@hellomate123 The problem is that it was never YOUR spot. This kid sounds far more intelligent than the celebrity kid dolt that sort of attends our local ivy. Maybe that kid took YOUR spot. Just wait until you get to job interviews. Life will really seem unfair then. You knocked your socks off to be the best student that you could be and nothing takes that away from you. Go to your state uni and be brilliant. Make opportunities for yourself. Then climb the food chain and apply to a top grad school. They don’t tatoo your undergrad school on your head. Only your last school matters. Save money and be brilliant.and move forward.
That’s why, while you should work hard to get an education, because that will benefit you later in life, you shouldn’t do stuff you don’t enjoy just for the elusive hope of something that ultimately depends on the whims of others. And if you do stuff that you do enjoy, it won’t seem like work.
@TheHSdude, I see a problem with HS kids not healthily enjoying their HS experience and sacrificing (possibly even in the wrong fashion!) to please the whims of others.
He has a 35 ACT and a 3.7 GPA with minimal work, all while enjoying his life. Seems like he may be smarter than you are giving him credit for.
OP, I hope you didn’t apply only to the 8 Ivies and your state school. There are many great institutions that are not in the Ivy League.
Also, like many other posters I think this comment is incorrect: “this guy is able to choose from so many great options just b/c of his ethnicity.” He is obviously a very good student.
That’s a sorry attitude.
This student’s classmate is his equal. Just because HE assumes the classmate was admitted based on ethnicity doesn’t mean it’s true. To develop a lifelong spiteful attitude against an entire race or ethnic group is foolish; to do it based on an assumption is beyond reason. If that’s, in fact, what he does, he doesn’t deserve whatever college he’s complaining about.
Academically the Hispanic kid is definitely no where near as stellar as the OP. It’s obvious his ethnicity gave him an edge. I don’t see how people can keep trying to justify this. If the results were switched, the same people will be pointing out how the Hispanic kid has done so much more, while the OP is only 1 point above him in ACT.
OP - take your rejection in stride. You are now the member of a club that includes Warren Buffett and Steven Spielberg. Both were rejected by their dream schools (Harvard and USC), ended up at state schools (UNE and Long Beach State), look where they are today. Your future is determined by you, not the school you go to.
What makes you think he took YOUR spot? Even if he’d been rejected from all of those schools, there’s no guarantee that you would have been accepted. It’s unfair of you to blame a classmate because you didn’t get the answers you wanted, and it’s a waste of your time and energy too.
@fallcolors, except that the super-selective colleges weigh far more than just academics.
A few years ago a young woman I know got into Harvard, yet she got rejected by some non ivies. Yes her grades were excellent but she was also an accomplished dancer. That year Harvard wanted to expand their dance offerings even-though they don’t ( If I remember this correctly) have a dance major or minor. She happened to apply on a whim in a year that they were looking for classically trained dancers. She was in. She admits it and so does her mother. Good for her. It was great timing! By the way she took her Harvard degree ( I believe in Art History or some other Humanities) and is dancing in NY. Its all true about the well rounded class.
@fallcolors Oh really, fallcolors? You KNOW “the Hispanic kid” is NOWHERE near OPs level after what? A careful review of his college app? You know nothing at all about that kid or his acheivements except for the few lines OP included which may or may not be accurate.
Is it impossible for people to be gracious?
@fallcolors On the other hand, the classmate may have written essays that indicate a lot more insight.
If ethnicity really gives that much of an edge, there should be a whole lot more URMs getting into elite schools.
countless all nighters in high school? No time to play video games ever or go to any parties? You know school only gets harder as you get further along, right? I pulled literally one all nighter in high school and that was working on college apps (and only because I didn’t work on any of my RD apps after applying early and i got deferred so I had to do all my other apps in 2 weeks).
If the URM was in the same school (and presumably the same socio-economic background) then why did he get the advantage (if any) in admission? I am all for URM or other socio-economically disadvantaged students getting a boost, but it seems that colleges pay lip service to diversity goal and admit URMs in higher socio-economic circles so that they can still maintain good 4 year graduation rates etc.
@johan9423 Maybe the spots for disadvantaged kids went to white kids. Insanely bizarre that people think they can dictate WHO should be allowed in. You’ve decided that only poor Hispanics can get in? Maybe OP wrote a crappy essay and had a limp handed interview. But why bother having humans in admissions when a computer could sort it out.
I have not seen breakdown by socio-economic groups in admissions info. I have seen breakdowns by ethnicity, specifically grouping minorities as A-A, Hispanics, Native-A, etc. I have also seen hooks such as first-gen, etc but never seen white poor/lower-middle class included in any special group. I would appreciate references to any data you are alluding to.
@jchan9423,
- SES can differ a lot even within the same school district. Where I live, 1 of the 2 best school districts includes several towns with the highest home prices in the region. It also includes another town that is more lower-middle class and racially mixed.
- We don’t even know if his race gave him a boost. From what the OP described, if that kid could party all the time and pull off the stats he did, he must be pretty darn smart.
How does being in the same school mean they have the same SES?
Also, students at the same school can still be discriminated against based on race without any regard for socioeconomic status:
http://www.chicagobooth.edu/capideas/spring03/racialbias.html
Two students applying to the same position from the same school could be perceived differently based on the implied race of the name
http://abovethelaw.com/2014/04/proof-that-typos-are-racist/
Maybe certain teachers grade black students’ papers more harshly (without even knowing they are)
http://lawyerscom.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Not-Measuring-up_-The-State-of-School-Discipline-in-Massachusetts.pdf
Students at the same school could receive different punishments for the same offense based on their race.
@gearmom, I said academically, based on the posted stats and ECs, the OP is clearly above the Hispanic kid. You could claim that maybe these schools are looking for other factors such as essays or parental income, but to claim he is better than the OP academically based on the posted stats is really stretching it IMO.
Purpletitan, clearly these schools don’t just consider academics, or the OP would’ve been accepted over the other kid, but to use race as a factor is just plain wrong, any which way anyone tries to justify it.
@johan123 Where the heck is your data? You’ve decided he’s wealthy. Why can’t a wealthy Hispanic or black get admitted. Do you want everyone to judged based on salary? Do we need quotas for income brackets? Does a wealtny Hispanic contribute less to the class than a poor Hispanuc student?