<p>^ Really? So race is technically not supposed to be a factor?</p>
<p>Race is ALWAYS a factor. It’s almost undeniable that Michigan put some form of “weight” towards being an under-represented minority. Private schools have it even worse. At Harvard, it actually hurts being an over-represented minority.</p>
<p>I think it is very sad that we are not a color blind society and race has to be looked at in admissions. Ever since I was in college and a prof told me that he graded minorities differently than the rest of us, I have been very hesitant to feel comfortable with a urm as my doctor. I do not want a doctor’s grades or admission to have been advanced due to their skin color. Having race be a factor in grades and admissions is a very racist thing.</p>
<p>Frankly, I think you are all overlooking the difference between RACE and SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS/OPPORTUNITY. Which in itself is kind of racist, not that you mean to be.</p>
<p>Being a URM from a family that earns $200,000 k a year and having attended a private school is not likely to “advantage” one in Umich’s current admissions system.</p>
<p>However, being either white OR a URM from an urban public school with a single-parented family at the poverty level who still commands enthusiastic recommendations from teachers and guidance counsellors and who is in the top 10% - 20% of your school’s pool certainly WOULD give one an advantage.</p>
<p>That’s because the prevailing admit philosophy is that applicants are evaluated in the context of what they’ve done with their environment. The urban kid who works at 7-11 six days a week to help support his widowed mom and siblings really might not have time or access to 7 APs or expensive extracurriculars such as private violin lessons. Yet that kid might be pulling a 3.8 on four hours of sleep a night and volunteering at his church nonetheless. Admissions tries to some extent to “equalize” applicants socioeconomically where possible, and for largely the right reasons. </p>
<p>Now, that said, I don’t expect they’re uniformly GOOD at it, CONSISTENT at it, or that in some ways they unconsciously associate URM with socioeconomic disadvantage. Just sayin’ that is supposed to be the governing philosophy. That’s why one of the more ubiquitous applicant questions from year to year is “describe obstacles you’ve overcome.”</p>
<p>^ riverbirch: I completely agree. I never even thought about that: being medically treated by someone who got higher grades just because of his/her skin color! Giving special preference to a URM is racism in its own form.</p>
<p>urm or not, act 27s routinely get into umich, especially with 3.9 gpa.</p>
<p>^^ a URM doesn’t have to be race. A female in engineering is technically a URM too…</p>
<p>So a black female applying to CoE =at gold</p>
<p>Who ever said she was a black female applying for engineering…?</p>
<p>No I’m just saying. A black female, maybe from a poorer neighborhood, is gold when applying to engineering</p>
<p>Unless she’s ridiculously under qualified</p>
<p>The sad, but true, philosophy. And actually, its more favorable to be a black student with a good application and wealthy versus white/asian with a great application and wealthy. Also sad, but true. I know a bunch of seniors at my school, that are URMs, that got into ivies, despite a lack of ‘amazing’ credentials.</p>