How Harvard discriminates against Asian Americans in college admissions
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/us/harvard-asian-enrollment-applicants.html
Harvard consistently rated Asian-American applicants lower than any other race on personal traits like “positive personality,” likability, courage, kindness and being “widely respected,” according to an analysis of more than 160,000 student records filed Friday in federal court in Boston by a group representing Asian-American students in a lawsuit against the university. Harvard’s own researchers cited a bias against Asian-American applicants in a series of internal reports in 2013. But Harvard ignored the findings, the court papers said, and never publicly released them. On summary sheets, Asian-American applicants were much more likely than other races to be described as “standard strong,” meaning lacking special qualities that would warrant admission, even though they were more academically qualified, the plaintiffs said. They were 25 percent more likely than white applicants to receive that rating. They were also described as “busy and bright” in their admissions files, the plaintiffs said. Alumni interviewers give Asian-Americans personal ratings comparable to those of whites. But the admissions office gives them the worst scores of any racial group, often without even meeting them Harvard’s 2013 internal review found that if Harvard considered only academic achievement, the Asian-American share of the class would rise to 43 percent from the actual 19 percent. After accounting for Harvard’s preference for recruited athletes and legacy applicants, the proportion of whites went up, while the share of Asian-Americans fell to 31 percent. Accounting for extracurricular and personal ratings, the share of whites rose again, and Asian-Americans fell to 26 percent. What brought the Asian-American number down to roughly 18 percent, or about the actual share, was accounting for a category called “demographic,” the study found. This pushed up African-American and Hispanic numbers, while reducing whites and Asian-Americans. |
Anonymous
| Sickening. |
Anonymous
| She's baaaack... |
Anonymous
Oh, is there one particular person posting about Asian college admissions? If so, thank you to that poster. I am grateful not only for the information, but also for your efforts to raise awareness. |
Anonymous
| Because they are soooo sure they are entitled to a Harvard admission. |
Anonymous
| Yes, but as a private institution, they apparently can do that. The real question is why do so many Asians still want to attend and support an institution which is clearly biased against them? Is that really where you want to send your child? And do you really want to give them your money ? I don't, but alone that won't mean much. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
Holistic = good for some groups but not necessarily for others.  TJ doesn't play that game; they're still 70% Asian. But other groups have filed a complaint for discrimination with the U.S. Dept. of Education.
|
Anonymous
Because Harvard is not ONE person. The world-class research done there is led by people at the top of their fields, some of them Nobels, a lot of them foreigners, who couldn't care less what skin color or names their students have. Intellectually curious students want to go to the top institutions for that type of environment. Most top universities discriminate against Asians, probably unconsciously, but in a statistically significant way. This needs to come out in the open so that admission people are aware of their own unconscious biases. They need racial sensitivity training. They need to hire admissions officers who represent the applicants' ethnic origins. They cannot correct their prejudice if they don't know it's there. |
Anonymous
They do know. It is intentional and always has been. |
Anonymous
|
Asians are being used as pawns in yet another white attempt to keep the black and brown down.
https://www.vox.com/2018/3/28/17031460/affirmative-action-asian-discrimination-admissions |
Anonymous
Then that makes lawsuits even more critical. |
Anonymous
But they're already grossly over-represted vis a vis their percent of the population. They'll neve win this lawsuit. Harvard's describing them as "standard strong" is probably accurate. High grades and test scores but otherwise not special enough for the limited number of spots at Harvard. That's why there's always UVA! |
Anonymous
| This quantifies the discrimination many have always suspected. Disgraceful. Harvard needs to do better. |
Anonymous
Is that a reason to reject them? What about Blacks who dominate basketball? Just because a certain group has more talent for certain activities, does it mean we need to reject some because we need to give opportunities to others outside that group who aren't as good? If you're looking for a future math researcher who might solve problems which haven't been solved in decades and will advance the field considerably, are you going to reject a candidate with strong math skills in favor of another with less skills, in the name of skin color and race? |