<p>Happens all the time! Just like non URM’s want URM’s to not complain about their situation, stop complaining about yours! If all of this a turn off to you, maybe Emory isn’t the best school for you or your child. I agree with that 100%! Again, let me try to explain. There are probably less than 200 URM’s but over 1000 non URM’s. Admissions has made their decision, they are just scrabbling to get everthing finalized and ready without making a mistake. They are not favoring URM’s. That whole reverse racism thing is hilarious to me. I don’t believe everyone’s issue has to do with Emory notifying URM’s early at all. It has to do with them admitting URM’s and having essence of emory period. I think people are upset by that more than the notification process.</p>
<p>Wow, @ Classof2015. You have restored my faith that there are actually open-minded people every where! Well said and I hope our kids become friends at Emory : )</p>
<p>Maybe the whole URM thing is overblown. Granted ethnicity truly is unimportant to me, if you did not grow up in the best neighborhoods per say or if the schools that you attended did not provide AP or IB courses, of course you should be reviewed differently. You faced different challenges than someone who grew up in a well to-do area with decent public schools or private schools. Its not a story of race, however. You cannot convince me that a white or asain kid that grew up in a bad area is better off than a black or hispanic one that grew up in a good area. </p>
<p>A side note: My ethnicity is mainly North African (Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco). Wouldnt that make me African-American? I did put down white on my application, maybe that was a mistake. Then again what about lighter skin-toned South Africans, how does one even go about proving heritage? And if we all did originate from Africa 60,000 years ago we are all in theory African. ^^</p>
<p>I think that b/c most of you are parents on this board right now there might be a generational gap, equality is at an all time high, I am Indian, a minority! Giving URMs an advantage is not fair it is outdated, everyone should be judged on merit, I think that if someone was born poor and in a bad neighborhood, they should be given advantage whether or not they are black or white, but notifying some hispanic kid who was given every advantage in the world, and giving this kid an edge in admissions is not fair, so in essence, I am all for giving disadvantaged kids an edge, but in no way should someone be given precedence because of the color of their skin.</p>
<p>I agree that our issues as a country more than anything has to do with socio-economic status. So yes, kids who are poor have it tougher as far as resources than anyone. Black/White whatever. My point is that URM kids predominantly make up these “poor” kids. So to use only test scores and say, it’s unfair that URM’s with lower test scores are admitted and race shouldn’t be a factor in decisions isn’t be realistic. My child has a 4.5 GPA and has always worked her tail off to get the highest grades possible, but unfortunately she attends a high school that is at the bottom of the list in terms of scores, resources, etc. Does that mean she’s not smart, NO! Does that mean she’s not capable NO! I am fully confident she will be fine because she has always strived to be the best. Will she have to work extra hard? You bet, but she can/will do it! So for those of you who are anti-affirmative action or whatever some of these schools use, I think you really don’t understand how bad the educational system is in some parts of the country and in predominantly poor, urban, heavily URM populated areas. So your 33 ACT score in a school where 50% of the kids are getting close to a 30 isn’t as impressive as a 28 in a school where the avg is a 16. That’s all I’m saying.</p>
<p>OmgMom…Then why not just base these decisions on the schools that we attend? If you agree with me why are you still on the whole race issue. Break down the numbers with me. around 12-15% of people are below poverty line (40.4 Million people based on 13%). 13% are white and around 15% are asian. One cannot have a serious discussion on discrimination if they are discounting approx 11 Million people give or take a couple mil…</p>
<p>Not sure what you are asking Narwahalz, but I think you just answered part of your own question by stating that only 13%/15% of the poor are white/asian. So who would make up the majority? You guessed it URM’s. Truthfully, native americans have more challenges than anyone(but that’s another story). I never said the system is fair, I never said there will be some who might slip through the cracks. To say that there is a percentage of poor white/asians who are not being represented because they don’t have the grades/scores and they are not URM’s may be true. I’m not going to argue that. My argument is that white/asians are WELL represented at Emory and many other fine collges. What I am saying is in the interest of creating diversity there are programs like essence of emory. We know for a fact that if you went by test scores only, whites/asians would make up the entire school at the top universities. If that sits okay with you, than this conversation is over and I now understand where you are coming from. All I am saying is that doesn’t sit well with me. I feel that all people have something to offer and I’m just happy that Emory understands the value of diversity. I think that’s what makes Emory great!</p>
<p>But you cant ignore those 28% either.</p>
<p>As a side note from the URM release debate, does anyone know what time the decisions will come out on Friday?</p>
<p>^Generally decisions are released between the times of 5pm - 6pm EST.</p>
