Racism in college admissions

AndrewPrince · 11-24-2005, 12:41 AM

Do you guys believe that whites and asians are treated unfairly in the college admissions process?

jessy09 · 11-24-2005, 12:43 AM

that is a totally loaded question.

hmmmmmm.... wonder how many people are going to reply

how come you want to know? you are black so you wouldn't be affected by the asian/white thing

AndrewPrince · 11-24-2005, 12:53 AM

I would feel guilty if others were victims of racism so I am curious if my white and asian counterparts are experiencing this horrible aspect of American society

jessy09 · 11-24-2005, 12:54 AM

everyone's a victim of racism

AndrewPrince · 11-24-2005, 12:57 AM

so would u say that everyone is a victim of the racist college admission process?

changbj88 · 11-24-2005, 01:10 AM

indirectly i think there is some discrimination but it's all in the best for eeryone, there needs to be a racial quota, a school being 50 percent white and 50 percent asian with no other diversity isnt gonna cut it, colleges try to provide opportunity for everyone and to demonstrate that, they will have adjusted racial quotas, mostly the publics use this quota

kfc4u · 11-24-2005, 01:17 AM

sure i mean the poor whites in west virginia are lumped into the same category as the affluent suburban whites, and the immigrant southeast asian refugees are lumped into the same category as the assimilated, high-achieving asians. so yeah, some whites and asians are treated unfairly in the college admissions process!

that's a different spin on things (i personally think socio-economic factors correlate more with college admissions results than race does), but of course, i think you're fishing for reverse discrimination. well, i know for some top universities (including my own), asians and whites as groups have slightly lower acceptance rates and slightly higher SAT score averages than their black and hispanic counterparts. but then again, this does not tell the whole picture, especially in the world of comprehensive or holistic review. college admissions is partially about relative gains and not absolute gains... someone who went to SAT prep school and scored 2300 may claim that he/she is treated unfairly when someone else from a poorer or disadvantaged background scores 2100 and gets in, but that's not looking at the entire applicant nor the entire picture.

pacific_fleet · 11-24-2005, 01:27 AM

I would hope us asians are not treated any differently from any other group, but it probably does happen and we can't do anything about it cuz it is legal according to the supreme court as long as no quotas are involved.

Northstarmom · 11-24-2005, 01:49 AM

"sure i mean the poor whites in west virginia are lumped into the same category as the affluent suburban whites, and the immigrant southeast asian refugees are lumped into the same category as the assimilated, high-achieving asians."

Not true at all. At least when it comes to the top colleges, students are evaluated based on their backgrounds, including their socioeconomic status.

While all accepted students must demonstrate the ability to handle the work (and this is why the top colleges have such a high graduation rate), a poor white student from W. Virginia will not be held to the same SAT and EC standards as would an affluent white student from Bloomfield Hills Michigan who travels to Europe each summer, attends the $1,000 SAT prep course and goes to a private school where many teachers have doctorates.

Similarly, a first generation college student with immigrant working class parents from Vietnam would be regarded differently than would the offspring of immigrant Indian engineer parents.

Does that mean that you can get into Princeton with SATs that are at the low end of Princeton's scale? I don't know. Princeton is a reach for everyone, including students with perfect SAT scores.

Can you get into a top 30 university? I think so. Consequently, I hope that you've got more reach schools on your list than Princeton. Since your family income is low, I also hope that you've got safety and match schools that you know you can afford and also would enjoy attending.

Yes, Princeton has generous financial aid for low income students, however one has to be accepted to get it. That's not something that anyone can count on.

brassmonkey · 11-24-2005, 09:53 PM

the way I like to think of it is this

whites are compared to whites
asians are compared to asians
blacks are compared to blacks
hispanics are compared to hispanics

all seperately among the applicant pool!
Then they select the best from each category (not equally in number) and admit them.

People say its unfair that hispanics with 1350's can get in over whites with 1500's. But a 1350 is often a top score among hispanic applicants, while a 1500 is not in any way mediocre, but not uncommon among white applicants.

glucose101 · 11-24-2005, 10:05 PM

I agree with brassmonkey!

Maybe I'm in this utopic world, but I don't think colleges think like that - - - "He is Hispanic, and only has a 1200, let's admit him." I think that people create these thoughts in order to justify why they didn't get picked. Maybe it's because the adcom didn't think you fit well within the college, maybe he was drunk? We'll never know though.