<p>Harvard has long explicitly said that a high school diploma is NOT required for admission. Princeton says the same. (Oddly, some colleges that say they do require diplomas seem to have no problem admitting homeschoolers.) </p>
<p>But in general the most selective colleges are most likely to admit applicants who are indisputably ready for tough academic courses at the college level, and America’s system of K-12 schooling does not produce that level of readiness in all high school graduates. So some high school graduates, including some high school graduates with faultless grade averages from their particular high schools, have essentially nil chance of getting into such colleges. </p>
<p>I agree that there is disparate impact among different ethnic groups in how many high school graduates are ready for admission to a highly selective college. But I don’t think that is a fault of the college admission standards (especially because there are hundreds of other colleges that explicitly have open admission policies), but rather the fault of the K-12 school system. I happen to think, based on local examples I have observed, that local school systems get their feet held to the fire to improve their education more when colleges are choosy on the basis of full readiness for college.</p>
<p>They give brownie points to sons/daughters of divorced parents, kids who’ve been shot, boys and girls from single-parent households, peeps who’ve overcome adversity and whatnot, etc.</p>
<p>They probably have a quota of admits from each public high school so if you go to a bad high school with a higher proportion of blacks/latinos then if you’re the top whatever then you get in…it’s not very hard to get every race…there’s always an easy strategy.</p>
<p>It’s not as if these beneficiaries are asking for preferential treatment. They’re just playing along with the system.</p>
<p>I’m all for lauding amazing human beings who’ve triumphed over life’s challenges, but one has to have the intellectual capability to do the work and take advantage of academic resources.</p>
<p>some of those blacks were probably recruited for athletics and probably didn’t have such expected SAT scores. I don’t know how to explain for the hispanics.</p>
<p>Well nooob has a point and it doesn’t have to be “all” the black people, if they have a lot of recruited athletes then their AVERAGE is going to be lower.</p>
<p>It’s not so much that there are a lot of recruited athletes as that there aren’t many black students entering. IIRC, UCLA had only ~100 entering black freshmen a few years ago, with ~20 being athletes.</p>
<p>Also, some people get boost for being in the top x% at their high school, which helps minorities at crappy schools.</p>
<p>Noteworthy is that the “all” category is very close to caucasian/asian numbers and much higher than the minority numbers which indicates those minorities make-up only a small percentage of the entering classes since they are not having a major impact on the average. Though the UCs are not supposed to consider race, sex or ethnic background, that is offset by the 4% “local context” rule – those in the top 4% of their high school class are guaranteed admission to a UC regardless of test score – and thus many of those minorities may have qualified from inner city schools under that rule. Also, with holistic review, they can consider such things as “first generation” to college and economic status.</p>
<p>This is a random question that doesn’t even pertain to me, but who has it harder in college admissions: East Asians (Chinese, Korean) or South Asians (Indian, Pakistani)? Or do both have it equally hard?</p>
<p>they are minorities, but not underrepresented minorities. Colleges could care less about minorities, but they give an edge to underrepresented minorities or URMs. URMs are Native American, Hispanic/latino, and African american. Being indian may in fact hurt you if you noted it on your application.</p>
<p>Basically a URM is anyone but a white person, an Indian person, or an Asian person. Boy did I miss out when it was chosen who to be born to (joke)</p>