<p>wouldn’t it be “afghani?” whatever. i think it just depends on how you toss that out, you know?</p>
<p>say you presented yourself as the next jhumpa lahiri – harvard will note that. but say you absolutely shunned your eclectic culture, different from the sometimes banal culture that harvard has repeatedly about – harvard will note that.</p>
<p>but good luck, regardless.</p>
<p>I have a question. Do you think that if something was missing from our file until recently they wil still evaluate the application for admission? The reason is that my school report was “missing” even though i had sent it in, but the problem was that the Yale status page does not list the items until before Jan. 20 and so my counselor sent it in last friday with the midyear report and I did the over night thing so it should be there now. But the Yale status still has it as missing. Will this hurt my chances for admission if they are only receiving it now?</p>
<p>personally – i would say no. it is the school’s fault that they didn’t get it prepared in time – unless you were supposed to send it in. but even then, i think the adcoms give they’re (reasonable) applicants slips once in a while. why else, do you think, would colleges say they will send you an email in late february if something is missing from your file – i think its because they (at least the good schools) want to truly see a complete portrayal of you.</p>
<p>good luck db.</p>
<p>Thanks, I sent it in a while ago and my other schools received it but Yale didn’t. I wonder how far along they are with applications, they couldn’t be done yet, could they?</p>
<p>i hope not. i still haven’t even gotten my eli account.</p>
<p>Uh…prophet…Jhumpa Lahiri is of Bengali origin…and she was born in England and raised here…Oh, also, while as a term of nationality it is correct to say “Afghani, cf : Israeli, Pakistani, Yemeni, etc…”, as an ethnic label, you would use “Afghan”.</p>
<p>@ the afghan: Who can say? I know a child soldier from Liberia that was rejected, but apparently a former spokesman of the Taliban studied at Yale.</p>
<p>If you haven’t recieved confirmation of your app being in (interview/email/or Eli Account), you should probably contact Yale.</p>
<p>In any case, I would contact them just to have the Eli Account.</p>
<p>They’ve been having some problems with the material receipt page…If you’re positive you’ve sent everything (you can get return receipts from the post office when you send things), you should be okay.</p>
<p>LOL collegehopeful “@that afghan”.
im american but both my parents came here from afghanistan.
the reason im asking is that before i sent in my application i had a meeting with my guidance counselor and we went over my entire application. I have activities like Student council, model un, social studies club, latin club, and multicultural club. but i also listed other activities im involved in outside schools that all related to my ethnicity and religion such as Muslim student association, Mosque youth group, midwest afghan community, Afghan relief charity organization. And my guidance counselor said that there is a chance that some admissions officers may not respond well to my “other activities” because there are many people who are still very close-minded towards middle-easterners.</p>
<p>Middle eastern == terrorist, muslim=terrorist, jk about the last part :)</p>
<p>I’ve already had my interview, but still no Eli account. Harrumph!</p>
<p>Well, no fear, because Afghanistan isn’t in the Middle East! It’s South Asia!</p>
<p>Lol…But yeah, I mean, I understand where your counselor is coming from, and honestly, If you were applying to a Baptist affiliated university in the South, they might “take your activities into extra consideration”.</p>
<p>At an ivy, you’ll be fine. In fact, I remember something about a specifically Muslim officer being on admissions at Yale…and YES, a quick Google search confirms my (Yes…I’m going to boast here), recollection of an article I read in October.
