@str8outtafolsom I think I might have linked to the wrong article actually, hence the mismatched data… I’ll see if I can find the correct one.
Edit: I didn’t find the one I was looking for, but I did find the page I originally mentioned!
http://features.thecrimson.com/2013/frosh-survey/admissions.html
Class of 2017
American Indian/Alaska Native avg SAT: 2142
Thank you @usualhopeful. Do you know if there are any more data sets like this for other schools?
From Fall 2013
“Another CALS priority is enrolling greater numbers of Native American students, and Tan described a new partnership with the American Indian Program (AIP) that has resulted in a coordinated recruitment strategy for those students.”
http://cornellcals.■■■■■■■■■■/post/65538216931/perspectives-on-diversity-cals-admissions
Which Ivy to attend if you are Native? I really recommend Cornell. Great program, nice people, very welcoming. My sister attended and loved it. Cornell is large, is also a state school, and New York has a lot of Natives, so the program is old, big and getting bigger. Cornell’s Hotel School will also get you wine tasting and Brownies with the Dean (a chance to hobnob with major American corporate CEOs.) Most Hotel grads are snapped up by big companies, not tourist-related. But you can do ag econ, labor relations, as well as the new business school, and still get plenty of business exposure.
Stanford also seems to have a welcoming, seasoned approach with Natives. A lot of the other Ivies seem chilly. Yes, they all have programs, and no, they really don’t seem to have it going on or know where to direct your inquiries. Contact actual Native students who attend your target schools, and see what support and encouragement they get.
I’m going to puff Cornell again as an example of what you should be looking for in a Native program. Yeah, lots of Natives have attended Dartmouth. Harvard has Native education written into its charter document, making it the oldest Native recruitment program in the US. They will let you in. What will they do to make sure you come back your sophomore year, graduate, get into graduate school, and find the funds for all that? Check out programs carefully to see what they are actually saying. Cornell AIP explains that its mission is to recruit, retain, graduate Natives and help them with financial aid and grad school admissions. THAT is what you want in a program, especially if you are low income, first generation, far from your elders and community. http://aiisp.cornell.edu/about-us/recruitment-and-retention
Natives have by far the lowest graduation rates among URMs. Get in and graduate.
If I wanted to contact native students at various Ivy League schools, how would I go about doing this? Thank you for your insight on Cornell. Dyson has an incredible reputation and the Native community seems alive and well. I will definitely apply there in the fall. One thing though… I would love to tour Cornell before I apply. Do you think I could arrange that through their Native program?
@str8outtafolsom One way would be to look up native american clubs at the college and contact them. Here is Harvards club list http://osl.fas.harvard.edu/student-organizations
Lower standardized test score averages do not suggest that race/ethnicity is an advantage in admissions. It’s simply reflective of overall lower test scores in certain ethnic groups. Native Americans’ average SAT scores are about 150 points lower than white students’ test scores, so the lower SAT score average just may suggest appropriate percentile ranks within the Native American distribution. For example, a 650 is only in the 84th to 88th percentile of the SAT sections for white students; for Native American students, that’s the 92nd to 95th percentile (depending on which section we’re talking about). The lower standardized test score average for Native Americans at any given school is simply a microcosm of this larger systemic differences in the scores.
In other words one might argue that it’s an advantage that Native Americans, or black students or Latino students, can achieve lower scores on the SAT and still get in. The counterargument to that is that it’s not an advantage, since they overall/on average score lower anyway, so they probably have about the same chances score-wise of getting in as a white or Asian student with an SAT score several points higher - because it’s harder for them to get those scores.
Anyway, I’m going to take a different tack and say that there’s not necessarily one school that’s better or worse for Native American students than any other; it would depend on the individual needs of that Native American student. Some students like to go to a college where there are other members of their ethnic group, where there are multiple clubs reflecting their ethnic heritage, where there’s historical precedent for members of their group at the school. And others don’t care about those things at all and select schools on the basis of other factors. The school for you won’t necessarily be the school for you because you are Native American, but because you are Native and there are other characteristics about the place you like. (That much is probably clear in part from the fact that I think nearly every Ivy League school and some non-Ivies have been suggested as the ‘best’ on this thread.)
