How Harvard discriminates against Asian Americans in college admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard wants to increase their URM students to a point! I agree that they are discriminating against Asians. However, I would argue that Harvard will not decrease the number of whites students below 50%. If that happens wealthy/elite whites will not want to attend and it will lose its status. I don't think that is fair, but that is the reality.

They are already below 50%. The last two classes have been majority-minority. You can look this up; indeed Harvard brags about it.
You really could argue that the Asians are proportionally represented, blacks and Hispanics slightly over-represented, and whites are under-represented. Really it's the whites who have a case here based on disparate impact.

OP here. Yes, I just looked it up and it is 44%. I still stand by my overall point that their ultimate diversity goal is to keep whites as the majority of any racial group.

? but they are in the majority, both in the population and in the applicant pool. Not sure I understand your point.

My point is that the diversity initiative has an overall agenda. Some people on this thread are arguing that Harvard wants to increase URM numbers at the expense of whites and Asians. My point is that they want to show they are diverse to a point and that the line that will not be crossed is whites becoming the smallest share of any group. This is evidence in many areas of life: housing, k-12 education, work. I think Asians should not be discriminated against. I'm pointing out the motives behind such decisions. Harvard becoming 40-50% Asian doesn't fit into #MAGA era we are living in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Also, Harvard doesn't see itself as a STEM only school. It is a liberal arts institution. This drives their diversity philosophy. I teach at a tier 1 university and the majority of Asian students major in STEM related fields. I assume this also happens at Harvard. Does this influence admissions for Asians as they are competing against themselves? I think more Asians students majoring in the humanities and social sciences would increase their overall percentage in schools like Harvard.

My husband taught at U. Illinois and while Chinese international students made up 12-15% of total student body, they were 50% of their engineering college, which is one of the most prestigious in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Asians would like Harvard to be 100% theirs. Not gonna happen

What % of Western students are there in Japan, South Korea, India and China's most prestigious universities?

C'mon, who wants to go there? The tsunami of of student applications all goes the other way. Also, I assume this lawsuit s brought on behalf of Asian-Americans, i.e. citizens. I would hope.

[Anonymous]

Harvard wants to keep its admissions opaque and subjective so it can keep accepting students like Jared Kushner, whose parents donate 1.3 million to get them in. When Asians have enough $ to buy their way into Harvard the way whites have been doing, Harvard will magically lift its Asian quota.

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-story-behind-jared-kushners-curious-acceptance-into-harvardb

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Also, Harvard doesn't see itself as a STEM only school. It is a liberal arts institution. This drives their diversity philosophy. I teach at a tier 1 university and the majority of Asian students major in STEM related fields. I assume this also happens at Harvard. Does this influence admissions for Asians as they are competing against themselves? I think more Asians students majoring in the humanities and social sciences would increase their overall percentage in schools like Harvard.

My husband taught at U. Illinois and while Chinese international students made up 12-15% of total student body, they were 50% of their engineering college, which is one of the most prestigious in the US.

I know for a fact U. of Illinois goes on road trips to China to recruit these students. Almost all are full pay. Illinois has a terrible budget problem and the state doesn't support the university anymore like it used to. Yes, Illinois Engineering is very highly ranked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard wants to keep its admissions opaque and subjective so it can keep accepting students like Jared Kushner, whose parents donate 1.3 million to get them in. When Asians have enough $ to buy their way into Harvard the way whites have been doing, Harvard will magically lift its Asian quota.

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-story-behind-jared-kushners-curious-acceptance-into-harvardb

Truth!

[Anonymous]

Harvard's next move? Follow U of Chicago and make tests optional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard wants to increase their URM students to a point! I agree that they are discriminating against Asians. However, I would argue that Harvard will not decrease the number of whites students below 50%. If that happens wealthy/elite whites will not want to attend and it will lose its status. I don't think that is fair, but that is the reality.

They are already below 50%. The last two classes have been majority-minority. You can look this up; indeed Harvard brags about it.
You really could argue that the Asians are proportionally represented, blacks and Hispanics slightly over-represented, and whites are under-represented. Really it's the whites who have a case here based on disparate impact.

OP here. Yes, I just looked it up and it is 44%. I still stand by my overall point that their ultimate diversity goal is to keep whites as the majority of any racial group.

Also, Harvard doesn't see itself as a STEM only school. It is a liberal arts institution. This drives their diversity philosophy. I teach at a tier 1 university and the majority of Asian students major in STEM related fields. I assume this also happens at Harvard. Does this influence admissions for Asians as they are competing against themselves? I think more Asians students majoring in the humanities and social sciences would increase their overall percentage in schools like Harvard.