[Yale</a> Daily News - First Muslim admissions officer settles in](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/25536]Yale”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/25536)</p>
<p>Don’t worry!</p>
<p>@Debate: </p>
<p>"It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims. …</p>
<p>We cannot tolerate in our midst those who abduct journalists, murder civilians, explode buses; we cannot accept them as related to us, whatever the sufferings they claim to justify their criminal deeds. These are the people who have smeared Islam and stained its image."</p>
<p>-Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, GM of Al-Arabiyah.</p>
<p>c-hope, you misconstrued my remarks – but if my poor writing was the reason for the misunderstanding, i apologize.</p>
<p>the point was that the afghan is afghani; he/she has a culture that is astoundingly different from that of those in pennsylvania or texas. his/her upbringing is a stark contrast from that of many “western” – if you will – traditions. the fact that jhumpa lahiri was born in bangladesh is irrelevant to the point of my post. i know she is bengali, and that she was raised in england and america; i merely used her as an example because she – like the afghan – was raised in a unique way. not that “americans” are raised in a culturally bland society, but foreigners are raised in a different way than “americans.”</p>
<p>if the afghan had focused – even slightly – on his cultural differences, on his ability or lack of assimilating into america, on how he balanced calling himself an “afghani american,” harvard – i am sure – would notice, just like cornell noticed the brilliance of nabokov (from russian) or minfong ho (from china). if, however, the afghan had completely shrouded his afghani heritage, portraying himself as nothing different than his school friends, harvard would also notice. jhumpa lahiri did not become famous because she ignored the effects of “Pranab Kaku” (from “Hell-Heaven”) or her mother on her upbringing; she became famous by assimilating herself into society, creating a new culture, and yet never forgetting where she came from. like nabokov, like khalid hosseini, she bridged worlds through her writing – a world from which she came (bangladesh), and a world which she now called home (america).</p>
<p>sorry i used a lot of “himselves” and “his.” i tried to keep it gender neutral in the beginning, but i’m not – obviously – that good at writing.</p>
<p>sorry this got out of hand length-wise. but what else is a brother do when he can’t get through to the brother in you?</p>
<p>Well said, prof. I love Nabokov, by the way. Lol.</p>
<p>I just called Yale by the way, guys. Prof., hookem, etc., don’t worry too much – they said if you haven’t received any form of communication from Yale until February 7th, DO NOT CALL THEM ASKING QUESTIONS.</p>
<p>So let’s just keep our fingers crossed until the 7th. After that, let’s gang-call them. Haha. That sounded so strange.</p>
<p>AND OMG, I LOVE KHALID HOSSEINI.</p>
<p>Kite Runner is like my favorite book of all time. Way to rank him up with the other authors, Prof. I guess it does make sense though, since we’re talking about Afghanistan and all. Whatever. I’m from Texas, lol. Don’t mess with Texas Prof. Jk, jk.</p>
<p>GOOD LUUUUUCKKKKKKKKKK!!!</p>
<p>@The Prophet (notice the capitalisation):</p>
<p>Well said, and noted.</p>
<p>Oh, and speaking of Afghanistan; Everyone come and learn Dari/Pashto with me!</p>
<p>Dari is close enough to Farsi (I mean…REALLY close) that it’s intelligible, and the other half of Afghanistan is essentially all Pashtun. (Or at least speaks that language)</p>
<p>I see Arabic becoming less important as American foreign policy decidedly shifts closer to Iran and Afghanistan/Pakistan (so we should learn Urdu too!)</p>
<p>Who’s up for it?!</p>
<p>Ok let me rephrase lol… I am an afghan-american. (not afghani-american)(oh and im a guy)
and in one of my essays i wrote about how I’ve grown up as a “typical” american since i’m the only muslim and afghan in my class but how afghan/islamic culture has influenced my life. my point in writing my original post was to make sure that my chances wouldnt be hurt…and from what you all have been saying…I think my chances may be a little better.
oh and the kite runner was pretty awesome. the book is also a very acurate portrayal of afghan life and the racism between all the different ethnic groups.</p>
<p>i just read ur post collegehopeful.
i might just take u up on ur challenge. i first learned to speak dari because my parents speak it with one another. however they worked/school most my childhood so i spent a lot of time with my grandparents and they taught me pashto. however when i went to school i fell in love with english lol and now i can barely speak either pashto or dari…but i still understand them pretty well.
And ur right about the shift from arabic…pashto is very in demand…the us government now pays $250,000 a year for pashto translators.
and oh yeah dari and farsi are VERY close…the main differences i’ve noticed are accents and verb conjugations.</p>
<p>Yeah, My parents both speak Urdu (well, truthfully, they both speak Hindi, but grew up in Muslim neighborhoods, and so they speak the Persianised register you get in Pakistan anyway), and because I ended up speaking English all the time, I’ve been left only with the ability to understand it…Sigh.</p>
<p>Yeah, like, right now I’m going slowly with Sanskrit, slowly with French, and (more) slowly with Icelandic, but I’ve found that if one goes slow and steady, the learning is just the same, and you don’t get confused.</p>
<p>I don’t speak much Dari/Farsi (yet), but yeah, the accent always throws me a little bit.
I’m trying to get my brain to parse it in the same way I can mimic/understand an English accent, even though I’m an American.</p>
<p>Also, there was this really quiet press release from the State Dept. about a special visa class to lure speakers of politically sensitive languages to the U.S.
I plan on enlisting/doing ROTC, and I can imagine just how awesome the DLI is going to be as a result.</p>
<p>Oh, and about your essay:</p>
<p>Yeah, I wouldn’t worry too much. In the thing where it asked us to talk about what we’re most thankful for (I think it’s something like that, I’ll have to look to see the question verbatim…) I mentioned that I was thankful I was brought up in my religion, but also that my extended family was able to leave Afghanistan because of religion.</p>
<p>(As you may have guessed by that, my family is Hindu, and my extended family ((Living in Kabul during the 90’s)) got the HECK out)</p>
<p>that was a good call on their part, man. those people were going crazy back then – sadly, a lot of people are crazy today, too.</p>
<p>whatever, the world has some chill muslims too like akon, chammillionaire, and talib kweli. legends.</p>