Why is Berkeley all asian?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>I visited Berkeley as a potential college choice over the summer and it felt like I was in Hong Kong for the day. First of all, why is this college like half asian? Doesn't the admissions office want to promote some diversity (don't give me the response that all asians are from different countries, because I already know that they are. If you are asian, however, you are asian, just like if you are white, you're white regardless of if you're from America or Amsterdam, so the asian diversity argument is pretty pointless)? Why did I only see about 4 African Americans?</p>

<p>Also, it was pretty disappointing to see during my visit that practically all the asians and whites were with their own race. I saw very few asian and white people walking around together. This must make for a pretty segregated campus?</p>

<p>Anyone?</p>

2

<p>I think I read somewhere that UC schools don't look at race or something. I could be wrong though.</p>

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<p>It's because of Prop 209. Yes, there are a majority of these two races, but I'd prefer students getting admitted because of their achievements rather than just their heritage.</p>

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<p>Admissions are based on academic capabilities not race...It can be thusly determined that some races fare better. (More or less)</p>

<p>I would much rather go to school with people in the same academic league, than go to school with people who just got in because they had a certain skin color.</p>

<p>The segregation thing is somewhat of a problem, but I have the feeling that this segregation exists on almost all major campuses, not just Berkeley by itself.</p>

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<p>^^^^^ Sorry, but it's kind of boring to go to a school where half the school is asian and you feel like you are in Shanghai. It seems much more interesting to me to go somewhere diverse, where one might of had a slight edge because they were a URM, but are still pretty darn smart and well-rounded.</p>

<p>Berkeley just seems like a bunch of 2200s and 4.0's walking around a campus.</p>

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<p>I have a feeling that you wouldn't have made this thread if Berkeley were composed of 50% whites instead.</p>

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<p>^^OP: You seem like a sort of racist...</p>

<p>As it's been proven over and over, people with mere scores don't just walk into Cal... it takes personality, passion, and excellence. You're implying that the asians at Berkeley are there because of raw scores, not talent... that's pretty ill.</p>

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<p>I'm not really racist. I'm just trying to say that the Berkeley adcoms should change their admissions policies to create a more dynamic campus that has more than like 4 African-Americans. The adcoms and their policy seems racist.</p>

<p>^^^^Scores are talent, what do you mean?</p>

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<p>I want to hear your solution to this "problem". Limit the amount of Asians who can apply or get accepted?</p>

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<p>Please don't come to Berkeley if this is gonna be a problem, go elsewhere. We can do without.</p>

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<p>The obvious response of course, is that Berkeley does not use race in admissions, and therefore admits more Asians because:</p>

<ol>
<li>There are more Asians %-wise in CA than in most states.</li>
<li>Asians tend to perform better on standarized testing.</li>
</ol>

<p>But let's take it a few steps further. I looked up a few figures on collegeboard.com:</p>

<p>Berkeley:</p>

<p><1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
*46% Asian/Pacific Islander *
4% Black/Non-Hispanic
12% Hispanic
29% White/Non-Hispanic
2% Non-Resident Alien
7% Race/ethnicity unreported </p>

<p>I looked up a few other top colleges:</p>

<p>Princeton:</p>

<p>1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
13% Asian/Pacific Islander
10% Black/Non-Hispanic
7% Hispanic
*60% White/Non-Hispanic *
9% Non-Resident Alien </p>

<p>Yale:</p>

<p>1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
12% Asian/Pacific Islander
9% Black/Non-Hispanic
8% Hispanic
*49% White/Non-Hispanic *
9% Non-Resident Alien
13% Race/ethnicity unreported </p>

<p>Williams</p>

<p><1% American Indian/Alaskan Native
11% Asian/Pacific Islander
10% Black/Non-Hispanic
8% Hispanic
*64% White/Non-Hispanic *
7% Non-Resident Alien </p>

<p>All of them have a larger plurality of Caucasians than the Asian population (percentage-wise) at Berkeley. And these are elite colleges that do use race in admissions, and actually try to build an ethnic diverse campus. There are many colleges where the white population is even more overwhelming (Wake Forest has 82%, for example). The counterargument might be that this should be expected from the large Caucasian population in this country, but it still doesn't address the point that most college campuses in the US are actually less diverse than Berkeley racially, if we were to base it on the percentage of the largest ethnic group (which is what the title of this thread suggests).</p>

