<p>I am, though I didn’t claim minority status on my application.</p>
<p>you should be proud of yourself for that…i myself though will not do that on the application</p>
<p>“often times there are kids on CC who get into great schools with low gpa’s and SAT scores, but when looking at their stats wholistically, they have something special to offer to the school.”</p>
<p>Your last statement hits it on the head concerning URMs. The fact that they are a minority IS something special that they offer to the school. While some may have great ECs or some sort of special skills/attributes about them, the fact that they are a URM takes precedence over many of these things. Being a URM automatically adds diversity to the school’s population, so holistically speaking they offer something important that UVA is definitely looking for when admitting applicants.</p>
<p>fjchowdjury, if I remember correctly, you are Asian, so you don’t count as a minority APPLICANT. Yes, Asians are one of the smallest minorities overall in America, but they ‘de-diversify’ many college populations since they are overrepresented. Actually, not indicating you are Asian probably increases the chances you get into UVA, since Asians have a lower admit rate than whites. Asians are like the anti-URM and the only overrepresented minority to my knowledge.</p>
<p>sv3a, I agree with you wholeheartedly - Asians are actually overrepresented in colleges. The reasons you stated above are why I didn’t claim status/check the box on many of my applications. The only thing that sucks about this is that some of the other schools I applied to sent decisions early-on to minorities, including Asians. I wish I could have found out earlier! lol</p>