Will being half-Asian work against my kids in top college acceptances?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are half-White and half Indian. Can’t we just say white in applications?

I don’t understand.

Are you under some delusion they would fact discrimination? If anything, Asians are over-represented at competitive colleges and universities.

Why does it matter if one group is over represented in institutions that deal in academic smarts? Black people are over represented in the NBA because the NBA gets to pick top talent. Do you complain about that?

Asian Americans have to score higher in every measure compared to other groups because those institutions look at race. The NBA doesn't look at race. If you want people to be race-blind, then you cannot expect institutions to not be race-blind.

It matters because you assume there is some rigid set of criteria that universities must apply when what they are really doing is making learning communities. This is largely a subjective exercise, and that’s valid. It’s not like the NBA at all. What an idiotic comparison. Like so idiotic that if this is how you and your family think, it’s no wonder you were rejected.

If these institutions want diverse learning communities, then why do they only select those with top scores in the respective groups?

Are you telling me that they want a C student with a 980 SAT score who happens to be Asian American and went to a poor school for diversity sake?

Those types of schools are very concerned about the rank and scores, which is why they only want students who score very high. There aren't too many high scoring students in a particular group, so they have to make do with what is available.

Please understand that while YOU consider really amazing kids with SAT scores lower than your child "making do," the universities in question do not. They PREFER that child over yours, which is what stings, I understand.

They have multiple criteria, and you do not. That does not make them wrong.

Clearly, they do prefer it, because they want to give the appearance that they are not racist. But, they don't want too many Asian Americans there. That is also clear.

But, if they were serious about diversity, then they wouldn't have such a high legacy admit ratio. Legacy admits tend to be wealthy and white.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/23/elite-schools-ivy-league-legacy-admissions-harvard-wealthier-whiter

At Harvard, the acceptance rate for legacy students is about 33%, compared with an overall acceptance rate of under 6%. Countless powerful Americans have followed their relatives to elite universities. In 1935, when John F Kennedy applied to Harvard, the first page of the application form asked where his father had graduated from college. “Harvard 1912,” he wrote. He was admitted, though his academic record was not especially strong. In 1964, George W Bush followed his father and grandfather to Yale, despite lackluster grades.

among white applicants who were accepted to Harvard, 21.5% had legacy status. Only 6.6% of accepted Asian applicants, and 4.8% of accepted African American applicants, were legacies.

Similar practices exist at colleges across the US. Naviance, an education software company, recently gathered data on legacy applicants to 64 colleges. They estimated that on average, the admissions rate for legacies was around 31% higher than the official admissions rates for all applicants.

So, no, I don't think these colleges really care about diversity or merit.

BTW, my kids are not yet college aged, but when they do apply, I won't push them to apply to ivy leagues because they are elitist and hypocrites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP one thing to keep in mind is there are other places on the application that will reveal your student's ethnicity and race. My DC is also half white and half Indian. The applications ask where parents went to college. My DH went to college in India so DC had to put that on the application. Both parents' names are on the app - not just student's last name. My DC also wrote some of the shorter essays about experiences in India during childhood. Hell - I wouldn't be surprised if AOs google parents for whatever reason during the admissions process.

Anyway, I don't think it affected my DC's application as they were admitted to some very selective schools and is now attending a top 20 school.

Good luck to your DC. I think the most important thing is to let your DC show their true self on the applications and not try to be who they (or you) think the admissiosn folks want them to be.

DP. I get your point, but my kid would have none of those things true of their app. The only thing that suggests not totally white would be my first name, which doesn't sound white, but doesn't necessarily sound like any other race. My kid is not there yet and I don't know how I would advise her, but she looks completely White and her first and last names are "white sounding". Actually I'm not sure what the right thing to do is being that the "world" sees her as white

[Anonymous]

you can put what they are which is biracial.

Biracial is an option.

Not sure why this doesn't occur to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are half-White and half Indian. Can’t we just say white in applications?

