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So, being from an economically disadvantage background is the first criterion. Being able to work hard in college is the second criterion. Since the standardized test is highly dependent on your growing-up environment and your zip code/school district or how educated your parents are, the standardized test score is not a good measure for the academic merit of the students from this kind of background so we need ro give them some break on this test. Too many “academically good enough” students may be weeded out if we use the same standard for everybody.</p>
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Have you heard of the word “loophole”? I heard of a case that a student whose parents can afford the expensive private music lessons for 10 years and live in a nice school district, and can still be qualified for the QuestBridge program.</p>
<p>A few years ago, any students from any flagship university were automatically not qualified for JAMP. Maybe some politicians have decided to make a change to please their constituents since then.</p>
<p>BTW, many of URMs (esp. competitive ones) at many top colleges are actually children of not-so-poor and/or educated new immigrants – that is exactly the reason why they instead of others were able to immigrate to US in the first place. But they happen to belong to a certain ethnic group, and the colleges value their diversified backgrounds.</p>