<p>A possible new application of the Supreme Court decisions on admission preferences: </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/opinion/30kahlenberg.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/opinion/30kahlenberg.html</a></p>
<p>^^We come from southeastern Nigeria. Did you study in Lagos? When were you there? What did you think of our country? </p>
<p>I tend to be more like your husband, though I have no children. I appreciate balance – as long as the concept is not confused with mediocrity.</p>
<p>My dad and husband went to Columbia, in about 1955 and 1985, respectively. Before I met my husband, I would not have known what Columbia was. My dad did not make a big deal of it, other than to say his “doctorate” was unfairly denied because of his thesis. I went to Howard, and was in Maiduguri in 1984.
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"What did you think of our country? </p>
<p>I remember being taken aback, by all the black faces, starting at the airport… I remember even Bazooka joe was black! I remember they thought I could not REALLY be black, but maybe I was from Cameroon. I remember learning about leprosy.I remember men strolling the streets of Lagos with machine guns.</p>
<p>I loved the students there, and can remember being so excited when I had both water AND electricity long enough for ice cubes. I remember loving some chicken we bought on the street. I also remember the borders being closed, and almost not making it out, especially when some of my classmates started talking “smack”.</p>
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<p>Not necessarily</p>
<p>My kids have an Irish surname.</p>
<p>“Not necessarily”</p>
<p>Please elaborate?</p>
<p>^Do I really need to elaborate on that? It’s pretty obvious that not everyone’s name indicates without a doubt that person’s ethnicity. If I told you my name, you wouldn’t be able to guess what race I am.</p>
<p>oh, my god, did you love Nigeria, shrinkrap?
I am from southwestern nigeria. and jamma, we are reading things fall apart in our english class !!! so excited!!!</p>
<p>
Lee.</p>
<p>10char</p>
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</p>
<p>Affirmative action nothing more than racism. In an attempt to make a school more diverse, universities resort to affirmative action to skew statistics by accepting less than stellar minority applicants. More qualified Asian and white students are disadvantaged when compared to URMs with inferior stats due to an uncontrollable variable such as race. Times have changed in America but the idea of punishing certain applicants due to race and rewarding certain races (hispanics, blacks, native americans) is alive and well.</p>
<p>The notion that Asians and Whites are spoiled, rich suburbanites is untrue and stereotypical on certain levels. I’m confused as to what proponents of affirmative action are trying to say. Is it that an impoverished Iraqi or Korean or, gasp, white kid working 40 hours a week should be discriminated against because stereotypically “his people” are rich Long Islanders and “under represented minorities” are all poor students who can’t get through life on their own? Asians and whites have equal chances of being disadvantaged in life compared their URM counterparts. In this case, is the poor Asian or white who pulls themselves up by their own bootstraps who is disadvantaged then the Black, Latino, or Native American whom relies on Affirmative Action to get ahead in life. Don’t get me wrong, a traditionally under represented minority deserves an equal fighting chance, however Affirmative Action isn’t the correct path to achieve this.So why is it that this blatant reverse racism is allowed to continue? Fighting racism with racism is like fighting fire with fire, it is pointless and futile.</p>
<p>I support that colleges create a student body that THEY want. I just wish they didn’t do it based on something as superficial as skin color. Colleges shouldn’t need an excuse or explanation for why they prefer whom. Admissions committees should just select who they want and be done with it.</p>
<p>To my mind, taking skin color into account to disadvantage someone is racist. Likewise, taking skin color into account to advantage someone is equally racist.</p>
<p>This thread probably belongs on the politics forum. </p>
<p>Swgyswgy, let me ask you a question. Are you male? Because if you are, you are currently part of an equivalent “affirmative action” category at most universities in this country. These days if universities were taking the most qualified students without regard for any kind of diversity, a whole lot more of the slots would be going to girls, and a whole lot fewer boys would be getting admissions. Schools want to keep a fairly balanced gender ratio, so most colleges are currently turning away more qualified women in order to accept less qualified men.</p>
<p>So if you are male, you are ranting against something that you and/or some of your buddies benefitting from if you are a current student.</p>
<p>IntParent, Boys are given preference in liberal art colleges whereas girls in technology colleges, to ‘balance’ and avoid being male/female dominated ’ colleges, I guess. We are a long long way from being an ‘unbiased, merit based society’, sigh.</p>
<p>So, I’m half Spanish, and ‘Spain’ is clearly included in the definition of ‘Hispanic.’ My mom speaks Spanish, and her entire side of the family does. We were taught Spanish when we were younger, but I don’t remember any of it. My dad is as white as they come, but I look Spanish. People mistake me for everything… I’ve gotten Lebanese, Turkish, Indian. Point is I’m dark white guy, but I identify with Spanish culture, and I feel as though I was brought up with it. Should I put Hispanic on my application or not?</p>
<p>Edit: this is for grad. school.</p>
<p>Yes Atican you can put Hispanic, but Law School don’t give that much of a boost unless you’re PR or MA. Not sure about other grad schools though.</p>
<p>I’m applying to int’l relations programs.</p>
<p>I’ve been reading some interesting books about anthropology recently. I’ll have to list some of those in the FAQ posts when I next repost this thread. Good luck to everyone applying this year. Now my second son is pondering applying to boarding high schools, so admission season is back at our household.</p>
<p>Mentioning race in college admission is a form of racism</p>
<p>I really cannot understand why Americans are so obsessed with race?</p>