Hi, so I am eighth grade, applying for ninth at most GLADCHEMMS schools + Taft. I was born in Korea, but shortly after completion of Pre-K, I moved to America. The kids that I know were born in Korea and moved to the US at an early age have forgotten a lot about the language and culture. However, I am fluent in Korean and English, and am well acquainted with both cultures. At school, I am assigned to help many students who have just come from overseas, particularly Korea. I was just wondering if my background is a plus or doesn’t really have an affect of what AO’s think of me, in terms of diversity. This is my first post, so if this is repetitive of another user’s thread, please tell me! Thank you, and I wish those of you also applying the best of luck!
If they are looking at diversity categories, you would probably fall into the Americanized-Asian student, which is not particularly unique. What might make you interesting, however, is your role as a mentor to other students. While you may be being asked to do it for cultural or language reasons, it still suggests that your school sees that you have characteristics like maturity and leadership potential. You may want to highlight that for the admissions officers as part of your application, talk about the honor and challenge, how it makes you feel to help others, etc.
Korean-Americans are ORMs (Over Represented Minorities) in the BS applicant pool, so I don’t think your ethnicity will be a plus in this case.
I don’t know what gender you are, but when my older daughter applied to schools, I was told by one AO that the Asian girl demo was the MOST competitive segment. Best of luck.
Nor will the fact that you speak Korean.
Although “diversity” is not your “card”, it doesn’t mean you cannot add something unique to the student body or bring something the school community wants and needs. Many ORMs have made their ways into those schools. You can too.
As a father of another Korean-American 8th grader girl, I have to agree that the background is a minus rather than a plus. I don’t resent it, because her background also gave her a loving home and good education, which many URM students also deserved but didn’t receive. For language part, I think both BS and colleges wants to see a 3rd language, albeit mediocre, even if we are bilingual in Korean and English. After all, I don’t think my daughter really earned her perfect spoken Korean. It was rather given to her by us.
I agree with the poster above, that the most helpful part of your story is that you have taken on this extra responsibility. Depending upon the details and how you convey them, that might present a favorable impression.
Jwalche,
We are not a minority, but I think if we were an ORM I might resent the current admissions paradigm (even though I understand it). I just have to say that your comment “I don’t resent it, because her background also gave her a loving home and good education, which many URM students also deserved but didn’t receive” is very gracious and well said. Kudos to you and good luck to your daughter!
@jwalche Thank you, but I don’t really consider myself as Korean-American. A Korean American is a person of the 2nd generation or maybe 3rd, and generally have limited knowledge of Korean culture and language. Their first language is aenglish, and mostly can only understand Korean. Korean-Americans must be taught Korean and their relation to Korea as their second identity. I was born in Korea, and moved to America at an age that was early, but old enough to be fully introduced to Korea. I apologize if my statement was vague and led to misunderstanding. I now realize that as an outsider, it would be hard to comprehend my story as there really are not a lot of people like me in America. Thank you for your opinion. I wish your daughter good luck, if she is also applying to independent schools.
This thread is interesting to me. I have a bilingual fifth grader and we are excited for him to start learning a third language next year, but I really had not thought that it would actually be something he needed for college/high school admissions.
@EarlyMTNester Thank you for your prompt and encouraging reply! Would you please care to explain what an “Americanized Asian Student?” I had a previous understanding that an “Americanized” person is one who replaces their true background with being American.
@SevenDad Please acknowledge my response to jwalche. I apologize for any previous confusion. Haha the “Asian Girl Demo!” That is quite true, and I am, I guess unfortunately, female. My cousin, last year, went to Exeter for her interview, and her interviewer actually seemed annoyed that another Asian girl walked in. Apparently, her whole day so far had been filled with Female Asian applicants. She did not give much effort to welcome my cousin, and my cousin, when asked what type of school she considered as her dream school, lashed out and replied, “a school that accepts students based on abilities, regardless of race.” Needless to say, she did not send in an application to Exeter.
@straciatella If you do not mind telling, what are the languages your son is fluent in? And 5th grade is a long way from high school and college. You never what might change within the applicant pool. Best of luck.
@ab0101. Since your question asked about diversity, I was trying to give you some of idea of how schools will categorize their applicant pools. Asians who live in, and are coming from, their home country are in a different category than kids of Asian heritage who live in America (no matter how long they have been here). A school may be actively trying to include 3-4 Koreans from Korea, for example, but may be trying also to keep it under 20 total kids from New Jersey, some of whom will be Asian, some Caucasian, etc. Since lots of kids of Asian origin live in America and apply to boarding school, your Korean-ness, does not confer upon you any diversity benefit in admissions consideration. My point is that the Asian-in-America feature does not make you particularly unique, described above as an ORM, but that does not mean you could not use that as part of your story to make you stand out as an individual with traits and talents that the schools may want to include in their class.
@ab0101: Your cultural identity (sounds like you are hew more Korean than Korean-American or American) aside, I still assert that being of Asian (especially an ORM Asian) lineage is going to put you at a disadvantage when it comes to admissions. As your anecdote about your cousin’s experience at Exeter illustrates, the pool of A/A-A kids who have great scores, grades, play one or more instruments well, and perhaps even excel at a sport (generally an individual sport like tennis/squash, am I right?) is large.
What’s more, I think ORM Asians are more likely to focus on selective/prestige schools like HADES-schools, which only adds to the OR-factor in ORM.
That said, I like your personal narrative about being a liaison for newly immigrated students. To increase your likelihood of admission, perhaps consider applying to one of the “second tier” schools where your chances of being “just another talented/smart Asian kid” are lower.
@ab0101: what school did your cousin end up?
“actually seemed annoyed that another Asian girl walked in. Apparently, her whole day so far had been filled with Female Asian applicants”
I can’t see how one would intuit this, unless the AO actually said something? And if so, that is beyond the pale.
Not to get this thread further off track, but you’re getting ahead of yourself if your child is only in 5th grade. However, as a multilingual graduate of one of these fine schools, IMO it is definitely not something that is “needed.” It’s pretty much a given that all international applicants will be at least bilingual and the kids from the European continent will almost certainly be multilingual, and their chances of getting in are already low by virtue of them being international. The percentage of native English speaking applicants with proficiency in another non-heritage language will be microscopically small.
@panpacific she ended up at SPS
@ab0101, I think I understand your unique situation and view. On the other hand, another view of K-A in this Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Americans is inclusive of both Korea born such as you and U.S. born like my daughter. The line isn’t always clearly drawn. Being born in the U.S. but was only spoken in Korean for the first few years, mine speaks Korean language and understand Korean culture more than many Korea born K-A
Together K-A only comprises only 0.6% U.S. population, but ~5% UC Berkeley population and prominent in all selective colleges in the U.S. Diversifying, Ethnic Profiling, Affirmative Action or whatever it is called, undermines admissibility of individual K-A students. But I believe it is necessary, fair and for the good of the society overall, because we are, may or may not be as strongly as White, racially privileged in the U.S.
Many K-A students, or just K students as you see fit, are instead gifted with great education and ability to think as you are demonstrating. I agree with others that you can still turn the odd to your favor by representing yourself in the unique situation and achievement related to your being K, even though just being K by itself is not helpful as you may hoped.