<p>Lowering the standards, apples and oranges, seperate sets of rules. Call it whatever you like. URM’s are treated differently in the admissions game. They have to be. If colleges want underprivileged kids, then colleges cannot expect them to score as highly as rich kids with private tutors. Depending on the situation, I agree, a 26 can be equivalent to a 34. Because colleges are not naive, they realize this and adjust their admissions criteria on a case by case basis.</p>