<p>In any case, Emory was a long shot for me. 3.21 GPA, 2030 SAT, 32 ACT Half of my classes were taken in community college and I graduated 2 years early. But maybe some some crazy miracle I get in haha. At least I was admitted to GWU, UMD, and Drexel</p>
<p>For those of you claiming Emory is practicing affirmative action, that was ruled unconstitutional at an undergraduate school level years ago. That would be basing admissions solely based on someones race, which nobody even mentioned in the first place. The reason seemingly “all of them got accepted” is because only the accepted URMs found out… not the rejected ones. Don’t go throwing accusations at Emory or the admissions counselors in general if you don’t know what you’re talking about.</p>
<p>I’m not taking sides but here is a random thought-athletes receive there decisions early at most schools. I’m a URM who has not received a decision yet.</p>
<p>I agree. Race should not be a factor in your final decision. However, at Rice, I’ve been told several times that they’re accepting more black people. That may be true, but it doesn’t matter. More schools are just looking for more diversity. I guess it just helps to have some type of cultural background, be it Welsh, German, or Indian. I don’t really think about stuff like that. It just happens. If you don’t get accepted to the school you want, but you feel you deserved to, well, then, they don’t deserve you :)</p>
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<p>Nobody here has expressed problems with diversity. The problems are with trying to compensate for the past oppression and mistreatment of certain racial/ethnic groups by providing them with certain advantages over other racial/ethnic groups. If they truly had a problem with discrimination, they’d ignore race/ethnicity altogether, at least for the purpose of the decision notification date. It’s not leveling the playing field to announce decisions earlier for some races than for others. It’s discrimination, plain and simple. It’s not reverse racism, which is a racist term in and of itself (as it implies that being racist against whites is not as bad as being racist against any other race). It’s discrimination.</p>
<p>Ideally, admissions shouldn’t be considering race at all. The way to get past discrimination is not to continue to discriminate. It’s to stop discriminating. Considering the backgrounds of the students makes sense, but it should be done on an individual basis. Not everyone who is black is disadvantaged. Some people who are white are disadvantaged. The consideration of disadvantaged upbringing should be on an individual basis instead of being lumped by race.</p>
<p>As mentioned above, though, the issue here isn’t affirmative action. It’s that decisions that are made should be released. If they’re going to be released on a rolling basis, it should be by date of application, not by race.</p>
<p>^Well said. Colleges should have “race-blind” admissions.</p>
<p>They definitely need a “race-blind” admission, and to anyone who thinks that schools do not accept URM’s with lower scores, head on over to Vanderbilt and check out their admissions section for 2015. Those who got in with like 29s and 30s were most of the times a URM. It is unfair to us ORM’s. Years ago I would have no problem with this, but in 2011, a majority of URM’s in the USA have the same chance as a white student so why should those with lower stats get accepted just for being a URM. Its 2011, not 1968, it needs to change.</p>
<p>OKAY guys stop complaining about not getting your decision early. Either way you are going to find out Friday. It’s not that big of a deal. On friday you’ll see that it really doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>It happens every year. Stop making our graduating class look like the complaining one. And I agree, colleges should be race blind and look at income as the factor instead. I have a friend who is really rich and studied abroad at some really good high school in the UK and has one of the best SAT tutors in the nation to help him prepare for his standardized exams. I had to self-study. My parents last year were able to pay the $3000 amount for my brother’s SAT prep, but this year not so much. I feel like if I had just a little tutoring on the math section…just a little, I would have gotten a much higher score. My math teachers for the past 3 years have been horrid, and that’s the one topic I cannot self study for.</p>
<p>I think colleges should take into consideration that some people have more resources/have a better advantage due to their wealthiness rather than race. As an African American, I don’t want to be accepted into a university just because I am black. I wanted to be judged just as hard as any race…but I don’t want to be compared to my friend. If I had the money to pay for everything like he did, I would have accomplished just as much, thus I feel that it is quite unfair that the standards are set the same for us. The admissions committee told me that they did not look at income when determining admission. I thought that was bulls***. </p>
<p>The reason African Americans are generally the ones given the benifit in the admissions process is because they are USUALLY the ones put at the disadvantage. They are USUALLY the ones who grow up in wrong environments, and us having near the same stats as someone who grew up in a home with a stable income is quite remarkable. BUT…that is quickly changing and does not apply to many URM’s anymore…and I am certainly an example. And omg…the entire “URM day” they have…total crap. I feel like that is sooooooo disrespectful. It’s like saying, “Your naturally less intelligent than any other race, and today we are celeberating your admission to a school you really never had a chance to without our kindness.”</p>
<p>How do we even know if all the urm’s were notified? I can see a college hosting a conference for that many people. Maybe they only notified urm’s that stood out.</p>