<p>and that justifies it? Because it’s still hard to get in?</p>
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<p>omg, wow…</p>
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that’s honestly not that bad, the gpa is good, the sat scores just seem a lot lower than say a 2100, but if you think about it per section it’s not that bad, like a low 600 in each? i’m not saying that’s mit material but it’s just some perspective. the course rigor in those classes and the high school also make a big difference. anyway, what do you guys think the boost is for middle eastern, if any?</p>
<p>Nobody said anything about justification, username. But some people need to realize that being black doesn’t guarantee acceptance into a top school.</p>
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<p>OMGWTHBBQ kthnx</p>
<p>I guess you just don’t know your math very well.</p>
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<p>None, they’re considered white.</p>
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i’m not sure i understand what you’re getting at</p>
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strange considering some of those countries are in africa, and if diversity is the issue they are a smaller minority than blacks and hispanics</p>
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<p>Nobody said it did.</p>
<p>GPA is like meaningless, so a good GPA shouldn’t cover for bad SATs.</p>
<p>if only everyone saw gpa that way username, but unfortunately schools put far more stock in it</p>
<p>GPA is not meaningless.</p>
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This is scary when you consider that African-American applicants generally have significantly lower statistics than Asian-American and white applicants.</p>
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well it’s not meaningless, but it’s not exactly meaningFUL either, it’s subject to quite a bit of bias, and there are many factors that can influence it’s outcome and make a strong applicant seem weaker than he/she is. as for being “african american” most have no ties to africa at this point, while others from south africa, north africa, and parts of the middle east can be legit. from africa but of lighter skin and considered not “african american” this isn’t really a “diversity” issue</p>
<p>^So, just to clarify, if one of your parents is a recent immigrant from Africa(but while still being born in America), one would be considered African American(like myself?)</p>
<p>Those with no recent immigrant status would be cosidered ‘black’.</p>
<p>The term African American can be used to classify all “black” people. Most if not all “black” people have ancestry from Africa. Black American means that both your parents were born in America and so were their parents and so on(recent). Like you stated above.</p>
<p>African American can be used to classify people that are immigrants from Africa, but have gained citizenship status in America. For example my parents were born in Africa and they are American citizens so they are African American. Even though I was born in American, I still consider myself African American, not black American. Its sort of weird, but either works essentially.</p>
<p>Sometimes verbal conflict arises between African Americans and Black Americans. Some African Americans don’t want to be associated with Black Americans. There is a dispute between the two and some Africans and other Blacks take offense to these classifications. Its more of a culture issue.</p>
<p>Thats why usually, universities put African American/Black or something like that.</p>
<p>i think that you should be considered african american if one or both parents is from africa, but after that it’s a stretch and any african part of you is pretty dilute, idk a grandparent or two may be acceptable, but the census bureau classifies it as a socioeconomic thing, so even if a person was african and black if your not in the right economic bracket you’re not african according to the gov.</p>
<p>^ That’s just not true lol. It doesn’t matter your income bracket.
“A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as “Black, African Am., or Negro,” or provide written entries such as African American, Afro American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian.” That’s the official Census Bureau definition. That’s obviously very broad. But I think for most, it’s if you would call yourself ‘black’. If you are black, check the box. If you are not, don’t. Usually no one questions whether or not they are black. Like Entertainer said, many ‘African-Americans’ don’t consider themselves ‘black’. Black implies ties to slavery in America.</p>
<p>ok so i ovrsimplified, but it says african american/ black, so i think it goes beyond “you’re black” “you’re not” because as i’ve said, egyptians etc…=african, but also =not black</p>
<p>Racial check-boxes should be abolished altogether to increase the fairness of admission process. Today, where noboby is forbidden to ride a bus, to own property in certain neighborhood or to take any job or marriage based on ethnic screening and segregation, it doesn’t make sense anymore to keep this self-segregation exercise.</p>
<p>Geez, even Obama reached the position of POTUS, we don’t need anything more to “empower” or “advance” any particular ethnic group. I know this is part of the greater debate of abolishing AA for good, but while the time for it doesn’t come, at least Universities should stop focusing and race and increase focusing on effects of wealth disparity - which happens to be more prevalent in so-called URM.</p>
<p>If this action were taken, minorities’ poor members would still benefit, because minorities are disproportional represented in lower income strata. At the same time, minorities’ elite children would lost their huge advantage they now have. AA has become, to much extent, a shortcut for minorities’ elite to push up their children at expenses of poor or disvantaged low middle class whites. I doubt that for a family who makes $ 500+ K/yr life is any more difficult because you are, say, Hispanic and not “White Caucasian”.</p>
<p>If you got the money, you can give good education to your children. There’s no longer any off-limits schools or prep schools in base of ethnic background.</p>
<p>eurograd: This is has been discussed to death. I hope we all have agreed to disagree.</p>
