<p>It’s well known that if a white male and a black female are applying to the same college with identical GPA and identical classes and similar EC’s that the black female is much more likely to be accepted than the white male because of the minority status.</p>
<p>Do colleges do the same thing for people with disabilities, like let’s say somebody has autism, ADD, Tourettes, or is in a wheel chair because they are paralyzed from the waste down, or has only 1 leg or is blind or deaf something that’s considered a “disability” but they still have academic credentials that are considered to be good by any standard. (4.0 GPA, 2100 SAT 34 ACT, Good EC’s) Would that put them at an advantage for admissions in the same way being a minority would?</p>
<p>Your male/female assumption is in error. You suggest that females have an admissions advantage over males. Currently males have an advantage over females in college admissions because the majority of colleges and universities have a higher percentage of females enrolled than males. Many universities attempt to balance this out by giving an admissions advantage to males.</p>
<p>Are you thinking of maiming yourself as part of your college preparation strategy? Do you have a specific disability you are considering whether to reveal or not, or are you just working up dismay if someone does have an advantage for any of those reasons?</p>
<p>Alamemom is right, at pretty much all schools except tech schools, males have a definite advantage in admissions over females these days. So before you get your undies in a bundle over affirmative action, you should consider that you will likely be a beneficiary (I am guessing from your initial post that you are male).</p>
This underlying assumption is incorrect as well.</p>
<p>Selective colleges practice “category admissions” where they roughly block off X number of slots for each category (e.g. athletic recruits, internationals, science whizzes, ethic groups, legacies, development kids, super music/theater kids, male nursing students, etc.). In your scenario, that black woman may get in because there were fewer black women competing for the allotted seats. If she gets in, she’s not taking the slot of a similarly accomplished white male – she’s taking the seat of a less accomplished black female. That slot was never ever going to the white male. Just like the number of slots allocated to the football team. Let’s say there are 60. Is the coach just going to offer 58 scholarships and tell admissions: “Here you go, let in some more white kids”. Nope. He’s going to fill up all 60. None of those sixty were ever available to anyone else besides football recruits. That 60th player? He took the spot of the 61st player, not some music kid or the superstar science kid from the South Bronx.</p>
<p>To your question: there is no institutional need/desire per se to admit disabled people just because of their disability. Indeed, those with mental disabilities face a huge hurdle b/c they must demonstrate sociability and academic ability. Some do go to college, certainly. But these come with careful IEPs. The very very select colleges would be far stretched to admit someone with a mental disability, IMHO.</p>
<p>Ummm, category admissions is known a quota and is explicitly illegal at public schools. And I doubt that even private schools would ever admit to using such a thing, though in effect they have “holistic admissions”, which is code for “we let in whoever we want”.</p>
<p>Ok the male/female thing completely missed the point of my question.
Anyways, so if there are “spots” for black females, and white males and every category you can think of, then are there spots for people with disabilities. Yes I’m ADHD with high functioning autism (aspergers to be more specific and I have a 504 but it’s only so I sit in the front and am allowed to have extra time on tests if needed, but I rarely do) anyhow, I was just wondering if that will matter or not. So I’m a 3.59 GPA (Weighted) and I’m planning to take 9 AP Classes in High School, (AP Euro currently in Sophomore year) (AP US, APES, AP Calc, AP Comp Junior Year)
(AP Gov, AP Stats, AP Spanish, AP Lit Senior Year) and I’m just wondering if colleges look for a minimum number of people with disabilities similar to mine and it’s given a “category” similar to a minority.</p>
Actually, it is you who continues to miss the point. You have made erroneous assumptions. No, you will not receive an auto-in because you have a 504. Challenges are just that: challenges. Colleges and universities are not looking for students who have challenges, they appreciate students who overcome any challenges that might be in their way. If you can communicate that in your application, do so. If you are just going to state that you have a disability, it will not help you.</p>