I had a perfect ACT 36 and a perfect SAT 800 subject test and straight As through high school, so, uh, it was hardly “an affirmative action type way.”
@binlee . Congratulations on your scores. That’s great. I’m sure soon you will also see the world is big and there are a lot of people who also achieved those scores. So I am not entirely understanding the purpose of your post or response. I just asked what the basis of the program was; it was answered that it was for multicultural diversity students. Therefore it isn’t geared toward non minority students. So one of your soon to be classmates who also scored perfects on standardized tests who is not an URM would not be the target of this program. This seems to be the purpose of the program so I don’t understand your upset? Perhaps your upset should be geared toward Vanderbilt as they are the ones who set the criteria. Ask them to adjust the criteria to reflect 100 % merit based achievement without regard for any other factors. Seems sensible to me.
Actually not:
http://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/MultipleChoiceStemComposite.pdf
Just a hunch, but I’m guessing the “affirmative action” term caused the reaction. So, additional condescending comments aren’t really helpful.
I agree with @elena13. Even then the target of the program is not only to target URMs, it’s to build and showcase a diverse community. I am a straight Asian male and got an invite, so I wouldn’t suggest using the term “affirmative action” as a way to justify your inability to revive an invite.
D17 is not URM, and she was invited to Mosaic as a Chancellor Scholar. She has good stat, National Merit Scholar, but not perfect (1550). She gave up other higher ranked schools (MIT, U Chicago, Duke, etc) to attend Vandy. She has scholar (both Chancellor and CV) friends who were admitted to Ivys, but like her chose to attend Vandy.
Therefore, I don’t think Chancellor scholars are necessarily less academic. All the scholarships are recruiting tools for Vandy to keep those desired students from attending other schools.
With test scores in the 100th percentile, I’d be 100% fine with that. 
@binlee I’m not sure what you so upset about. Getting great scores is admirable but it’s not the end all… I have two (2) children who both scored perfect SAT. 1600 . They both attend(ed) top ivy schools. Hardly anyone knows what they scored on their SAT. They are quite humble. So congratulations, my point was simply it’s a long road and as I always told them your as good as your last test or last game or whatever…they never rested on their past accomplishments.
As per the Mosiac description, I went later on the Vanderbilt website and in several official Vanderbilt documents it stated Mosiac was a program and weekend for minority, culturally diverse and rural geographic students. I am unable to find anywhere on the Vanderbilt site that it is a program open to all. So not fitting into one of those criteria obviously seems it would exclude people without regard to any degree of academic or talent based achievement. Again don’t shoot the messenger, it’s directly available on the college website.
PADude, perhaps it is not your intention but you seem to be inferring that students invited to Mosaic have lower academic standards, when there is much evidence to the contrary. Just about every school has programs to increase their goal of diversity, so it is correct that the Mosaic program is closed to some groups of students. However that does not mean that the students invited do not meet the high standards of academic and talent based achievement that Vandy requires of all its students. Students who have attended have posted very competitive academic scores.
Just received my Mosaic invitation in the mail yesterday … didn’t see the email until today in the “promotions” section (i.e., spam) of my gmail. As a result I’ll miss out on the three-day event. I’m super excited but there’s no change to my portal. I have an email into my regional rep to confirm it means I’m accepted. Also, I wasn’t able to submit applications to the signature scholarships and I’m wondering if, now that I’m hopefully admitted, I can still apply for merit aid. Def a financial stretch for my family.
@River65 not my intention at all. Actually if you read the thread this started with me asking what was Mosiac… someone answered…I then researched it and stated only what the university put in their own website. So I make no inferences. Perhaps some don’t like the connotation of the term affirmative action however it is a term used in the writings and legal opinions of the US supreme Court , academic scholars in sociology etc…so if to some that terms had a negative connotation then apologies however it is a widely used term and doesn’t intend negativity. Perhaps 9n a new politically correct climate new terminology is coming to the surface such as cultural diversity or ethnic mosiacism. So my answer intends no exclusionary intent. What I am having some issue with is the fact that people apply for a program which is exclusive to a set group and then later act as if it isn’t in fact exclusionary and that as if the program was open to and they competed against all peers. That simply isn’t true…Are the awardees bright, deserving, and someday successfully…answer is YES… But are they being rated against Evey single applicant to the university? No.
If there is string evidence otherwise I certainly am open to being better informed.
You don’t apply for MOSAIC. You apply to Vanderbilt and then admissions chooses who’s invited. I think it was @northwesty whose son was invited as a diversity-oriented white kid from the suburbs (I could be wrong!). It’s not “exclusive to a set group.” Read up more on MOSAIC before making assumptions.
@rosemaryandthyme below is copied directly from Vandy website.
“MOSIAC is part of Vanderbilt’s effort to develop and maintain a campus community of ethnic diversity and cultural understanding. OUA selects students for MOSAIC who will contribute to this effort and then connects those students to the multicultural opportunities on campus. The selection process involves many of the factors considered in the admissions process.”
Perhaps you may want to" read up more " before discounting someone’s opinion?
@PAdude This is what you said, which is incorrect. "What I am having some issue with is the fact that people apply for a program which is exclusive to a set group and then later act as if it isn’t in fact exclusionary and that as if the program was open to and they competed against all peers. "
There is no applying for the program. I was suggesting you read more about the MOSAIC selection process before alleging people apply for it.
Got it…I bow out of the thread. It seems I’m being painted in an incorrect light. Again my information comes only from the Vanderbilt websites.
I feel this world is full of incredibly smart people, people from all races, religions, and cultural ethnicities. It’s my opinion that if the colleges really want diversity then simply lower the cost of education make applying and attending a reality to all and then take the best students…diversity will happen organically because there are incredibly smart people in all African Americans, whites,Asians,Muslims, Jewish, Christian, wealthy and low income groups. I feel these colleges artificially try to build a class. I’m not sure of there purpose other then to look good on a public relations front…
Stop charging 75k/yr dollars to learn basic chemistry, math etc…all stuff that actually is free online… I simply don’t buy into it…and actually my view is anything but exclusionary or with any type of racist overtones…just the opposite I believe brilliant people come from all walks of life…I am just saying treat all applicants blindly, don’t ask about sex, race, income, zip code etc… simply review academic achievement, essays and personal statement and if you do this blindly you will find you have a natural diverse population in your school. …One person’s view…
Does everyone who gets invited to Mosaic get a scholarship or do some get invited without?
If anyone is going to MOSAIC next week, I just made a GroupMe that you can join. Like this message and I’ll send the link 
Mosaic canceled. So sad.
Where did you hear that Mosaic was cancelled (and I assume you mean the weekend gathering not the program itself)?
AAAAND now they’ve cancelled it 