<p>Indians are of the Caucasian race inasmuch as scientists define it, but not for admissions purposes. They are counted as Asian as far as I know.</p>
<p>For admissions purposes, Asian Indians (lol) are considered Asian. Whenever the Asian category is broken down into sub-categories the Indian sub-continent is an option.</p>
<p>Also, never heard of Asian Indian gangs in the US. It could be localized to OP’s area but I do not believe it is common. Hence, OP’s contention that Asian Indians do not perform well academically due to the presence of gangs in one school (or possibly a group of near by schools) does not hold water. Also, according to the latest census statistics, I believe that Asian Indian population in the US is less than 1% (closer to 0.7% as per the statistics I viewed) not 2%. Hence at MIT, where about a 1000 undergraduate students are admitted a year, even if MIT has 10 undergraduate Asian Indian Students admitted per year, then Asian Indians cannot claim a URM status. Counting graduate students, I am sure that population is more than 1%.</p>
<p>Dad<em>of</em>3 is correct. Thank you for clarifying my thoughts!</p>
<p>Soooo for admissions purposes, are we “Asian” or “Caucasian”?</p>
<p>
As a biologist, I don’t believe that races are a useful way to classify people. Human beings are extremely genetically similar, having derived from a single small bottlenecked population in the relatively recent past. So no, I don’t believe that races exist in any meaningful or useful biological way.</p>
<p>However, race as other members of society perceive and define it has an unquestionable impact on the lives of members of a particular race. Although race is not a biological construct, it is most definitely a social construct.</p>
<p>Not sure I understand OP’s argument based on Dad<em>of</em>3’s clarification. The fact that someone goes to a school where there are Asian Indian gangs does not make that person an URM. Nor does that fact that school sends very few students to top institutions. Just because one goes to a under-performing school does not make that person an URM. There has to be a line drawn some where and the list is based on an ethnic/geographic classification at higher level. I am not sure there will be much more sub-division then exists now.</p>
<p>If a person goes to a school with a lot of gang activity, it is possible there is a economic factor there and a person may be able to take advantage of programs like !Questbridge. </p>
<p>Asian Indians are classified as Asian for admission purposes. Sometimes they are referred to a South Asians as opposed to East Asians. Key work is Asian</p>
<p>^I just wasn’t aware that Indians were apparently so smart in colleges/competitive for college admissions…from where I come from, most Indians were gang affiliated, and a lot disregard their GPA and scores. Sorry, I based my judgement off of such a small group.</p>
<p>
So I am a URM. Thanks for the clarification!</p>
<p>Yeah, for admissions we are an ORM.</p>
<p>
Around Livermore, CA? That is hard to believe.</p>
<p>^Its very freaky how you’re stalking me…that information was given in a completely different thread.</p>
<p>Please don’t be a creeper.</p>
<p>But I’m from Santa Clara. We have the Santa Clara Punjabi Gang association or whatever its called.</p>
<p>@QuantumArbiter, Wow! I didn’t know that silicon valley was such a scary place filled with all those Punjabi gangsters. How did you survive?</p>
<p>So, Molly, I agree with you that race can be a social construct that powerfully affects the lives of individuals. But how the construct is played out varies hugely across the country. So to me it makes little sense to take a national population percentage, compare it to the numbers at MIT and use that as guidance for admissions. </p>
<p>As the OP pointed out, it doesn’t help him that somebody of the same color, origin or whatever, across the country has parents that highly value education if that is not the experience in his community. The same national origin can be a help in one place, a hindrance in another, and have no effect in a third.</p>
<p>QuantumArbiter, you’ve posted at least 4 threads in my recent memory panicking about whether or not you’re going to get into MIT. You will not either gain or lose admission due to your ethnicity. You won’t gain or lose admission based on your SAT scores or how many AP classes you’ve taken either. Furthermore, panicking about any of these things really isn’t going to get you anywhere.</p>
<p>Coming from a disadvantaged background and succeeding despite this is far, far more important than the color of your skin or where your parents were from, at least in MIT’s eyes. Stop panicking, close the College Confidential tab on your web browser, and go play Bioshock 2 or something.</p>
<p>k4r3n2, I am glad I have company in the creeper club :)</p>
<p>Most Indians living in around Santa Clara are highly educated and I can not imagine the Indian community being dominated by gangser type. It is one of the most competitive regions of the country.</p>
<p>^^^ Hey, I resent that. My comment was <em>way</em> less sketchy than yours! :P</p>
<p>
Agreed, and I don’t think the admissions office is doing that. There are no quotas for students of particular races at MIT, and the background of every applicant is considered to the extent the applicant makes that background clear through his or her application.</p>
<p>If anybody was comparing national population percentages to those at MIT, it was me. I am not a representative of the MIT admissions office.</p>
<p>No, admissions says quite explicity that being a URM gives you a huge boost:</p>
<p>“MIT is committed to admitting ALL minorities who we feel are academically qualified to attend the Institute.”</p>
<p>from here:</p>
<p>[MIT</a> Admissions | Info For Schools & Counselors: What We Look For In Applicants](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/schools/what_we_look_for/index.shtml]MIT”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/schools/what_we_look_for/index.shtml)</p>
<p>For everyone else, they say they see if you are qualified and then look for the match. Therefore, standards for minorities vs. ORM’s and everyone else are quite different. URM’s go though one filter, everyone else goes through two.</p>
<p>Do you interpret these statements on the admissions web site differently?</p>
<p>I think it’s tough to make the argument that MIT admits all qualified African-American/Mexican-American/Puerto Rican/Native American applicants just looking at the CC results threads. </p>
<p>At any rate, minority applicants are not read or selected separately from non-minority applicants. In contrast, international applicants, for whom it can be rather comfortably assumed that different standards exist because of the international student quota, are read and selected separately.</p>
<p>Do you think that the admissions website is leading-on African-American/Mexican-American/Puerto Rican/Native American applicants?</p>
<p>What would be the point of the above quote if it weren’t true?</p>
<p>Maybe mcgmit can clarify.</p>
<p>Stanford’s admissions office never claims to be transparent.</p>
<p>MIT, I think, tries to hold itself to a higher standard.</p>
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</p>
<p>Handala92, as far as I can tell you have perfectly summarized MIT’s position as stated by them.</p>