Parents of Asian-American Kids: What did you learn from the college admissions process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Realistically, how many institutions admit by major? If this strategy actually worked, wouldn't everyone be applying as a French major?

1. All of them, at core (and Universities with separate colleges admissions policies universally)
2. Yet they all understand that a vast number change majors, and have data to back that up
3. And they know who is faking it and who isn't, for the most part, so as a strategy it fails

It only fails if you don't plan ahead....e.g. having your Asian student study 3-4 years of Spanish in high school and their summer volunteer experience abroad teaching in South America. Gotta start thinking outside of the box as an Asian person much earlier than when the applications are due. Yeah sure, if you're on the chess team, math club, science Olympiad winner, and on the robotics team yet try to sign up for an acient philosophy degree on your college application it'll raise some flags. Again, if something like med school is the ultimate goal, start prepping freshman year in high school for a non-trad study path to get below the radar of diversity committees that have much more say in things like trying to balance stem incoming classes based on race and identity

Please tell me tiger moms aren’t doing this yet. Faking their children’s interests in non-STEM subjects only to force them to major in STEM once they get there. Because that will seriously not help other Asian Americans with admissions in the long run. Colleges are not interested in becoming 90% engineering, pre-med, and math majors.

Hate the game, not the players. Asians aren't the ones who setup insane diversity admissions requirements they can't control. We can't alter our DNA to change our race. We get penalized for doing too well at school and get penalized for being too stereotypical if we have extracurriculars like learning an instrument instead of turning our brains into mash potatoes bashing our minds out in a football field.

You don't have companies like Google openly targeting you for limiting employment opportunities because you are Asian and male. Why exactly would I get more leniency with my SAT scores, GPA and with diversity adcoms if I were a Latino male rather than an Asian male? Asians never owned slaves. Many Asians come from poorer countries too.

Don't hate the fact that the players are learning to adapt to the game. Society made the game, we are just trying to win at it now with the rules in place that penalize us for our race and sex.

Many of us are playing a different game from you altogether. We have a different idea of what college is. From a quick google search I got the top 50 concentrations of undergraduates at Harvard. Only 15 are STEM. One of the recent posters derided anything other than STEM as “underwater basketweaving.” If you want to be part of America’s great tradition of postsecondary education, you need to understand more about college in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Asians never owned slaves.

Every racial group had enthusiastic practitioners of slavery, which is still a significant issue in Asia.

The first famous Asian inhabitants of the United States were Chang and Eng Bunker, who were slave-holding plantation owners.

How many Asians owned salves?

How many Asians were in American before these guys?

How many of them were lynched out west?

How many were subject segregation?

“But we didn’t own slaves” is a ludicrous argument. No one alive today owned slaves. You aren’t personally responsible for the homeless or the opioid crisis or abused children or natural disasters or epidemics either. But we live in a society. It’s not just a place you come to to get an education and a high paying job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Realistically, how many institutions admit by major? If this strategy actually worked, wouldn't everyone be applying as a French major?

1. All of them, at core (and Universities with separate colleges admissions policies universally)
2. Yet they all understand that a vast number change majors, and have data to back that up
3. And they know who is faking it and who isn't, for the most part, so as a strategy it fails

It only fails if you don't plan ahead....e.g. having your Asian student study 3-4 years of Spanish in high school and their summer volunteer experience abroad teaching in South America. Gotta start thinking outside of the box as an Asian person much earlier than when the applications are due. Yeah sure, if you're on the chess team, math club, science Olympiad winner, and on the robotics team yet try to sign up for an acient philosophy degree on your college application it'll raise some flags. Again, if something like med school is the ultimate goal, start prepping freshman year in high school for a non-trad study path to get below the radar of diversity committees that have much more say in things like trying to balance stem incoming classes based on race and identity

Please tell me tiger moms aren’t doing this yet. Faking their children’s interests in non-STEM subjects only to force them to major in STEM once they get there. Because that will seriously not help other Asian Americans with admissions in the long run. Colleges are not interested in becoming 90% engineering, pre-med, and math majors.

Hate the game, not the players. Asians aren't the ones who setup insane diversity admissions requirements they can't control. We can't alter our DNA to change our race. We get penalized for doing too well at school and get penalized for being too stereotypical if we have extracurriculars like learning an instrument instead of turning our brains into mash potatoes bashing our minds out in a football field.

