Has any ORM ever decided to not say their race on the application for an elite school that doesn’t require interviews (i.e. Middlesex)? I see that there’s a choice to not respond to the question on my application forms and I’m wondering how it’s affected those who’s chances are lowered because of their background. I’m not planning to do anything like that, I’m just curious.
One should assume that AO’s are not stupid. If an applicant has an obviously ethnic surname, parent(s) who were born/received a degree in a foreign country, I think they will figure it out.
Aside from that, I have to think that an applicant that opts out of an interview without a really good excuse will be at a disadvantage come decisions time.
@skieurope You bring up good points. Thank you for that!
The applications are crafted in a way to ask information about race and ethnicity in a round about way.
As pointed out above, the applications ask for your parents full names and where they went to school. I think the common app even asks where your parents were born? Maybe I’m wrong.
But the reason why they ask is to get a fuller picture of your environment. Critics argue these fields in the application are used to discriminate against ORMs.
But the point is that if you leave the race question blank it will be painfully obvious. They will then start to wonder what you have to hide.
It’s better IMHO to just be honest. The entire race issue is beyond your control so don’t try to hide it. It will just make things worse.
Any school that endeavors to have a diverse population as an important component of the school culture will by definition routinely discriminate against virtually every population. That discrimination (often referred to as reverse discrimination) may seem onerous to ORMs/asians and caucasians but these schools wouldn’t be full of smart, interesting and diverse students if they did not pick and choose carefully every year to put together a balanced class. So to @HhopefulFforSsuccess2021 , just be honest because you will likely end up at the best place for you.
@Center, do you really believe schools are discriminating against anyone? When I look at the makeup of every school, Caucasian and Asians seem to makeup almost the entire population of the school. Are you saying that the few minority students who are admitted are there because of reverse discrimination?
@queenmother What I am saying is that in any given year the schools turn down hundreds of qualified students for students that help to create a better balanced class. I.e. a very highly qualified asian student may not be offered admission and a less qualified athlete, legacy, development, minority, geographically interesting applicant etc may be offered admission. So the proverbial “reverse discrimination” applies very widely. So no I am not saying that minority students are admitted because of reverse discrimination I am saying that there are tons of qualified students that are rejected in favor of possibly lesser qualified applicants that fulfill other needs of the school.
Right. So it is not discrimination. It is choosing someone that better meets a need.
Discrimination is a loaded word of course. One could argue that asians and caucasians that are denied admittance in favor of technically lesser qualified applicants are being discriminated against. Choosing someone that “better meets a need” is the very essence of race based quotas and affirmative action. In these cases however, the “damages” are against advantaged applicants so no one fusses too much. But in fact that is why the OP asked the question.
What happens when qualified students that are not Caucasian or Asian are denied admittance for lesser qualified non minority students? Are they being discriminated against? What about when students who need financial aid are denied admission and are more qualified than a full pay student who is admitted? Are they being discriminated against because the may be poor? This could go on for any group. They are not being discriminated against they just did not met the identified need of the school. When I look at every single school the majority of all students are Caucasian followed by Asian. It would probably be in the OP’s favor to identify as one of those ethnicities as they are the groups more likely to gain admissions.
@queenmother yes they are . What if the identified need of a school was to be all white or all black? If the OP stated she was a member of an ethnicity that was false, that would be lying.
It would be discriminatory if the schools was looking for ALL white or ALL black because they would be excluding everyone that did not belong to that group. As it stands, the schools have some guidelines of the students they would like to accept. They want GPA’s within a certain average. They want SSAT or ISEE scores within a certain average. They want kids that have something else to offer them that they need. Those needs change from year to year. Those averages may even change from year to year. If you happen to fit the needs of the school in the year that you apply then they may accept you. If not they won’t. You were not discriminated against, because they needed a baseball pitcher and his scores were less that yours. I think people get caught up in scores and grades as though that is all a school looks at. It is not. It is just a pieces of the puzzle. They want more and will accept someone who can give them that. Still when the schools start denying admission to every Asian and every Caucasian then it is fair to say they are being discriminatory. As I said, practically every boarding school is majority Caucasian and Asian. It would be in the OP’s favor to identify that way.
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