<p>No offense to any Asians. I’m an Asian myself. But I never, ever, thought that it’s all about stats. However, on CC and when talking to Asian friends all around me, they always talk about stats. When someone did not get in a university, and when someone did get in, it’s always “but I got 2400 SAT!” or “Of course you will get into University of blablabla…you got 36 for ACT!”</p>
<p>Honestly I always feel insulted when listening to these comments, I feel belittled that when people say: “What? You didn’t get an Intel whatever whatever award? How did you even get into blablabla?”</p>
<p>Anyways, I hope this will change when I get into college. I really hope I can stop seeing the typical Asian rant of “omg I got 4.0 GPA and 2400 SAT and didn’t get in Ivy” one day.</p>
<p>Many home countries, it’s ONLY about scores – and their parents influence the kids. In US colleges at least, no one cares about your SAT/ACT once enrolled. I attended an HYP and never once asked, was asked, or even knew a single classmates’ scores or HS GPA.</p>
<p>Frankly, ignore thoses folks. Don’t let it rile you. One day, you may get some resumes/CVs from these people and they’ll be perfect for the job you’re hoping to fill. Until then don’t let them bother you.</p>
<p>Different culture. Different definitions of success. (I think, though, you’ll find a lot of people of all colors who are scarily obsessive about test scores. I once saw a kid with a 28 ACT advised to look at community college because of his low test scores. Seriously? That’s the top 10% of test takers.)</p>
<p>In many other countries, the score received on the national university admissions exam determines which universities a student can attend. The university that the student attends determines which careers are accessible, and which companies will hire the university graduate one day. Parents who grew up in that system find it difficult to understand that in the US 1) other factors can matter in college/university admission, 2) transferring between colleges/universities is common, 3) changing majors is common, 4) for most of the jobs out there the name of the college/university doesn’t matter one bit, 5) for many jobs the college/university name that does matter is not Fill-In-Internationally-Recognizable-Name-Here, but rather a local/regional/career-specific college/university. </p>
<p>Make a list of the names of the colleges/universities you know from other countries. Then pick a city other than the capitol city in one of those countries, and google for universities in that city. Now imagine explaining to your extended family here in the US and to your parents’ friends that you have chosen to study at that U. That is pretty much the immigrant parent experience.</p>
<p>You might want to spend less time hanging out with those weirdos when they get into their scoretalk. They are unfairly skewing your perspective of Asian-descent people. yOU MAY BE confusing IMMIGRANTS - people who grew up under a different academic system - and mixing them together with ALL asians even those who have not undergone that system and don’t have direct contact with anyone who has so don’t have th same attitude.</p>
<p>I am from one of the east asian countries. There is no such thing as “Holistic” approach in college admission. The colleges just take the kids from the top down. Maybe that’s why.</p>
<p>Definitely not limited to East Asians. An Indian student explained to me how difficult it was to attend IIT. They only accepted the top scores and there was no way around that. He was surprised to come to the US and find talented, creative and laid back Americans who weren’t so worried about test scores but yet excelled.</p>
<p>This system is inherited from the Imperial Chinese Civil Service exam system which ended up being adopted to varying extents by other East Asian countries. </p>
<p>It has been widely viewed in those societies as a much more fairer and merit-based method for selecting students and qualified personnel for the civil service as it’s theoretically dependent solely on the exam results, not nepotistic relations or one’s political/class connections. </p>
<p>Later on, it was even adopted by the Western World in the 19th century as illustrated by the British India’s Colonial Civil Service, British Civil Service, and later, the US Civil Service as a more objective merit-based system of selecting qualified personnel as opposed to the openly class/nepotistic-based or political patronage systems which prevailed in those societies before. </p>
<p>Up until recently, the Chinese Cultural Revolution also played a strong role in maintaining strong support for the gaokao as it was viewed as much more objective and not nearly as corruptible as the openly politically centered admission system during that period when one’s “good proletarian” background and/or being a good Maoist political hack counted far more than one’s academic bona-fides. Especially when that period resulted in a decade-long shutdown of Mainland China’s educational/research systems and many from the current establishment who remember that period…especially most current CCP officials don’t want to revisit what they viewed as one of the darkest chapters in post-1949 Chinese history.</p>
<p>East Asians often care about scores so much because the concept of the make-or-break official standardized exam is deeply ingrained in Chinese culture, which also similarly influenced its neighbors.</p>