I don’t understand.

Are you under some delusion they would fact discrimination? If anything, Asians are over-represented at competitive colleges and universities.

Why does it matter if one group is over represented in institutions that deal in academic smarts? Black people are over represented in the NBA because the NBA gets to pick top talent. Do you complain about that?

Asian Americans have to score higher in every measure compared to other groups because those institutions look at race. The NBA doesn't look at race. If you want people to be race-blind, then you cannot expect institutions to not be race-blind.

It matters because you assume there is some rigid set of criteria that universities must apply when what they are really doing is making learning communities. This is largely a subjective exercise, and that’s valid. It’s not like the NBA at all. What an idiotic comparison. Like so idiotic that if this is how you and your family think, it’s no wonder you were rejected.

If these institutions want diverse learning communities, then why do they only select those with top scores in the respective groups?

Are you telling me that they want a C student with a 980 SAT score who happens to be Asian American and went to a poor school for diversity sake?

Those types of schools are very concerned about the rank and scores, which is why they only want students who score very high. There aren't too many high scoring students in a particular group, so they have to make do with what is available.

Please understand that while YOU consider really amazing kids with SAT scores lower than your child "making do," the universities in question do not. They PREFER that child over yours, which is what stings, I understand.

They have multiple criteria, and you do not. That does not make them wrong.

Clearly, they do prefer it, because they want to give the appearance that they are not racist. But, they don't want too many Asian Americans there. That is also clear.

But, if they were serious about diversity, then they wouldn't have such a high legacy admit ratio. Legacy admits tend to be wealthy and white.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/23/elite-schools-ivy-league-legacy-admissions-harvard-wealthier-whiter

At Harvard, the acceptance rate for legacy students is about 33%, compared with an overall acceptance rate of under 6%. Countless powerful Americans have followed their relatives to elite universities. In 1935, when John F Kennedy applied to Harvard, the first page of the application form asked where his father had graduated from college. “Harvard 1912,” he wrote. He was admitted, though his academic record was not especially strong. In 1964, George W Bush followed his father and grandfather to Yale, despite lackluster grades.

among white applicants who were accepted to Harvard, 21.5% had legacy status. Only 6.6% of accepted Asian applicants, and 4.8% of accepted African American applicants, were legacies.

Similar practices exist at colleges across the US. Naviance, an education software company, recently gathered data on legacy applicants to 64 colleges. They estimated that on average, the admissions rate for legacies was around 31% higher than the official admissions rates for all applicants.

So, no, I don't think these colleges really care about diversity or merit.

BTW, my kids are not yet college aged, but when they do apply, I won't push them to apply to ivy leagues because they are elitist and hypocrites.

If your issue is legacy admissions - you're gonna have to cross off a lot more schools that just those in the ivy league.

[Anonymous]

OP you should steer your child towards schools in California.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you can put what they are which is biracial.

Biracial is an option.

Not sure why this doesn't occur to you.

It does occur to me. But if it is an advantage to just put white, and the world 'sees' her as white and 'reads' her as white, seems reasonable to consider just putting white.

[Anonymous]

"So, no, I don't think these colleges really care about diversity or merit."

Every Ivy except Dartmouth has 50% or more non-White students. The same goes for Stanford, Duke, MIT, CalTech, etc. The facts belie your assumptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better be half white and Asian than 100 percent Asian. They have it the toughest by far!

Why the hell should we prioritize Asians over Americans for slots at American universities? This is insane.

Ummm they're all American. Asian is their race. What are you even talking about?

Pp said “100% Asian.” Nothing about them being Americans.

In the context of this thread, dear, it’s clear we’re talking about Asian Americans and not international Students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP one thing to keep in mind is there are other places on the application that will reveal your student's ethnicity and race. My DC is also half white and half Indian. The applications ask where parents went to college. My DH went to college in India so DC had to put that on the application. Both parents' names are on the app - not just student's last name. My DC also wrote some of the shorter essays about experiences in India during childhood. Hell - I wouldn't be surprised if AOs google parents for whatever reason during the admissions process.

