I have read similar arguments before in a great book I read on the subject. Basically, it is not good to be a very small fish in a very big pond. It impacts a person’s self-worth and often pushes them out of a field they love and into a subject where they can survive and graduate. This phenomenon is not based solely on race. It happens to a lot of kids of all races. But it happens more often within races that are given excessive preference in admissions.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Closing thread. There is one, and only one, thread on which to discuss race in college admissions:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1843141-race-in-college-applications-faq-discussion-12.html#latest
The fact that users violated ToS resulting in a temporary closing of that thread does not mean that the discussion continues elsewhere in the interim.