You don't have companies like Google openly targeting you for limiting employment opportunities because you are Asian and male. Why exactly would I get more leniency with my SAT scores, GPA and with diversity adcoms if I were a Latino male rather than an Asian male? Asians never owned slaves. Many Asians come from poorer countries too.

Don't hate the fact that the players are learning to adapt to the game. Society made the game, we are just trying to win at it now with the rules in place that penalize us for our race and sex.

You also don’t worry about your sons and daughters safety in their own yards because someone might assume their toy is a weapon. I just spent last night with other AA friends, one of whom had a perfect SAT and got into MIT. He’s had the cops called on him three times while doing yard work for his own home in NOVA. Do you want to trade that for a second look within the admissions process?

Stereotypes are unfair, but would you rather people assume you’re smart before you open your mouth or presume you’re not that bright and potentially dangerous?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Realistically, how many institutions admit by major? If this strategy actually worked, wouldn't everyone be applying as a French major?

1. All of them, at core (and Universities with separate colleges admissions policies universally)
2. Yet they all understand that a vast number change majors, and have data to back that up
3. And they know who is faking it and who isn't, for the most part, so as a strategy it fails

It only fails if you don't plan ahead....e.g. having your Asian student study 3-4 years of Spanish in high school and their summer volunteer experience abroad teaching in South America. Gotta start thinking outside of the box as an Asian person much earlier than when the applications are due. Yeah sure, if you're on the chess team, math club, science Olympiad winner, and on the robotics team yet try to sign up for an acient philosophy degree on your college application it'll raise some flags. Again, if something like med school is the ultimate goal, start prepping freshman year in high school for a non-trad study path to get below the radar of diversity committees that have much more say in things like trying to balance stem incoming classes based on race and identity

Please tell me tiger moms aren’t doing this yet. Faking their children’s interests in non-STEM subjects only to force them to major in STEM once they get there. Because that will seriously not help other Asian Americans with admissions in the long run. Colleges are not interested in becoming 90% engineering, pre-med, and math majors.

Hate the game, not the players. Asians aren't the ones who setup insane diversity admissions requirements they can't control. We can't alter our DNA to change our race. We get penalized for doing too well at school and get penalized for being too stereotypical if we have extracurriculars like learning an instrument instead of turning our brains into mash potatoes bashing our minds out in a football field.

You don't have companies like Google openly targeting you for limiting employment opportunities because you are Asian and male. Why exactly would I get more leniency with my SAT scores, GPA and with diversity adcoms if I were a Latino male rather than an Asian male? Asians never owned slaves. Many Asians come from poorer countries too.

Don't hate the fact that the players are learning to adapt to the game. Society made the game, we are just trying to win at it now with the rules in place that penalize us for our race and sex.

You also don’t worry about your sons and daughters safety in their own yards because someone might assume their toy is a weapon. I just spent last night with other AA friends, one of whom had a perfect SAT and got into MIT. He’s had the cops called on him three times while doing yard work for his own home in NOVA. Do you want to trade that for a second look within the admissions process?

Stereotypes are unfair, but would you rather people assume you’re smart before you open your mouth or presume you’re not that bright and potentially dangerous?

The solution is simple. Add a common application question on how many times a student has been stopped by the cops. This way we can get proper affirmative action adjustment to those who were stopped by cops more than others. Good luck having your breast cancer removed by these kids from the hood attracting cops’ attention. They are the ones who get into elite colleges and med schools based on your sob story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Realistically, how many institutions admit by major? If this strategy actually worked, wouldn't everyone be applying as a French major?

1. All of them, at core (and Universities with separate colleges admissions policies universally)
2. Yet they all understand that a vast number change majors, and have data to back that up
3. And they know who is faking it and who isn't, for the most part, so as a strategy it fails

It only fails if you don't plan ahead....e.g. having your Asian student study 3-4 years of Spanish in high school and their summer volunteer experience abroad teaching in South America. Gotta start thinking outside of the box as an Asian person much earlier than when the applications are due. Yeah sure, if you're on the chess team, math club, science Olympiad winner, and on the robotics team yet try to sign up for an acient philosophy degree on your college application it'll raise some flags. Again, if something like med school is the ultimate goal, start prepping freshman year in high school for a non-trad study path to get below the radar of diversity committees that have much more say in things like trying to balance stem incoming classes based on race and identity

Or may let the student pursue what interests them and stop trying to force them down some artificially constructed path that you’ve calculated is the best chance of getting your child into the highest ranked college possible.

