NP here. PP, I honestly think that you are a bit out of line (though I am certain that you did not intend to be). And I can see how the previous commenter might be a bit offended by your post. Honestly, you do come across as a little negative about your daughter's chances. If you go into the admissions process being positive and supportive, instead of negative, "victimized", and resigned, that will surely help your wonderful daughter a great deal. |
PP, you are being (rightly) criticized for being very condescending to and dismissive of a minority. She brings up a good question, would it ever occur to you to publicly tell a minority to "embrace themselves?" I personally think that you owe the previous poster an apology. As to your other point, no one assumes that anyone was born into money, and in fact I personally assume that most people are not. Currently, universities are attempting to equalize years of under-representation by minority students by admitting qualified minority applicants from a variety of social, economic, racial, ethnic, and national backgrounds. You should not criticize the previous poster for checking a box that is available to them -- especially since that box is not contingent on SES. You, yourself, are probably the beneficiary of more women than ever being admitted to college regardless of their SES. |
It's getting hot in here! |
| Yes indeed. I embrace who I am and I expect others to embrace who they are and not to be in denial about getting preferential treatment. |
PP, in the overall scheme is obvious that some students ultimately have better admissions outcomes because they were born to a more affluent household, had access to better resources, more time with their parents, attended better schools, lived in stable settings, afforded superior athletic training, or were blessed with the right athletic build and talents. Perhaps young women have better admissions outcomes because they are more organized, more responsible, less fidgety. Or perhaps, as you argue, young men (of all ethnicities and races) now have a better chance because they are currently under-represented vis-a-vis similarly situated young women. And Asian students can probably make the argument that they have it harder (need better grades, scores, ECs) with respect to everyone else. You are right that recruited athletes, under-represented minority students, legacies, big donors, famous people, and other groups also get some preferential treatment. My point is simply this, most of us, receive/earn/get/have some "preferential treatment" in life which enables our children to have a better chance in college admissions. So, let's not single out the Latinos, and let us "embrace" each other and ourselves for all that we do have. |
That wonderful peace and quiet is the result of all of us realizing and appreciating that, yes, life has blessed our families and our children with some "preferential treatment". |
You aren't the loud lady on Modern Family, by any chance? |
Because that's the only Latina you know, right? (NP here, BTW) |
I really hope that this is meant to be a friendly joke, because otherwise things have taken a rather unpleasant turn on this post. |
| I don't want to get caught up in the back-and-forth, but it is not controversial that currently colleges are seeking male students and it is thus slightly more favorable to be a male applicant. (That does not mean, of course, that men who are admitted to elite colleges are less than superbly qualified.) |
Agreed |
really depends on the college and the program. If you are male and trying to get into computer science or engineering programs, it is not at all favorable. |
| Oh please pp. |
I think that is accurate for some of the more specialized schools -- basically where the nature of the school is an engineering school, or the relatively few schools where you have to apply to a specific program and the specific program is heavily male. So, for example, while there is a slight disadvantage in being a girl who is applying to an Ivy like Harvard or Yale (in which you are admitted to the general undergraduate college), there is not the same disadvantage when applying to a place like MIT or Cal Tech. As to whether there is an advantage in being female at those places I don't know (but it might well be the case). Because most liberal arts colleges do a general admissions approach (as at HYP) on balance the college application picture has gotten a little bit harder for girls. But from the articles I've seen, being a male applicant is obviously not a "hook" of anywhere near the magnitude of legacy, URM, or recruited athlete status (for male and female applicants), and there's no "girl penalty" of the scale of the fairly well-documented "Asian penalty." |