<h1>theorymom: Both MIT and Caltech have non-binding EA, not binding ED, so there is nothing anomalous in making further applications after getting early acceptances there. But it would be unusual, having been admitted to those schools, to apply to WPI, etc. I think all of us surmise that prestige matters (a lot) to the OP, and that he/she is looking to “trade up”.</h1>
<p>It is not uncommon to find such attitudes among parents and students here. I agree with you, but the OP won’t.</p>
<p>Christian,
“We all know that there is really no advantage to be an asian in admittance to most top universities”
That is in part due to due to the cultural tendancy of so many asians in this country to apply to the same colleges that evaluate applications holistically, and do not accept students based on a meritocracy. As the numbers of applicants of one particular group go up, the % of offers of acceptances will go down.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=Christian2]
If one can just say base on admittance rate, Caltech practice AA toward women then one shall conclude many colleges in this country practice AA toward asians. Since in general, percentage wise, there are more asians admitted to top universities than other groups. We all know that there is really no advantage to be an asian in admittance to most top universities.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Your facts are true–Asians in fact face a disadvantage in admittance to most top universities–but your drawn conclusion is utterly fallacious. I suspect that the admissions rate (number applied divided by number accepted) for Asians at any individual top prestigious university may well be lower than that for whites and certainly lower than that for URMs (AA or Latin@). More Asians are admitted to top universities when you consider percentage by population, but this figure is skewed due to the smaller proportion of college-unready Asian students and due to the much smaller population of Asians in the US in absolute numbers; academic achievement is not directly proportional across racial/ethnic groups, or else there would be no point or purpose in affirmative action.</p>
<p>Regarding Caltech, lizzardfire has admitted that she is asking us to trust in the claimed unbias of the Caltech admissions committee. I certainly believe that Caltech does not have a formal AA policy, external or internal, public or private; however, the lack of such a policy is not synonymous with the lack of affirmative action being practiced. As mathmom said, can you assert without hesitation that no one on the admissions committee, when faced with a tough decision between equally meritorious students of differing genders, has thought, “well, we could use more women”? Note that I said equally meritorious (after factoring in passion).</p>
<p>JHS,
Still makes no sense to me to apply EA to Caltech and/or MIT and not go there (and you are right - if she is IN she would have no use for WPI or the like - my mistake was thinking she had been deferred and was “moving on” - to the ivies). But I am afraid you are also correct that my opinions on their (the ivies) name value to undergrads will be in the minority. Good news is, if she does not go to either MIT or Caltech, that gives my son one extra chance of getting in to one/or both RD. <g> (Apps just sent in)</g></p>
<p>op:</p>
<p>Your post doesn’t really make sense. Maybe that’s due to the later edit. If you’re still interested in opinions you might want to restate what your questions are.</p>
<p>OP: If you’re just now deciding which Ivy to apply to when it’s December 15, doesn’t that tell you that you really don’t have a passion for any particular one of them, and in which case, why apply? You shouldn’t be applying to a school unless you have a passion for it. You’ve hit the jackpot; why not choose between two absolutely outstanding schools, that certainly fulfill your desire for a prestigious brand name, and leave the Ivies for the students who are truly passionate about them?</p>
<p>Keilexandra, I noticed that you referred to lizzardfire as “she.” That might not have been relevant to your thinking about lizzardfire’s posts, but for the record, I’m reasonably sure that lizzardfire is male.</p>
<p>Keilexandra, if what you stated “I suspect that the admissions rate (number applied divided by number accepted) for Asians at any individual top prestigious university may well be lower than that for whites and certainly lower than that for URMs (AA or Latin@).” is true, would this be a prove of discrimination against asian because of race?</p>
<p>menloparkmom writes:</p>
<p>“…if you have two equal applicants and instead of tossing the dice, say to yourself “we could use more women” you are probably practicing AA.”</p>
<p>I think that is a good point and probably an accurate reflexion on how the final spots in the admitted list are filled. However, I don’t know if I would equate that to practicing AA, at least in the way it is traditionally interpreted.</p>
<p>Caltech can also use more basketball players so they would probably pick a 6’8" applicant with varsity HS experience over an otherwise equally qualified student. We could then say Caltech practices AA (or whatever we want to call it) for skilled athletes. Fine. But to go from there to say it is easier for basketball players that non basketball players to get into Caltech, which in some respects is the logic used in some posts in this thread to counter Caltech’s claim that they do not practice AA, would be quite a stretch.</p>
<p>
Christian , we have had more than a few seriously heated threads on your question. The search function will bring up some threads with 1000’s of posts. I don’t know if this is the right place to start a new one.</p>
<p>
I don’t want to belabor the point, but I don’t think Caltech cares one little bit about their sports teams, while I think they’d like to have a more diverse (gender and ethnically) student body without lowering their standards one iota.</p>
<p>What I don’t understand is why the OP (clearly PoIH) is asking such a dumb question. If your daughter wants to go to MIT, why on earth would you apply to any Ivies? MIT is the best (with Caltech…Oh, she got into that one too!) in its field. If she wants to apply to Ivies so badly, why didn’t she just apply ED to one or SCEA to Yale, given that you’re so clearly focused on prestige? Just ask her where she wants to apply. It’s not like you can go wrong.</p>
<p>Eep, my sincerest apologies to lizzardfire about the gender mixup!</p>