<p>Yeah, Shrinkrap I think you hit it right on the money. As a first-generation minority student, people tell me that I am unfairly a “shoo-in” in all these top schools that I applied to. </p>
<p>Yet they forget to think of all the extra obstacles that I had to go to, relative to my peers. I had to deal with racism from both fellow classmates and insinuations by teachers, snide jokes about being “poor”, getting jumped because of my religion, had a GC that told me for FOUR years that CC was the best option “for people like me” because my parents couldn’t talk English, worked 30-40 hrs/week through all of HS in addition with officer positions in SGA and varsity athletics. I had to petition my way through 3 History/English APs because even though my PSAT CR was in the 99%+ and As in Honors History/English They said that I might have a “language barrier” that would make me surely struggle in the AP courses. I made 5s on all those exams.</p>
<p>I could go on for DAYS on how my socioeconomic and cultural background created barriers in the educational system. I would rather have absolutely have no boosts by “first-gen/URM” status than have to go through the unneeded crap in my life to get that little boost.</p>
<p>dang, you worked 30-40 hours/week…that is ridiculous. How did you have time to study? you are obviously very talented and deserve to go where you wish.</p>
<p>And if I get rejected/waitlisted from Duke, I think I am going to cry…not foul play…just…cry. And then eat some pop rocks to make me feel better.</p>
<p>Well, from Freshmen-Junior year I usually studied any free time I had (ie. lunch breaks, before school, in-between classes, some free time during practices, free time in XC and Track meets, etc), and then I did about 60% of my work at home after school/work – so I averaged about 4-6 hours of sleep at night. I would have had none if I didn’t manage my time so well. I also worked only 30 hrs/week through out those years, so it wasn’t as bad.</p>
<p>This year…well…I work 40 hrs/week and it has been a struggle especially with senioritis and the college application process the first semester. Luckily, most of the senior AP classes at my school have a less strenuous workload than the junior level AP classes. So, I most of my HW through out the school days, minus any essays/projects. I usually am too tired to do HW after work/school this year so I do not do it. Oh well…I guess it’s the perk of being a second-semester senior.</p>
<p>Anyway, I am not trying to get some pity-points from anyone, but I just feel that a lot of people at CC have NO IDEA what some low-income first generation students might have to go through to get to and complete the college admissions process. </p>
<p>And iwish, thank you for the compliment. You are obviously intelligent and well-accomplished too, and I definitely will know that you will get in somewhere great and succeed there as well.</p>
<p>dude, no problem. At this point I am probably waisting your time, but I could never imagine that kind of stress. No one deserves that. As of about a month ago, I’ve had some bad senioritis, which is how I discovered CC…which is how I discovered that there are really driven and insane people out there. I just wish college acceptances could be less frantic and painful.</p>
<p>To IwishIwereblack - I got into Duke ED with better SATs but your GPA is higher. I’m white, too.
However, what were your reccommendations like? How was your essay? There is more to it than SATs and GPAs.
My father interviews for his Ivy League alma mater and he is always saying that most of the minority kids he sees have only taken the SATs once, have jobs, often are the first in their families to go to college.
The upper middle class white kids where I live all get tutored for the SATs and often even hire tutors before tests at school to get “perfect” grades. Of course there are lots of poor whites in America, too, but where I live most of the poor people are black, with a few exceptions.
My father’s school is looking for leaders and the school wants African American leaders and Hispanic leaders, not just white leaders. His school really looks at what initiatives students have taken outside of their courses. I comment on his school instead of Duke because he has been involved with admissions.</p>
<p>well, if you wanted me to, I could post my Common App essay or something…I feel like it is pretty good as well as are my recommendations, but I don’t know since those seems very relative and “mushy”.</p>
<p>I think a lot of prospective students, if they truly understood the difficulties some minorities had that made being a top student very difficult, then they would understand the process. In my S High School we had one family- African American- but they could have been of any background, that had to tke multiple buses just to get to school. The kids got into top schools including MIT etc. I take issue with all of the the schools that really do an inadequate job of vetting their prospective minority students. We live in an area where in soem parts caucasions are in the minority. Many prospective students used minority status to enhance their chances. Candidly hispanic students who were as Middle American as anyone called themselves Hispanic. One whom I knew could not even speak Spanish and was raised by an American parent with no Hispanic culture at all. If the top schools schools want to really be fair and get what they want, they really should look to see if the competitive advantage they offer a deserving minority whom they want for diversity- which is a good idea- really is what they claim to be. For example - a real example- does the African American - upper income deserve to get the benefiits of a racial bais towards admission when they have had all the benefits that a parents income can provide as compared with a lower income African American- working hard just to try to get to school? Is the weathly child really discrimnated against and do they have the same experiences as th epoor one that really enriches the student body and broaden their discussions? Likely not. This works with any ethnic group.</p>
<p>Family income doesn’t always tell the whole story. Let me enlighten you with my story:</p>
<p>My mom lived in Nigeria her entire life and moved to America when she married my father, a photographer; both divorced when I was too young to understand the separation. My mom has worked hard her entire life, acquiring an associate’s degree and master’s degree in the process. While she is currently making about 100,000 dollars a year as a nurse, she has worked 2-3 jobs at a time for as long as I can remember and barely has time to even sleep or eat.</p>
