<p>I don’t think it hurts that much, to me it is just a stereotype where ECs are often different for your average Asian-American kid than your average European-American kid. My son is part Asian, and his other Asian friends have the following in common:
- play an instrument at a very high level, state at least
- do not play team sports
- do not work</p>
<p>Anecdotally, his non-Asian friends all:
- play an instrument, but not at a state level
- play team sports, at least two seasons per year
- work at least in the summer and usually during the schoolyear too</p>
<p>If those stereotypes hold out, if you have parents who focus on their kids academics and niche ECs, and then you have parents who push their kids into sports and to have a job, I would say the latter has a better chance to get into college. Sports and working are big pluses, that could be predicted to correlate with European-Americans more than Asian-Americans.</p>
<p>There’s a reason why Jeremy Lin is so popular, his combination of talent and background is rare. You don’t see people writing articles about “wow, a black NBA player!” and how he is a role model for African-American youth.</p>