Atypical Asian?

Moonpie1
Sun, 18 Dec 2011 09:15:30 +0000

Hi, I’m an international student applying for enrollment at Harvard (from England).

From what I’ve seen/read/heard/gathered, its supposedly a “bad” (or at least disadvantageous) thing to be Asian due to colleges’ pursuit of ethnic diversity + the fact that Asians score very highly in tests. Is this true? I’m assuming it is. Does this mean that, for example, a 2300 on the SAT would be less impressive simply because of my ethnicity?

I was wondering then, would it be a good thing for someone to be a non-stereotypical Asian Ivy League applicant? E.g. (massive generalisation) play a sport, haven’t played piano since the age of 2, didn’t join Maths club etc?

BQ: Is an international, eclectic background (first-gen immigrants, lived in 3 countries) a good thing or irrelevant?