<p>While she’s making a decent amount of money, a lot of it goes to her large family back in Africa in order to take care of their needs and pay for hospital bills. She has continually struggled with an accumuluation of educational/medical bills and the difficulties of raising/supporting two kids by herself, and so I’ve taken the initiative to work 20 hours a week junior and senior years to help ease the load. On top of that, I also volunteer about 6 hours a week at my church on Wednesdays.</p>
<p>33 ACT
3.9 unweighted GPA
4.2 weighted GPA</p>
<p>While my stats might seem impressive, I can tell you straightforward that working during the school year took its toll on my AP test results and extracurricular activities. My junior schedule consisted of AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP US, AP Environmental, PreAP English 3, and a blowoff elective. My job took up most of the homework time I had after school; with the little time I had remaining, I managed to get all of my Calc homework finished—my score on the Calc BC test reflected it (5). Even though I could breeze past the rest of my classes not doing homeworking and acing tests, come May I didn’t have the depth or understanding of the subject criteria that I could have had if I had done all the work. Chem (3), US (2), Environmental (2).</p>
<p>This has been my main point from the beginning: the idea that race can be used within itself as an advantage for one person over another. I know people of different races have different “total” and cultural experiences within their lives, but for someone who grew up in the same situation as a middle/upper class society and then were able to promote that their specific race will add to the diversity is full of folly. Where’s the diversity there? What more could you bring to a discussion that one of your friends of a different race couldn’t? However, this is always said with grain of salt because there are obvious disparities within many different races…but there is more than just your race.</p>
<p>So you’re insinuating that a minority candidate from an middle/upper class family is less likely to contribute to diversity than one from from a lower class?</p>
<p>Here’s the flaw to your logic. When colleges purposely target minority candidates and give them an advantage in the admissions process, they’re either doing it for affirmative action or for diversification.</p>
<p>If we’re discussing affirmative action in particular, then it would make sense to strictly target the poorer minority candidates. If we’re talking about diversification, regardless of economic status, a minority candidate is likely to provide some sort of cultural diversity, from skin color and physical characteristics to beliefs and values.</p>
<p>Not necessarily from a middle class “family”, more from a middle class “society”…Again, I’m not trying to stereotype and put everyone into this group and that group. I’m just saying, diversity can sometimes be a little overrated.</p>
<p>Vanity at is best! You’re more than quallified, at least academically. Depends on your major, talents, personal history, etc. But statistically, you perform very well. Why even post this thread? Wait the next two unfortunate days! And your username puts you with half of the other pseudo-intellectuals striving for Duke. Instead of sending us a series of (outstanding, if I do say so myself) numbers, list some of your accomplishments. And I don’t mean “i’ve the highest grade in my entire ap class”. Damn, I’m venting haha. Seems like we’re all a bit anxious. Best of luck, and I say that in all sincerity!</p>
<p>I would pose the question as follows: in the vetting process should colleges which are givign competitive admissions to any group- either by race, ethnicity, culture, etc. ensure that the applicant is as an individual reflective of the identity that they are seeking for diversity to begin with. Should for example a latino/hispanic student from a family which is completely assimilated in “American” culture,get the same cultural bias as someone who is new or first generation college who still lives in a hispanic community and is more involved with the culture? Again for debate
and this applies to any race, religion etc. I think an argument can be made that for individuals not trully representative of the class of individuals that Schools are seeking is itself inherently predudice.</p>
<p>So this discussion has really gotten off topic but i think most of us are trying to say is that college admissions are random, to say the least. nothing is predictable because you never know if a kid with a perfect act score and a perfect gpa and tons of extracurriculurs will get in because there’s more to a person than that. however, we do know that a kid who claims to be hispanic or native american will get in even if their stats and numbers are on the low end of a college’s usual acceptances. trust me, i’ve witnessed this scenario at least four times this year and while i may not be the perfect candidate to any school on my list, i think i shouldn’t be discriminated against due to my race because essentially, that’s what’s happening when a college attempts to diversify its student body. after all, top colleges are all about academics and potential. right?</p>
<p>to answer your original thread, iwishiwereblack, </p>
<p>you have a very very very good chance of getting in but like i said, college admissions are very very very random so good luck to you, me, and everybody else on this forum.</p>
<p>I really don’t want anyone to see me as a shallow individual who is out-of-hand with using an anonymous blogging website, but I think I somehow did a really good job of getting a huge amount of people to respond and view this thread; just this should get an acceptance…jk. Anyway, when I get me decision online at approximatly 6ish on Thursday and I possibly get wait-listed/rejected, don’t expect me to come running here and raising a huge, ugly red flag of protest against admissions with a diversity inclination and any other type of inclination. I will make it clean and simple with whatever happened, and then I will never post my thoughts again on my "original’ thread. But since I am agreeing to post whatever happens to me (including a rejection), I hope others will be honest within themselves and others and post whatever the f*** happens. And I might advise holding on to something to throw when you open your email because there will be a lot of rage with rejection…and even acceptance.</p>
<p>All homework and tests really feel trivial to me this late in the school year. I’m doing enough to get an A in my classes, but I’ve lost most of my dedication.</p>