<p>crimson: It still has nothing to do with income bracket. And yea the system is confusing, but for most people it is a simple question of whether you are ‘black’ (roots to slavery) or not. If you American born, even from Africa, you would be considered African-American/Black. If you were born in Africa, have roots to tribes in Africa, as long as you have citizenship here you are an African-American, even if you do not consider yourself ‘black’. If you are mixed, pick whichever you identify with most. If society would not percieve you as a ‘black’ person (i.e. white South African) and you have no roots to slavery or to the TRIBES of Africa (again, white South African), you can not in good conscience classify yourself as ‘Black/AA’. I think the ‘/’ is implying they should be interchangable. So if you are ‘technically’ African-American, but certainly not black, don’t check it. </p>
<p>All of this is optional in college admissions, so if you really don’t like it, just don’t check anything. It’s simple.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. Don’t check anything, but I think colleges realize that the majority of students that are unreported are probably white or asian students that feel that they will be denied or have severely lower chances if they do check the box that corresponds with their race. However universities and colleges have no way of checking so they probably treat these applicants fairly. Now the majority of people check the box that they identify closely with.</p>
<p>Black means that you have ties to slavery.</p>
<p>African American can mean two things: That your parents are immigrants from Africa and that they have become American citizens or you have ancestry(most) in Africa. For example my parents are from Africa, and I was born in the U.S, but I identify myself as African American because all of the generations before me were African immigrants. Some blacks identify themselves as African Americans, based on their ancestry, but most African American’s won’t identify themselves as Black Americans. </p>
<p>This has nothing to do with income brackets at all. Because there can’t be classifications for most black people from other countries, African American is the universal term. Jamaicans, Haitians and Africans usually classify themselves as African American. Those born here with ties to slavery in the U.S classify themselves, as Jay said, as Black American.</p>
<p>I would like to point out that Black Americans feel that African Americans owe them for basically taking advantage of what they strived to achieve(equality). That is the ongoing dispute. They want African Americans to pay their respect, but African Americans don’t see it that way. Just some FYI.</p>
<p>Race creates imbalance, although this imbalance translates to serious class issues. I think race in college admissions will loosen up as time goes on, but until these inequalities cease to exist, then affirmative action will probably stay put.</p>
<p>i agree on some things, disagree on others. here is what the census says “These categories are sociopolitical constructs and should not be interpreted as being scientific or anthropological in nature. Furthermore, the race categories include both racial and national-origin groups.” then they go on to contradict themselves and say “White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as “White” or report entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish.” so now coming from about 25% of the land mass of africa doesn’t make you african american because they include middle east (egypt) and north africa as white. i agree with jayay that if you have ties to african ancestry you should be african american, but only if you have legit. history there. having ancestors that tried to colonize does not count. on the other hand jayay, go google libyan people, egyptian people, western saharan people, clearly not european, but clearly not black. now i ask you, not african either? i think they are.</p>
<p>on a separate note, entertainer, be careful, they can check, thsoe fb myspace and twitter pages where you can become a fan of the university, or friend it etc… they can now look into your fb profile or whathaveyou, pictures, posts, and the like. and the ss # they request on the fin. aid forms and applications can and are used for background checks, so be careful what you give them. as for not checking a white or asian box, it’s fairly easy to determine whether or not they are white or asian with come certainty, a name like brian smith is very likely a white boy, and names like christopher lee or aakash patel are probably asian and indian boys respectively. you also contradict yourself entertainer,j you say black means ties to slaery, but there are blacks in england, france, and spain with no ties to it at all. at that point they are black so no one will deny them the black/ aa box, but they do not fit your criteria, but on the other hand they can’t really check white european. i also disagree that black means ties to slavery. it is equally as hard today to live in africa as it was to be a slave 150 or so years ago. there are innumerable cases of rape, murder, genocide, and other unspeakable crimes that happen every day. it’s not slavery, but it is tyranny and oppression nonetheless. i think the africans deserve aa as much as any black here, at least as much as anyone can deserve aa. as for my comment about a socioeconomic structure, i misspoke. i meant sociopolitical as i quoted from the census bureau above.</p>
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<p>I understand what you mean about corruption and oppression in Africa, but it’s just such a typical view that people have of Africa. Africa has the highest rates of urbanization of any continent. There are large metropolises in Africa. There are wealthy Africans, there are middle class Africans. And even ones who are not in these groups don’t like it when Africa is seen as this monolithic “Dark Continent” full of oppression. If you look at any entire continent of course innumerable unspeakable crimes happen everyday. Asia has major ongoing crimes against the people (think or Burma) but does anyone ever say it’s as hard to live in Asia as it was to be a slave in America? No, because no one ever regards Asia as all being the same. Saying that living in Africa is tantamount to being a slave is highly insulting.</p>