<p>My other point is, ironically, something you have already addressed. Diversity is one of those "loaded words" where almost everyone sees as a good thing. But as you have mentioned, Asians tend to hang around with Asians, Caucasians with Caucasians, and so on. It seems to me like most students don't really want diversity. They'd rather hang out with people of similar ethnicity, and why not? Similar culture, similar interests, similar upbringings, similar values. How much value can diversity bring to our education? Sure, if the university offers an African American Studies class, and the room is filled with only Asians, well there's an example of where lack of diversity hurts the class. But the vast majority of the classes offered at universities are not race-related. So how does "varying perspectives from different ethnicities" come into play when we're talking about say, a math class? A chemistry class? Is there some different way of solving a problem that only Hispanic students can come up with, for instance? That seems pretty silly. While diversity is good, we have to think of opportunity costs. By bringing more diversity to a campus, you are also giving up admitting better-performing students. At some point, the costs outweigh the benefits.</p>

<p>Finally, I'll end by saying I believe that the main factor in admissions to a top university should be based on excellence in performance and achievements, not racial background.</p>

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<p>dood honestly, it's not that big a deal.
ya it's kinda weird, but like....you deal with it. It's really a good running joke.</p>

<p>Berkeley's Asian population is also seen more on a crowd basis, not on a personal basis. When you go to parties or social things that are say...political, or based in the arts/humanities or social sciences, the ratio of Asians to non-asians (and by asians I mean orientals) seems less. But also, the Bay area in general has more Asians, so that skews it as well.</p>

<p>I think there's also a lot of institutional lag, prop 209 came in 10 years ago, and comprehensive review is relatively new, so the AdCom still hasn't adjusted 100% away from numbers based admissions.</p>

<p>But vicissitudes, I think there's a bigger issue than just whites hanging out with whites and asians with asians, there's a definite culture clash between western and eastern cultures. I have friends who are Asian, Indian (dot not feather...well maybe some native americans too) white, black, w/e but I would say that they are more..."westernized" Yet there's definite cross over.</p>

<p>I have Indian friends who drink like fishes and party, yet still go to Indian dances and take me out to indian food places.</p>

<p>The real clash is between eastern and western people, i think alot of the time we don't "get" eachother, and that's where the uncomfortableness comes from. but honestly, if it preoccupies your thoughts, you're not meant for berkeley, get over it.</p>

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<p>Sure, that's what I mean. We don't "get" each other because of cultural differences. I'm suggesting that maybe we don't want to "get" each other. We get people of our own ethnicity and for most of us, that's good enough. That's why you mostly see people hanging out with their own racial group, which leads me to think that bringing more minorities might not be the panacea some people believe it to be. What will happen if you bring in 500 more African-Americans? Most likely, they'll just hang out with other African Americans.</p>

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<p>vicissitudes, your post #11 was awesome. I completely agree. =]</p>

<p>To the OP: with that attitude, you probably shouldn't go to Berkeley.</p>

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<p>As others have said, affirmative action is illegal for public universities in California. The admissions process promotes diversity in the sense that they look at extracurriculars, but not diversity in the sense that people's skin colors are different.</p>

<p>And I don't know why you didn't see people of different races interacting. I see it all the time. But, as we all know, people see what they <em>want</em> to see.</p>

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<p>the OP is a racist, i agree.</p>

<p>stop thinking of diversity in terms of race and start to look at it in terms of student ideologies.</p>

<p>the OP just lacks any exposure to asians so he wants to feel comfort in being surrounded by his own race.</p>

<p>and berkeley is diverse and no it not as segregated as a lot of other top schools.</p>

<p>hopefully you wont go to berkeley. you're attitude stinks and your first impression is a load of crap.</p>

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<p>And if not seeing enough african-americans was a concern for you, go join african american student clubs and organizations. i doubt you will, i think you're just looking for lame excuses to dismiss berkeley as segregated and lacking in diversity. I doubt you really care about diversity going by the way you felt like you were in hong kong.</p>

<p>thats racism and insulting to all the koreans, japanese, etc that you just stereotyped.</p>

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<p>OP: go somewhere else?</p>

<p>I happen to be half white/asian and I hang out with all sorts of people.</p>

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<p>one example of funny culture clash...just came to my head.</p>

<p>my gf was a summer RA, and during the summer, there was korean students and european foreign students.</p>

<p>the choice of movies exploded in racial and ethnic tensions....the spaniards wanted to watch a will ferrel movie, while the koreans wanted to watch kill bill. the koreans then proceeded to call the spaniards raciffs because koreans didn't get north american (euro-american) comedy, whilsts the spaniards proceeded to tell the koreans to learn english</p>

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<p>lol ^
(10 char)</p>