That's a sure fire way to rack up lots of student loan debt. Typical stupid American mindset. Find your way silly nilly as a free spirit with zero regards for utility or cost. No wonder this country has such a student loan debt problem that we are now at the point that presidential candiates have to promise free college tuition and student loan debt forgiveness. Nothing says common sense more than letting your kid study underwater basketweaving for $100k a year and no plans for a career trajectory to pay it back /s.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Realistically, how many institutions admit by major? If this strategy actually worked, wouldn't everyone be applying as a French major?

1. All of them, at core (and Universities with separate colleges admissions policies universally)
2. Yet they all understand that a vast number change majors, and have data to back that up
3. And they know who is faking it and who isn't, for the most part, so as a strategy it fails

It only fails if you don't plan ahead....e.g. having your Asian student study 3-4 years of Spanish in high school and their summer volunteer experience abroad teaching in South America. Gotta start thinking outside of the box as an Asian person much earlier than when the applications are due. Yeah sure, if you're on the chess team, math club, science Olympiad winner, and on the robotics team yet try to sign up for an acient philosophy degree on your college application it'll raise some flags. Again, if something like med school is the ultimate goal, start prepping freshman year in high school for a non-trad study path to get below the radar of diversity committees that have much more say in things like trying to balance stem incoming classes based on race and identity

Such a deeply cynical view. Is that what life is like in Fairfax County?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I learned that as an Asian-American parent we have the opposite of "White entitlement". We feel that people will shit all over us, regardless of how very meritorious we are. We expect the very worst and we expect to be swindled out of our rightful and well-earned place. When things actually go our way and the system works the way it is, we are shocked and incredulous. Then we run to the temple/church/mosque to THANK GOD that the last honest person in the world was assigned to us!!!!!!!!!

Asian Americans are being discriminated against for the benefit of White students mainly.

Whites now have sneakily put themselves in the same category as URMs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It only fails if you don't plan ahead....e.g. having your Asian student study 3-4 years of Spanish in high school and their summer volunteer experience abroad teaching in South America. Gotta start thinking outside of the box as an Asian person much earlier than when the applications are due. Yeah sure, if you're on the chess team, math club, science Olympiad winner, and on the robotics team yet try to sign up for an Ancient Philosophy degree on your college application it'll raise some flags. Again, if something like med school is the ultimate goal, start prepping freshman year in high school for a non-trad study path to get below the radar of diversity committees that have much more say in things like trying to balance stem incoming classes based on race and identity

Such a deeply cynical view. Is that what life is like in Fairfax County?

Actually, it is not a deeply cynical view. It is the reality for majority of Asian-American students and parents. In some ways, this discrimination against Asian-Americans is making Asian-Americans explore other career fields that they traditionally would not have explored. I am really happy to see Asian-Americans getting into non-STEM careers.

[Anonymous]

I am just floored by the posters here saying they want all the goodies for their children and they deserve them because “slavery was not my fault.” Be a good example for your children. Be brave, be kind, have a sense of perspective. Your children are watching and listening to you as you say that blacks are undeserving, merit = IQ, etc. Read up on the civil rights movement, on the Reconstruction era, on segregation, even on Apartheid. See if any of it sounds familiar to what you hear yourself saying.

Then get your anxiety treated if you think that going to a #15 “ranked” college is in any way meaningfully different than going to a #5 college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It only fails if you don't plan ahead....e.g. having your Asian student study 3-4 years of Spanish in high school and their summer volunteer experience abroad teaching in South America. Gotta start thinking outside of the box as an Asian person much earlier than when the applications are due. Yeah sure, if you're on the chess team, math club, science Olympiad winner, and on the robotics team yet try to sign up for an Ancient Philosophy degree on your college application it'll raise some flags. Again, if something like med school is the ultimate goal, start prepping freshman year in high school for a non-trad study path to get below the radar of diversity committees that have much more say in things like trying to balance stem incoming classes based on race and identity

Such a deeply cynical view. Is that what life is like in Fairfax County?

Actually, it is not a deeply cynical view. It is the reality for majority of Asian-American students and parents. In some ways, this discrimination against Asian-Americans is making Asian-Americans explore other career fields that they traditionally would not have explored. I am really happy to see Asian-Americans getting into non-STEM careers.

The notion of trying to game the system by taking up nonstereotypical activities and academic interests has been around for decades in Fairfax.