Yes, this is true. Your declared field interest is considered in the application, and factors into the diversity question. The huge number of Asian applicants wanting to major in a STEM discipline indeeds means they are competing against each other to a point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard's next move? Follow U of Chicago and make tests optional.

Oooh, that'd be brilliant. Would probably be viewed as further evidence of discrimination against Asians though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard wants to increase their URM students to a point! I agree that they are discriminating against Asians. However, I would argue that Harvard will not decrease the number of whites students below 50%. If that happens wealthy/elite whites will not want to attend and it will lose its status. I don't think that is fair, but that is the reality.

+1

Same as TJ. The few whites I know that were admitted, and also a couple Asians I know that were admitted -- don't want to attend TJ for this very reason. It is simply not a "diverse" experience any longer, when the majority is foreign or first generation Asian.

Well too bad for them, they will miss out on the best STEM education around, and whites will be underrepresented at the forefronts of the technological revolution (as they're already beginning to be in Silicon Valley).

They won’t miss out. There is plenty of time and opportunity to develop a STEM career in undergrad, grad, and beyond. Talented kids will catch up and surpass kids who only got to TJ because their parents forced them into cram schools as middle schoolers.

+1

Teaching to the test is not real life.

And that many of the kids following the forced march into TJ haven't demonstrated any of their own interest in science.

[Anonymous]

Affirmative action and the racial balancing at Harvard primarily benefits well to do URM's like that ingrate "shreiking girl" at Yale. They don't deserve any helping hand. They are already blessed

https://youtu.be/G2denm3RTa8

Ralph Richard Banks at Stanford law school explains. And he is black

Also, Immigration and interracial marriage is making the notion of being black or Hispanic irrelevant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard wants to increase their URM students to a point! I agree that they are discriminating against Asians. However, I would argue that Harvard will not decrease the number of whites students below 50%. If that happens wealthy/elite whites will not want to attend and it will lose its status. I don't think that is fair, but that is the reality.

They are already below 50%. The last two classes have been majority-minority. You can look this up; indeed Harvard brags about it.
You really could argue that the Asians are proportionally represented, blacks and Hispanics slightly over-represented, and whites are under-represented. Really it's the whites who have a case here based on disparate impact.

OP here. Yes, I just looked it up and it is 44%. I still stand by my overall point that their ultimate diversity goal is to keep whites as the majority of any racial group.

Also, Harvard doesn't see itself as a STEM only school. It is a liberal arts institution. This drives their diversity philosophy. I teach at a tier 1 university and the majority of Asian students major in STEM related fields. I assume this also happens at Harvard. Does this influence admissions for Asians as they are competing against themselves? I think more Asians students majoring in the humanities and social sciences would increase their overall percentage in schools like Harvard.

Yes, this is true. Your declared field interest is considered in the application, and factors into the diversity question. The huge number of Asian applicants wanting to major in a STEM discipline indeeds means they are competing against each other to a point.

Harvard is looking for applicants from interesting backgrounds with unique strengths and interests in addition to academic potential. How unique is a high-achieving Asian or even white applicant looking for a STEM focus? And why would these students even have Harvard, as opposed to MIT or Cal Tech, at the top of their lists? At the UG level it does not really offer the kind of education they're looking for. Their admissions policies are to some degree related to the kind of diverse liberal arts curriculum stressed at the college level. The more specialized grad programs are a different story. There are no quotas attached to graduate admissions, because that is strictly tied to achievement in a given discipline.

[Anonymous]

Geez what's up with all the anti-Asia bias here?

- White guy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Geez what's up with all the anti-Asia bias here?

- White guy

many good posts explain why the lawsuit is meritless. I for one disavow all comments calling these applicant "robot" etc. That is offensive. Nevertheless, Harvard's depiction of many of them as "standard strong", i.e. not exceptional enough for a spot at Harvard, considering the need for diversity, rings true. Is that what you mean by "anti-Asia bias"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Geez what's up with all the anti-Asia bias here?

- White guy

many good posts explain why the lawsuit is meritless. I for one disavow all comments calling these applicant "robot" etc. That is offensive. Nevertheless, Harvard's depiction of many of them as "standard strong", i.e. not exceptional enough for a spot at Harvard, considering the need for diversity, rings true. Is that what you mean by "anti-Asia bias"?

I'm not talking about the merits of the lawsuit. Lots of wrongs are not actionable. I'm talking about the obvious anti-Asian bias and bashing on this thread. Why the constant bashing of TJ, for example? What does that have to do with anything?

Jealousy maybe?