include questions about sports or extracurricular activities, so the only other type of “diversity” over which the state is threatening the loss of a school’s charter would have to be concerning the family’s income, if this 'diversity" is not about race.
I don’t see how a local high school that specializes in the arts, will attract students from cultures which are not traditionally interested in such, without changing their curriculum or vision. This “diversity” push seems like an effort to dumb down our schools. Why not let schools be attractive each for its own reason rather than pushing to be all things to all people?
Back when I applied to college('76), I don’t recall being asked my race. Historically, if I were asked on any form, the choices were very limited, and they would ask for your majority race out of only 3 or so choices.
The new trend Fabrizio quotes may indicate on the surface that many more minorities are applying, but my son’s example here indicates that we are merely checking different boxes because of how the choices are presented and what counselors are advising. Resulting statistics then become meaningless without proper interpretation, having potentially large error margins when they are guided by this current political climate that is so focused on race.
OLD thread here. The current thread for active discussion on the issue (before the next iteration of the thread is posted), is
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/809185-race-college-admission-faq-discussion-6-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/809185-race-college-admission-faq-discussion-6-a.html</a>
I’ll close this thread here, because this is clear now to long-time users of College Confidential.