<p>While this is not true for all URMs, they do generally have significantly lower test scores and first year grades than those of their peers ([News:</a> Testing for ‘Mismatch’ - Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/20/mismatch]News:”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/20/mismatch)). Though the average Duke student is not the same as the average Yalie (or HPer, I suspect that the results would be similar given that the Espenshade and Chung study also found similar standardized testing score disparities. </p>
<p>That being said, auto-assuming that a URM got into an elite school merely because he was a URM is unfair to the URM since it is judging a person’s competence by his color.</p>
<p>^ There may be less of a score discrepancy at HYPS, in the sense that qualified URMs are grabbed by HYPS in committee, while the rest of the qualified students are more spread out across the top 10-15 schools.</p>
<p>i think urm’s aren’t given enough credit. i don’t want to sound racist, but honestly on average many of them receive substandard scores on standardized tests. but those are not the ones applying to yale etc… i personally know several who had flawless gpa’s at a very prestigious high school. three of them went to princeton unviersity, one went to dartmouth, and the one who went to dartmouth went to princeton for grad. school. so while many score below average the qualified ones really are qualified. the boost comes from the fact that there are fewer highly qualified urm’s so when there is one he/she really stands out</p>
<p>That is soo true for even higher acceptance rate schools! At my school, a local college took many of their freshman from my high school. Now, 1/10 kids are getting in.</p>
<p>If in a given year a college accepts say…9? kids from your school, and only one actually chooses to go there then they get suspecious.<br>
It means that the kids applying there are using it as a backup and getting into better schools, so they starts accepting less and less kids from that school every year. </p>
<p>Trut me this happens at my school ALL the time. Last year Northeastern accepted 8 kids from my school, but no one actually went. This year they only accepted 2 and both went. And trust me its not like the kids got dumber, because the school i go to is still in the top 50in the nation.</p>
<p>idk, i don’t actually believe that because the majority of kids from my school use rutgers as a safety school. in the last 5 years 1542/1923 kids have been accepted and i don’t see any falling numbers. also if on is not applying to stern one might use nyu as a safety, but those kids are much smarter</p>
<p>All the kids at my school apply to Emory as a safety (yeah, high standards). It’s extremely annoying because about 30 will apply and usually only 1 or 2 actually go. It really angers me because Emory is actually one of my top choices, and I geniunely want to go there. Sigh, unnecessary competition.</p>
<p>URM’s definitely get a better chance. I knew a guy at my high school with a 2.5 GPA (no ECs, besides the yearbook) and he got into Fordham. Another girl with like a 3.5 GPA and no ECs besides being cheer captain got into Harvard. Both are african american.</p>
<p>At my school, the kids wanted to go to the local college, but they weren’t accepted. The one girl who was accepted got better aid at another school that she also liked, naturally she went with the better aid. </p>
<p>It goes to show that local colleges don’t favor local students all the time.</p>
<p>dang ghalla that sucks. emory is a mad legit. school, i can hardly believe people consider it safety. but some kids at my school who are pretty smart use william and mary, franklin and marshall, bu, bc, and rutgers as some common safeties. i think your classmates are overreaching by using emory as a safety, i really doubt the number 18 school in the country can legitimately be anyone’s safety.
fordham is an ok school, but you don’t need to be super qualified to get in, maybe he had sports? the 3.5 going to harvard kind of makes me angry, but again maybe sports? there were a few girls from my school who got recruited for cheerleading.</p>
<p>My school is 60% black and most of the black students are in sub-honors classes and perform very poorly when it comes to standardized tests. I don’t live in a low-income neighborhood either, so there really isn’t an excuse for poor performance. I think URM’s, especially African Americans are given a “boost” for a reason. A 3.5 compared to other African American students is amazing. Most black students don’t get GPA’s above a 3. Most are involved in sports because they think that’s the only way “out.” The average African American SAT score is a 1280. Ridiculous, but true. Harvard and other prestigious schools put URM’s in perspective to their counterparts. If an African American scores a 1900, that stands out. It shows that they were able to overcome “adversity.” </p>
<p>I understand why people have a false sense of security, especially about “under-qualified” URM’s getting into Harvard, Yale, etc… but the students that eventually get in those schools stand out against people of their own race. You have to give the URM’s that strive for excellence the credit they deserve. Because unlike most, they realized that education is the best way to succeed.</p>
<p>Yar, a University of Michigan math professor was talking to me the other day about how she runs a mandatory summer math program for incoming college freshmen. The only reason these kids got in was because they were the top 1% of their respective high schools. Some of them scored <20 on the ACT. One person reportedly scored a 14 on the Math section on the ACT. They can barely add fractions together, yet they got accepted into one of the top universities in the country. Why? Because they were URMs, and U of M loves diversity =P</p>
<p>So yes, for some places, being an “average” (compared to non-URMs) URM is really an “I-Win” button</p>
<p>It seems that a growing number of URM’s just perform poorly on standardized tests. I’m not sure of the reason. I mean I got accepted to U-M with below average stats in comparison to the entire Michigan student body, but I was qualified in other areas. I think I was definitely given some “boost.” I know if an Asian or White person applied with my stats, they would have been rejected on the spot.</p>
<p>Michigan is a different story because the university tries to reach out to low-income areas of the detroit metropolitan area in hopes to find a few number of minorities that have performed well in their respective schools. They may not be the brightest or have the test scores, but they stood out in their poorly funded and low quality high schools.</p>
<p>Wow you guys. i think those were the 4 most honest posts i’ve ever seen. it’s all absolutely true. end of story. i think most people don’t say it for fear of being labeled a racist. i think that it’s good that they stood out, but i don’t think for a <20 act score they went out of their way to try and achieve. i think they were the ones that actually showed up for the act. diversity is fine and everything, but it often comes at the expense of those who put in a lot more work to get where they are,</p>
<p>And you know the average African American score from where…?</p>
<p>It’s a bit disturing that people think so lowly of URM/legacies/so on and so forth getting into sch0ools just because fo their status. I’m all for AA, as long as it’s reaasonable.</p>
<p>In other wortds, a hispanic student should not get accepted into Harvard for having a 2.1 GPA, and 1000 combined SAT score. However, if they had slightly below the average sscores and GPA, I’d say let them in. They may not be average, but I’'m sure they’d be able to handle the coursework at these schools. Andm, they’d be more motivated to stay in school, unlike some of the ‘smart’ people who go crazy with freedom and drop out. </p>
<p>URM’s know better, because it’s one of the few opportunities offered to them.</p>
<p>I don’t know any URM’s who are saying they don’t have to work hard in order to get into a top school! I know I’m not!
I love how it’s all the non-URM’s who assume people think this way.</p>
<p>@ JAJ: A hispanic student with those stats would not get into Harvard. AA or not. That’s not a realistic scenario. Like someone said, it’s not an ‘insta-win’. They have to be able to handle the work.</p>
<p>It was greatly exxaggerated, but the point is that just because I’m black doesn’t mean I can just apply for Harvard and Yale with a 3.5 GPA and 1730 SAT. If I had maybe a 3.7 GPA and 2200, then maybe. It may be below the standard, but tapparently that is ‘expected’ of URM’s…</p>
<p>Exactly. Im AA, have a 3.9, strong ECs etc… but until I raise my SATs by 300 points, I cant just apply anywhere.
Because there is the stereotype that people expect less from URMs, I personally work hard to excel and to prove them wrong.</p>