https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/magazine/where-does-affirmative-action-leave-asian-americans.html
From here.
This is what I am seeing/hearing the stories from my kid’s middle school.
- There are kids doing high school math at 5th, 6th grade, so they may be able to fulfill ivy dream earlier (I think the idea is present themselves as “prodigy”)
- There are kids having tutor on every single subject.
- There are kids comparing grade on daily basis.
- There are kids advertising their youtube or tiktok channel (this one I am not sure why, but apparently being an influencer is a plus)
Had several discussion with my husband on moving away but the conclusion is always… it will be the same as long as we stay in the cities.
And this is the prime reason I am here. I am also curious “Where, when, how, and why did (maybe just some) US middle school education also go crazier)”
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Except that 22% of YLS students come from Yale or Harvard. For the very top undergraduate matters.
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You live one life - why oh why would anyone want their kid to spend it like this?
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I also want to know why… My child asked me the same, why did x or y or z have to spend the entire weekend doing all sorts of academic activities (well my child could hardly find play mate for soccer during weekend… 
)
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A similar percentage of HY undergrad students are Asian, which is far higher than the ~6% of US population that is Asian. However, this does not mean that being Asian is a big boost for admission to Harvard and Yale. Instead, Asian students are more likely to apply and more likely to be well qualified for admission than average, so we see more enrolled Asian students,. It’s not being Asian that is driving the higher number of matriculations – it’s things that are correlated with being Asian. It is important to separate cause and correlation before drawing conclusions.
For example, consider a hypothetical example where law schools only admit by LSAT score (I realize that law schools do consider other factors in real life). There is a simple LSAT cutoff, and everyone above that score is accepted, and below rejected. In this hypothetical model undergrad school name is not considered, yet the admits to selective law schools would be extremely concentrated in among highly selective undergrad colleges, like Harvard and Yale, and would be almost non-existent from less selective colleges. There would also be a bias in which pre-law kids choose to apply to Harvard/Yale law, with a far higher application rate from some undergrad colleges than others. Kids would be especially likely to apply to law schools that were similar to their undergrad school.
Actual law school admissions show a similar effect. Kids who attend highly selective colleges for undergrad have a much higher rate of applying to highly selective law schools, as well as a much higher concentration of LSAT scores in the typical range of admission at highly selective law schools. So the effect is a high concentration of matriculation students from those undergrad colleges where many high LSAT students apply from. However, if you control for stats, then there no longer appears to be significant difference in admit rate, at many top law schools.
For example, in another thread, I looked up self-reported scattergrams for Chicago at University of Chicago Law School - Admissions Graph | Law School Numbers . When you exclude URMs, international, and non-traditional, there is a clear correlation with stats and decisions. At the time of the thread, acceptances were generally 3.8+ GPA and 170+ LSAT or 3.9+ GPA and 167+ LSAT. Rejections were generally <= 170 LSAT, particularly with lower GPA. Waitlists are typically borderline. These generalizations hold true regardless of undergrad ranking/prestige. Other T15 law schools I checked at the time formed a similar pattern. The outlier exceptions occurred at both highly selective undergrad colleges and less selective undergrad colleges. There didn’t appear to be a clear correlation with undergrad college name, after controlling for stats.
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That’s insane. It’s intense in London but nothing compared to what you’re describing. I think the Midwest (including Chicago) is not so bad so that’s an option.
Behind a paywall.
But this is the Harvard lawsuit, right? I am admittedly no expert on it, but it analyzed Asian outcomes by country of origin and wealth?
I am actually thinking about (moving to) Canada 
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That’s quite sensible. From what I’ve heard, including here on CC, Canada seems to keep the excesses in check. I spent a year in Toronto and, besides the cold winter, am a big fan.
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The Canadian system is much saner. Their most famous universities are all big publics that are equivalent to our state flagships - McGill, UofT, UBC. My kids had McGill as their safety. Admission was extremely predictable based on their ACT/SAT, GPA and in the past SAT 2 ( now AP) results. The application took 1 hour to fill max. No essays except for scholarships once you are admitted. If you are from Quebec, tuition is 4k CAD per year. In Ontario, it is 10k.
For Canadians, the admission is a bit more challenging. Some sought-after schools like Waterloo require 1 essay about your major (similarly to UK’s personal statement). Still, my Canadian nephews had much easier time in HS.
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That’s pretty depressing, to be honest. I live in MA and although there are always some kids who are hyper-focused on grades etc. it’s nothing like you describe – and it certainly didn’t happen in middle school. Nonetheless many kids from our HS go on to very good colleges - including Ivies/MIT - every year. I feel sorry for kids whose lives are taken over by a push for elite college at such an early age. Childhood should be more than an exercise in college preparation - you only get to be young once, why not enjoy it.
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Right
Imagine these children spent all their precious time in one goal. And then rejected from their dream school. How would that justify the efforts? It is depressing 
Some of the kids’ chance-me posts somewhat reflect that anxiety as well
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Yes, well said.
Other notable differences include:
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there is far less emphasis on where someone went to university. The perceived differences in quality are much smaller in Canada than in the US.
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a far higher percentage of kids go to university close to where they live. So a lot of kids at most schools either live at home or live within a few hours of the school. The concept of all kids living on campus is foreign at most Canadian schools.
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admission is often by program (similar to CMU), and admission is harder for certain programs. E.g., getting into UBC business or Waterloo comp science is much harder than getting into other programs at those schools.
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a far lower emphasis on sports. There is minor recruiting for football and basketball, but the stakes are much smaller. And sports are generally considered to be the same as any extra curricular. The thought of a kid having a significant advantage in admissions b/c they are D3-level in T&F (or any other sport) is incomprehensible.
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a far lower emphasis on hooks generally. E.g., I am not aware of any Canadian schools that take legacy into account (this may go hand in hand with alumni giving being much lower in Canada. Generally speaking there is far less identification with one’s school).
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I sometimes wonder why we’re stuck with our current crop of politicians.
I don’t have a solution either. But maybe colleges should allow more LoRs to tell those stories from others instead of the personal statement from the applicant?
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Is this driven by any particular demographic group of parents?
I actually have Asian friends in the Bay Area (where I believe you’re situated) who have chosen to send their kids to community college for a couple of years and then transfer to a UC.
The way the movie portrays it, 2nd gen Asian parents are less likely to prioritize name brand schools. I have heard that observation elsewhere too.
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My S was a few levels above his grade in math, but to this date, I still don’t know how he got there because I never requested his schools to place him into higher level math classes. As a matter of fact, I’ve never once looked at his homework since his kindergarten days. I’ve also never hired a tutor for him on any subject. I did talk to him frequently about subjects outside of his school curricula, however.
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I have seen heated debate in CC when someone put these two together
- Asian
- Bay Area
I used to live in East Coast, I’ve seen the same. tbh
One of my friend is professionally trained Montessori educator. She was hired by the wealthy families to babysit two young children in Manhattan. She once showed me the list of activities the two kids were doing. Academic, sports, art, social…you name it.
And they are just preschooler and kindergartener.
I thought these are no better than what I witness now.
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Some are truly prodigy I agree. I’ve worked with a really talented young engineer, he graduated from college at the age of 16. He is now though back in college for Ph. D 