The Asian Disadvantage?

makennacompton
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 17:13:44 +0000

Most have a 50% Caucasian class and 14% Asian class. Problem is, the 14% ceiling no longer reflects the # of Asians in the general US population. That means a white girl can apply for that 25% of the class (more seats) whereas an Asian girl can only apply for the 7% of the class.



Actually, since Asian Americans total less than 6% of the entire U.S. population (Wikipedia), the 14% Asian population in the top schools means that Asians have more opportunity, comparatively. Studies have been done that show that the most over-represented group (versus population) are Jews, and Jews are subsumed in the “Caucasian” statistics of the class. Comparatively, it is harder for a white non-Jew to get into these schools than a white Jew. That’s just facts. One reason the colleges like Jews is that the Jews have a strong tradition of “giving back” and service – meaning, they donate in a BIG way to their colleges. By contrast, Asians are generally not donors (there will be exceptions, of course) – in some way, for many, the name college is no more than a Birkin bag, something to show off class and wealth and prestige. After they pay for that and get it (i.e., graduate), why on God’s earth would they keep paying for it (by donating!)? That’s the cultural disconnect between Asian culture and Jewish culture and the colleges know this and so Jews are over-represented vs. their application numbers (vs. overall population). If Asians want to have higher group acceptance rates, they need to step up their financial commitments to the colleges they graduate from . . . .

I expect this situation applies to the prep school world as well, where prep school prestige is the latest Birkin bag.