All the people who suffer from Elite Insitution Cognititve Disorder (EICD)
@Lift35 Colleges will know that you are a good writer if your app essays are good. A sample of your writing is worth way more than a subjective number.
I hate that some colleges require all ACT scores to be submitted, not just the highest score. You have to pay ACT for each individual score (can’t remember the cost but it was somewhere around $13-15 for each score report for each school). At least with the SAT, you could just send one to each school and it was often super scored). Costs are high enough. I thought this was ridiculous. Oh yeah, and to allow you 4 free scores BEFORE you actually see the score, so of course if you choose to wait, you have to pay for it. It doesn’t cost ACT/SAT anything to electronically send the score. Why should students be penalized if they want to wait and see if the score is worthy of sending. This seems to penalize the less fortunate kids (moneywise and scorewise).
Something that bothers me is the how some people only take AP classes for the sake of getting in to a good school but actually do not care about the subject. For example, one of my friends told me that he hates english yet he is still taking AP Composition this year. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I wish more people spent less time trying to impress colleges by crafting together what they think will make them the perfect candidate and spend more time actually taking classes that they will enjoy and pursue their true interests.
SAY: “you obviously aren’t familiar with the UC’s. It is complete nonsense to believe that they don’t use URM status though they have become experts at doing it obtusely. UC has many tricks but the biggest is the transfer game which allows students with 400-500 point lower SAT’s to gain admission as transfers. The freshman URM have SAT’s well below the Asians that are admitted. This has been very thoroughly dissected many times before so I’m not going to go over it again”
Some of you will not be convinced that AA in CA public unis is over until the #s of admitted African Americans is practically nil (like the .8% number at Cal Poly SLO). In your minds, if 3% are still making it in under prop 209, race-based AA must still be operating clandestinely.
Genuine question for those so bothered by Aff-Action:
My son is biracial. Dad is a white Cornell alum. I’m African American. Which option is less offensive to you:
- Son claims his white side only and gets a boost from mentioning his dad’s attendance there (legacy).
- Son claims his black side only and gets a boost from Aff-Action.
@Zekesima haha they both sound pretty painful. I don’t know much, but I think he should claim both; they’re both positive. I’ve heard a lot of how legacy is important these days.
I have a friend whose dad is white and mom is Asian. He’ll only be claiming his white side. And that’s understandable.
Your son should claim neither. He should apply and get either accepted or rejected based on his merits rather than on things other people did that were in no way influenced by him.
You don’t have to choose - there is an option for “more than one race,” as my daughter marked.
Thank you kindly for the advice. My question, however, was only meant for those who expressed that Aff-action is the thing that makes them ridiculously angry about the admissions process. Which of the two options above do you find least offensive? The white privilege option (#1) or the black privilege option (#2)?
It is a false choice. There is legacy privilege in #1. There is AA privilege in #2. The legacy privilege has nothing to do with race… There is now (and has been for a long while) a large percentage of non-caucasians at the Ivies. The children of those alumni will also participate in the legacy privilege… Personally, I don’t like legacy any more than I do AA. They should both go away asap.
@SAY, the UCs, just reiterating for my NM children.
Oh, and please, these kids that hold their parents in contempt because their parents don’t have $40-$70k per year to pay for their expensive college choices.
Your parents don’t have to pay one penny for your education.
Go out and get a job and find out how hard it is to earn a salary.
@whatisyourquest Legacy disproportionately benefits wealthy white applicants.
@Zekesima You provide no supporting evidence for your assertion, but fine, let’s do away with legacy. For consistency, let’s also do away with AA when the applicant’s parents are not socioeconomically challenged. This filter should always be applied for AA admits. Can we agree on that?
Answer my question first, then I’ll answer yours. Be honest. Which of these two options is more/less offensive to you?
Both are equally offensive to me. I already said that in #310. Both entail unworthy bias that keeps out more qualified, deserving candidates.
No need to argue against the AA haters. Even as people are killed daily in the news–mind you educated people often or people bound for education they will not change.
You realize bringing up AA is irrelevant. For many people the thought of an educated black person who is better than their white or Asian student can be intimating. Thus even if a person would have gotten in on their own merits (which they actually are) they would subvert that person’s accomplishments by claiming AA is the only reason why they got where they were. This tactic of using AA help maintain the implicit white supremacy that pervades this countries. I say white supremacy not to allude to hate groups, but in that this country is built upon the premise that white people are the top of the social hierarchy. When someone else fulfills that role often it becomes threatening to racial identity subversion often becomes a coping mechanism.
@whatisyourquest You say that considering legacy and race keeps out qualified, deserving candidates, so do you think the only thing that should be considered is grades and test scores? It’s called holistic admission for a reason. And no one is being forced to apply to schools that consider legacy and race. I’m not a legacy at any elite schools but I don’t go around whining about it because I know they have a good reason for it.
Well, I’m not a whiner or a hater. So, please don’t make ad hominem attacks. I expressed my opinion to a question posed. BTW, since you know that there is a good reason for legacy, how do you feel about Bush being admitted at Yale? Do you imagine that there were more qualified, deserving candidates than him, or do you believe that Yale’s holistic admissions did its job?