<p>The Imperial Civil Service Exam dates back to the year 605 and has been a Huge Deal for many centuries of Chinese history. It’s easy to see how people coming from that background could easily transfer the importance ascribed to the Chinese standardized exams to their American counterparts, particularly the SAT, even though the Americans themselves may not see it quite that way.</p>
<p>“Theoretically testing and selecting candidates for merit, this system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was partly responsible for changes in the power balances of the Tang (including the interim reign of Wu Zetian) and Song Dynasties, changes involving long-term shaping of societal structure, even lasting beyond the dynastic limits of the particular dynasties administering the examinations. At times, the result of the examination system was replacement of what had been relatively few aristocratic families with a more diffuse and populous class of typically rural-dwelling, landowning scholar-bureaucrats, organized into clans. Neighboring Asian countries such as Vietnam, Korea, Japan and Ryūkyū also implemented similar systems, both to draw in their top national talent and to maintain a tight grip on that talent’s time, resources, and ideological goals, as well as encouraging literature and education.”</p>
[quote]
Honestly I always feel insulted when listening to these comments, I feel belittled that when people say: “What? You didn’t get an Intel whatever whatever award? How did you even get into blablabla?” [/quote[</p>
<p>Intel and other awards aren’t “scores”, so what you really are saying is “why do they care about academic achievement?”.</p>
Not strictly true. Between a quarter and third of the seats are reserved for affirmative action candidates where the bar is much lower.</p>
<p>As to OP’s question, it is cultural and based on what we grew up with. Things like band, sports, and the frat culture can be so important in US students’ lives that if they went to other societies, the locals may wonder why this is the case.</p>
<p>Not strictly true at Harvard either - if you a legacy, moneyed, son of a Senator, Congressman, ambassador, or foreign head of state, 300-lb offensive tackle, or gifted hockey player, your chances are much, much, much, much better. (The reservations at IIT are true - which is why admissions rate is 2% rather than 0.5%) </p>
<p>My nephew (a Dalit candidate) has been working seven days a week for the past two years to sit for the test. In those two years, I have never had a meal with him. He gets up a 4:00 a.m. to study. He is at school by 8, gets out of school by 3:30. At 4:00, two-and-half hours of test tutoring begins. He gets home at 7, has dinner in his room to do his homework and study some more, goes to sleep at 10:30. This is six days a week. On Sunday, he studies all day, but doesn’t get up until 6. Frankly, I find it disgusting. But the family (both parents are doctors; grandparents were landless laborers - and I knew them) wouldn’t have it any other way.</p>
<p>True. They really care about academic achievements. It’s their…sole purpose in life. I feel bad growing up in this type of society. You’re judged by what university you go to. I live in Hong Kong…and in Hong Kong, tuition teachers are pop stars! They literally put ads of tuition teachers all over the buses, the television, the radio…</p>
<p>I know that in Japan that the most desirable employers only recruit from the most prestigious universities and admission to those universities is based solely on an applicant’s score on the entrance exam. Other East Asian countries like Korea and China appear to have similar systems.</p>
<p>My mom is from Tokyo Japan where scores are everything for getting into a top college. According to her, a high score meant a very high chance of getting into a top university. A low or mediocre score meant a lesser college. Everyone had only one chance to take the Japanese “equivalent” of the ACT/SAT (much, much harder than either american test) and based on that score, you would pick the college you thought your score could get you into. In Japan, you can only apply to three colleges total, with one elite college among them, so you had to be very careful to apply to a school you were sure your score could get you into. So getting a high score on that test meant everything. </p>
<p>All in all, they place a much higher emphasis on scores and numbers, at least in Japan, and very few, if any, colleges take a “holistic approach” when screening applicants. </p>
<p>Asians in general are obsessed with grades, my mom included, because low grades mean bringing shame to the whole family. That may seem silly in America, but in a culture that places a lot of emphasis on family pride and reputation, it’s a big deal. A lot of my mom’s threats/warnings were that if I ever brought home anything less than an “A”, I would end up becoming a C student in college or (horrors of horrors) a garbage man (girl?). Who you are, you’re personality, what makes you unique…most asians could care less. What you’ve accomplished, what scores you make on tests, what college you get into…that’s what they care most about, and that’s how they’ll judge you. My mom has always told me that should care less about how unique I am or how I feel or how I think, she only cares about what I accomplish, and how successful I become. I know also that asian culture is very into discipline and hard work. No excuses, just study/work hard. Many of them see low scores as a sign of laziness and lack of self discipline.</p>
<p>*please note that these are just based on my experiences with my asian friends/mothers, my own asian mother and family, and what I gleaned from my trips to Japan. It’s a generalization, and I know not every asian family is like this.</p>