<p>My dad and I were joking about how it would be funny to apply to Harvard and write down that I am Black (I’m Asian, BTW), and then fill out everything else truthfully. Then I would apply to Stanford, Yale, and Princeton and truthfully write down my race. I feel that I’m a slightly-above-average-but-not-good-enough-to-get-in applicant (deferred from Princeton ED), so being an URM could be enough to get me in. Then in April, when I receive rejections from Yale, Princeton, and Stanford and an acceptance from Harvard, I publicize the whole thing and show just how damn biased the whole system is.</p>
<p>Too bad it’s already almost January 15th so no time to get recs for Yale and Harvard, but it was an amusing idea. Someone (who does not want to go to Harvard but has a shot at getting in) should do this next year.</p>
<p>For this experiment to be valid, two or more applications must be sent to Harvard. These applications must be EXACTLY the same except for race. The results you get from Stanford, Yale, and Princeton are insignificant as these universities have different values, factors, admission officers, beliefs, etc. This will be your main flaw and enough to nullify the results. That said, it is difficult to send multiple exact applications to the same university due to teacher recommendations, transcripts, and essays. </p>
<p>Basically, it’s almost impossible to isolate race as the only factor in admissions to a certain college. And morally, I believe you shouldn’t do so. These readers have to go through thousands of applications and you sending them a bogus one on purpose isn’t helping. I would be glad if they reject the experimenter entirely for this.</p>
<p>Basically don’t care about the status of your ethnicity or race.</p>
<p>The experiment is rather pointless too… namely because you don’t need a “test” to see how “biased” (as you call it) the system is. It’s not like affirmative action is a secret.</p>
<p>If you wanted to test just how “deep” it goes you would need to do that test more than once.</p>
<p>anyone who thinks this would tell the world anything about the college, who thinks this is a good idea, funny and a sure bet to work … doesn’t have the sense to go to Harvard in the first place.
It tells about your own view of things and that’s about it.</p>
<p>I agree with Just_browsing. Why waste the time and $200 on applications? Everyone knows that standards are lowered a lot for URM’s and slightly raised for Asians. You wouldn’t be proving anything new.</p>
<p>potenital flaws with your testing methodology</p>
<p>what would you do as far as test scores?</p>
<p>While yes, you would be taking all of the exams twice, it is very unlikely that you would be taking the same exact exams under 2 separate sittings and it would also be highly unlikely to create the exact same conditions for both exams</p>
<p>Don’t you think that a red flag would be raised once the reader read the same exam twice, looked at the same transcripts, scratch his or her head when they see the name on the transcript does not match up with the person? What about the recommendations </p>
<p>How likely would it be that 2 different “people” growing up in 2 different houses woudl have the exact same life experience and write about them exactly the same? You have siblings growing up in the same house under the same conditions that do not have the same world view on things).</p>
<p>the number of flags raised bythe same regional reader would get both applicants rejected</p>
<p>I’ve always thought about doing this too, not really as an experiment just as a kind of see if i could get in kinda thing…</p>
<p>I was also just wondering what the colleges could actually do about it?
I mean my best friend is half asian, a quarter white, and a quarter black; making her look kind of hawaian or indian or even straight up asian but definitely not black. However, she is writing on all of her college apps that she is black so i mean its not like the colleges would ever find out that she’s not completely black so how would they ever find out if i was? i’m not gonna do it but couldn’t i technically just write on my apps that i am black and its not like most top schools have an interview process or anytime that they would ever actually see me?
I don’t know but i think it would be interesting to see how it turns out</p>
<p>…is this supposed to be funny to lie on your admissions application about your race? i guess it kinda is…if you plan on geting rejected…but why waste the application fee lol.</p>
<p>I don’t see the point. Colleges have been upfront in saying that the URM pool is often assessed differently from the applicants. No one is denying that been URM is helpful in admissions. So you are not proving a thing.</p>
<p>What would be interesting are apps sent to those schools suspected of having an anti Asian bias with double apps, one identifying self as Asian and the having no such identification. One school would not be enough, nor two, you need a statistically significant sample, and one student is probably not enough either to do this properly. One app does not prove anything.</p>