<p>I think that people need to get a clue and keep it moving. It seems that everytime we look at how one person measures up to another, whether financially, socially, academically, etc etc, the topic of race is always played as a card; either as a benefit or a set back. I personally am sick and tired of it always being about the color of people’s skin. As a proud black man I will say that it definitely does get under my skin when people say that “Oh, he was given that because he’s black”. Quite the contrary, AA does not work in as many places as you may think it does…if that was the case then the statistics of black men in college versus black men in prison would be drastically different. I got accepted to Cornell, along with every other top ten school I applied to…and no…it wasn’t because I’m black. I got accepted because I’m tight, well rounded, extremely intelligent, and refuse to let anyone of any race keep me from getting to where I want to be. </p>
<p>To those not considered URMs, please stop making excuses for yourself. Being black has never been, and never will be, a free ticket into anything. You didn’t get accepted because either it wasn’t for you, you weren’t tight, you are all SKIT, or you didn’t reach the bar of excellence (either by a little or by a lot). Either way you are the reason you either get in or you don’t. “Oh the URMs are taking all the spots”…you just keep telling yourself that because guess what…the time you spend sulking and complaining instead of making yourself more competitive will overtly be the reason you don’t make it. So keep it up and we’ll just continue to excel and one day run every arena of the free world because we’re “minorities”. By the way since you probably know nothing about HBCUs…AA has a different meaning there (as it does in many black prominent circles)…when they speak off AA its in reference to guess who…Y O U!!! So while you loftly throw that term around, please understand that it is not universally defined as what you think it is. </p>
<p>To URMs, stop playing yourselves. If I see another post where someone says they got in because they are a minority I might just die. You got in because you worked for it…and if in the holistic picture (minority or not) you weren’t tight enough…you would have been rejected. At the same time understand that maybe you did get to slide by on a 2100 SAT score rather than a 2250 because of the environment you grew up in…thats your environment…not your RACE. Just like there are troubled areas in the black, latino, and other URM communities, there are just as many in the others. Just understand that you work to be better than everybody…not just the “man” or your fellow URM, but EVERYBODY. It is my belief that in order to be truly successful you have to be globally competitive. </p>
<p>So to wrap it up, if anybody feels as if this is all hogwash and URMs truly just have it made, lets compare resumes, transcripts, test scores, and experiences and I’ll show you why you didn’t get in…just up your game up because trust and believe come Fall 2009 on the illustrious campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY I’ll be there…continuing to strive for nothing short of excellence and making my presence known. So let’s have this conversation again when in a few years when its grad/law school thats the topic…as I’m accepting my position in the newest class of JD/PhD candidates at Harvard…hopefully you won’t still be on this same soap box…HOPEFULLY you’ll be right there at the top with me. YOUR CHOICE!</p>