Hear, hear, @juillet . Great advice, as usual. Take heed, CCers.
It’s all about fit, regardless of race. 
Do you like the outdoors, a rural setting, Greek life and partying, and a very undergrad-focused faculty and resources? You’ll likely prefer Dartmouth.
Do you like a large (for the Ivies) student body and campus, a very segmented program/college structure, a curricular style that promotes rigorous academics, and a small town setting surrounded by the outdoors? You’ll likely prefer Cornell.
Do you like an urban environment, a nice mix of pre-professionalism and intellectualism, a “work hard/play hard” mentality, and cheese steaks? You’ll likely prefer Penn.
Do you like great Humanities programs, a residential college setup, the ability to choose between a core-oriented and a more open (though with some requirements…) curriculum, and a suburban setting? You’ll likely prefer Yale.
Do you like undergrad-focused faculty and resources (really deep pockets…), an opportunity to write a thesis/dissertation as an undergrad, eating clubs, and a suburban setting somewhere between NYC and Philly? You’ll likely prefer Princeton.
Do you like a strong core curriculum, a serious/intellectual academic vibe, plenty of off-campus housing options, and New York City? You’ll likely prefer Columbia.
Do you like a student body commonly characterized as “happy,” an open curriculum, an urban campus on a hill, and a fairly laid-back atmosphere? You’ll likely prefer Brown.
Do you like being in a great university located in a cool city that’s home to several other great schools, final clubs, being probably at the top of the global and American prestige heap, and a tradition of leadership? You’ll likely prefer Harvard.
juillet - the quote continues:
I did not include more detailed reasons (question bias, etc.) but I did at least try to point out the discrepancy. And the later statistics linked show that the discrepancy between white and Native American students’ average test scores is only 91 points, not the full 150.
Out of curiosity, I also checked the income boosts. The difference between the lowest and highest income bracket is only about 100 points. I don’t know how that difference compares in percentiles based on income, but I dont think context considerations are having a very big impact on test scores in admissions.
@str8outtafolsom, Cornell has an invitation-only visiting program for members of URMs: http://admit.cornell.edu/diversity-hosting
I’m not sure how you get invited but that may be an option.
Edit: I see now that you were wondering about visiting opportunities before you apply, and the hosting program is for accepted students. But perhaps they might be able to direct you where you want to go.
Does anyone know why there is such a small Native population at Princeton?
Princeton’s proportion of Native students (0.1%) isn’t much different from some other elite colleges, like Harvard (0.2%), Penn (0.1%), Emory (0.2%), or Vanderbilt (0.3%), although it is smaller than Dartmouth’s (2.3%!), Cornell’s, Duke’s, Stanford’s, and Yale’s. It could be any variety of reasons - recruitment issues, lack of an existing community (it can turn into a cycle if many Native students want to be in an environment with a lot of other Native students), etc.
@usualhopeful - I was talking about national score differences, not ones at individual schools. I found the statistics from the College Board: [SAT score percentile ranks](Home – SAT Suite of Assessments | College Board).
Most recent research points to the correlation between race and SAT scores only growing, not shrinking: [url=<a href=“http://www.cshe.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/shared/publications/docs/ROPS.CSHE_.10.15.Geiser.RaceSAT.10.26.2015.pdf%5DHere’s%5B/url”>http://www.cshe.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/shared/publications/docs/ROPS.CSHE_.10.15.Geiser.RaceSAT.10.26.2015.pdf]Here’s[/url] the study, and [url=<a href=“https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/10/27/study-finds-race-growing-explanatory-factor-sat-scores-california%5Dhere%5B/url”>https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/10/27/study-finds-race-growing-explanatory-factor-sat-scores-california]here[/url] is the layman’s terms coverage of it in Inside Higher Education.
