<p>Let me try to articulate this as best as I can.</p>
<p>Two years ago, I was a high school senior. I applied to many top colleges such as Yale. I was rejected by most and now attend a state school as a sophomore. Right now, I’m visiting my cousin in another state who is going through the application process. I am still trying to make sense of what seemed to me like a very random, tumultuous process.</p>
<p>Let’s say there’s an applicant to a top school. She lives in the US and was born in Kyrgyzstan, a country in central Asia. She has lived in different countries all of her life and is very academically qualified. She’s a very interesting applicant (how many people have you met from Kyrgyzstan?!). However, she has an Asian last name and marks “Asian” on her application. Does this lump her into the same category as overrepresented Asians who are Korean or Chinese?</p>
<p>Top colleges such as Yale love to brag about their admissions statistic. They love to brag about their 13% African American student body or their 11% Latino student body or their 16% first-generation student body (I just arbitrarily chose these numbers). An unhooked applicant who is still VERY interesting and writes VERY interesting essays cannot be molded into the same type of percentage or statistic. For admissions statistics purposes, an applicant who was born in Palestinian territories and lived their whole life in poor areas of the Middle East is STILL part of the “white” statistic (Middle Easterners are considered “white” on the Common App), which top colleges obviously aren’t attracted to. As in my previous example, a very interesting girl from central Asia is STILL part of the Asian statistic, something which top colleges don’t have a great interest in. </p>
<p>I don’t know if I’ve articulated this well. Here’s my basic question: does “interesting” only matter when it can be molded into a percentage or other statistic? </p>
<p>I apologize if this is offensive in anyway. Like I said, I’ve been curious about this for a while and am just looking for an answer. If you aren’t a recruited athlete or student who has cured cancer, does it matter if you’re “interesting” if you cannot be turned into a statistic?</p>
<p>“Interesting” question. Interesting isn’t just about what the facts are in the kid’s background, it’s what she did, how she made choices, her impact on those round her- and how well she then presents it all, in the CA.
Adcoms aren’t sitting around just trying to fill their own boxes. They would recognize a kid is from, say, the Palestinian Territories and review as such, in context and vis-a-vis the school’s standards and various needs. They don’t just say that kid is “white” and move on. Same applies to all sorts of corners of the world. Your friend will not be simply “Asian.” At a holistic school- she will be the sum total she presents. On the CA, she can check Asian and list Kyrgyzstan and any other ethnic identities she feels apply.</p>
<p>Thank you, lookingforward. I was always under the assumption that, since top colleges had diversity quotas to fill (whether it be racial, geographic, first-gen, etc.), they valued these hooked applicants more than other “interesting” applicants because they can advertise their college by categorizing their student bodies. Maybe that’s a clearer way to say what I wanted to say. But thank you for putting down that assumption. Maybe I’m too cynical :)</p>
<p>If the question is about what box to check:
I think “other” and filling in that line is better than “asian”</p>
<p>If family, religion, nationality, and ethnic background come into play…in real ways in essays and life experience to date…I suggest those get highlighted.</p>
<p>Schools like Yale do care about demographics, but they also care about individual interestingness. It’s a different question, though, whether a particular thing is interesting. For example, having been born in Kyrgyzstan is interesting, but it’s less interesting if you left as a small child and lived in the US and Western Europe thereafter. A person who grew up in K. would be somewhat more interesting. For another example–a person who has a hobby of carving wooden duck decoys would be interesting, but a person who has won national prizes for carving wooden duck decoys would be more interesting.</p>
<p>Those interesting people will still have to have great grades and scores, of course.</p>
<p>All selective colleges look for extraordinary applicants, whether they are white, asian, black or of mixed race. What makes an applicant interesting is their accomplishments, not where they were born or what countries they come from.</p>
<p>"The Curse of the Well-Rounded White Girl?
And why are “unhooked white girls” finding it especially tough? “Because there are so many high-achieving girls who have studied hard, participated in all the right activities, and expected the top colleges to appreciate their efforts,” said Scott Farber, president and founder of A-List Education and a test-preparation and admissions expert. “Do they deserve to get in? Sure. Would they do well if admitted? Absolutely. But colleges are not looking for the well-rounded kid; they want the well-rounded class. And unless you are a superstar in some area, you’re just one of thousands of smart, all-around, but unhooked white girls. It may be unfair, but that’s life.”</p>
<p>The same thing can be said for asian students. </p>
<p>My son and daughter attended a large, urban, public high school that is 74% asian. Most of the students are first-generation going to college; some of them are from Kyrgyzstan. Last year, about 150 students from the high school applied to Yale. Assuming the same racial mix of students applied to Yale as are in the general school population, that’s 112 asian students – from just one high school. The competition for a slot at Yale these days is daunting. You have to well-lopsided; you have to have a talent in a specific area that makes you interesting. And that’s true regardless of race.</p>
<p>“Our incoming students have already accomplished startling things, and we have high hopes for the ways in which they will make the best of their time here.”</p>
<p>“Among the outstanding members of this year’s freshman class are a playwright whose Off-Broadway play is currently in production, a Gold medalist at this year’s International Chemistry Olympiad in Turkey who led the U.S. team to its highest finish in 10 years, an innovator who holds a patent for his design of a subcontrabass sax ; and a student who hails from the newest country in the world, South Sudan.”</p>