@juillet I wasn’t debating your numbers, just pointing out that the gap at Harvard is perhaps smaller than expected given the gap in overall populations. I agree with your points wholeheartedly. I wonder if the new SAT will continue the unfortunate trends pointed out in those links.
@str8outtafolsom, things like this: https://www.princeton.edu/~naap/index.htm
Yes, they apparently have a Native club. Yippee. They list the officers from 2005-2006 (seems the club has been inactive since then. I’m also tired of seeing schools that list “powwows” as a way to show they are “with-it” with Natives, but that’s another story. Are they offering jazz/blues music to attract other minorities?)
Princeton does participate in College Horizons, so that’s a plus.
However, I don’t think schools realize how much their websites influence potential applicants, either for or against, particularly for kids who aren’t going to do that many school visits.
High achieving Native kids expect to start hearing from selective colleges as high school sophomores. Senior year is too late, especially if financial aid is necessary.
There is just not that many of these kids, so if you want them, you gotta go get 'em, and you need to convince them to take a chance on your school over another and show them the path to success. Even a lot of Native Gates Millennial Scholars go to local, non-selective schools and never apply to Ivies, even though the Ivies would love to have them. Why? It’s easier to get program information, connect to Native mentors, and most of the time they get terrible college advising locally. So they end up being elementary education majors or perhaps NA studies people, when they could succeed as policy wonks, or engineers, or physicists.
There’s a big disconnect between these kids and the programs, ESPECIALLY in the sciences. I don’t think most Ivies have any clue of how to recruit them, except maybe at the graduate level.
I’m starting to wonder if the Ivies have any interest, let alone clue, in recruiting them, with the notable exception of Cornell and maybe Dartmouth.
@usualhopeful, unfortunately the SAT downwards trend will continue, I fear. In Native communities, there is little SAT or ACT prep. You are expected to just apply to a lower-tier state school or CC with open admission; you don’t need to pay to take any darn tests.
For more affluent communities, college advising/high schools are clueless about Native concerns and issues, and even how the Native “hook” should be positioned for best results. I see a lot of high school advisers thinking that you have to take DNA tests, you need to be a certain color, gotta live on the rez, really insulting and ignorant stuff that would never be acceptable said to another population.
Native grad rates are the lowest of all other minority groups. Native graduation rates are getting worse, not better. That’s the only minority group that is losing ground, and there are so few kids I don’t think anyone cares.
Gates Millennial Scholarships are going away. However, Hispanic and AA groups are getting Gates Foundation grants to fill the void (for far fewer students, it’s true. Gates Foundation thinks the problem is now solved and is turning to online education solutions. Think I’m kidding? Read their website.)
Where are the Native groups that are stepping up for grant money? I don’t see them.
You’ve heard of National Achievement Scholars and National Hispanic Scholars, where’s the same for Native kids? Yes, it matters, because it will get you a full ride plus at places like OU and TAMU, whether your family has financial need or not, plus automatic admission to their Honors Colleges and paid study abroad.
Yes, AIGC offers the Native High School Academic Team, but that’s 10 kids a year. 10. You are more likely to get a Gates.
Even at stalwarts like College Horizons, I see fewer prestigious colleges attending. It used to be attendees would meet 100% of need, like Questbridge. Now they don’t make that guarantee. Supposedly CH is looking for schools where Native kids would be a good “fit”. Now, instead of Rice you get Linfield College “profile coming soon” and Susquehanna University. (Thank you, LC and SU, for at least reaching out to the Native community.)
Less than 1% of Native kids go to college, any college. Let alone graduate. And how many of them are going to places like Haskell, Northeastern Oklahoma State or Flaming Rainbow?
Anybody with any hopeful statistics or anecdotes, I’d love to hear 'em.