Anyway, I don't think it affected my DC's application as they were admitted to some very selective schools and is now attending a top 20 school.

Good luck to your DC. I think the most important thing is to let your DC show their true self on the applications and not try to be who they (or you) think the admissiosn folks want them to be.

DP. I get your point, but my kid would have none of those things true of their app. The only thing that suggests not totally white would be my first name, which doesn't sound white, but doesn't necessarily sound like any other race. My kid is not there yet and I don't know how I would advise her, but she looks completely White and her first and last names are "white sounding". Actually I'm not sure what the right thing to do is being that the "world" sees her as white

Why not legally change her name so it sounds completely white to you? Now would be the time to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"So, no, I don't think these colleges really care about diversity or merit."

Every Ivy except Dartmouth has 50% or more non-White students. The same goes for Stanford, Duke, MIT, CalTech, etc. The facts belie your assumptions.

So you’re saying that OP’s kid should define as White since the division of minority 50% has to include Asians, Hispanic/Latino, African American, Pacific Islander, and others.

He/she has better odds claiming White.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP one thing to keep in mind is there are other places on the application that will reveal your student's ethnicity and race. My DC is also half white and half Indian. The applications ask where parents went to college. My DH went to college in India so DC had to put that on the application. Both parents' names are on the app - not just student's last name. My DC also wrote some of the shorter essays about experiences in India during childhood. Hell - I wouldn't be surprised if AOs google parents for whatever reason during the admissions process.

Anyway, I don't think it affected my DC's application as they were admitted to some very selective schools and is now attending a top 20 school.

Good luck to your DC. I think the most important thing is to let your DC show their true self on the applications and not try to be who they (or you) think the admissiosn folks want them to be.

DP. I get your point, but my kid would have none of those things true of their app. The only thing that suggests not totally white would be my first name, which doesn't sound white, but doesn't necessarily sound like any other race. My kid is not there yet and I don't know how I would advise her, but she looks completely White and her first and last names are "white sounding". Actually I'm not sure what the right thing to do is being that the "world" sees her as white

The right thing would be to mark her as white, so that a deserving Asian/mixed race kid gets in. Your kid is white, and I bet is barely in touch with her Asian heritage, as you seem ashamed of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you should steer your child towards schools in California.

Why? Great schools and a great state but why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP one thing to keep in mind is there are other places on the application that will reveal your student's ethnicity and race. My DC is also half white and half Indian. The applications ask where parents went to college. My DH went to college in India so DC had to put that on the application. Both parents' names are on the app - not just student's last name. My DC also wrote some of the shorter essays about experiences in India during childhood. Hell - I wouldn't be surprised if AOs google parents for whatever reason during the admissions process.

Anyway, I don't think it affected my DC's application as they were admitted to some very selective schools and is now attending a top 20 school.

Good luck to your DC. I think the most important thing is to let your DC show their true self on the applications and not try to be who they (or you) think the admissiosn folks want them to be.

DP. I get your point, but my kid would have none of those things true of their app. The only thing that suggests not totally white would be my first name, which doesn't sound white, but doesn't necessarily sound like any other race. My kid is not there yet and I don't know how I would advise her, but she looks completely White and her first and last names are "white sounding". Actually I'm not sure what the right thing to do is being that the "world" sees her as white

The right thing would be to mark her as white, so that a deserving Asian/mixed race kid gets in. Your kid is white, and I bet is barely in touch with her Asian heritage, as you seem ashamed of it.

Ha ha! I’m Indian American and my only connection to my culture is very spicy food. Was I not deserving?

[Anonymous]

Why are these threads only about the same handful of colleges. If your kid can get into Harvard, they’ll be fine anywhere. Think outside the box and apply to the other great colleges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP one thing to keep in mind is there are other places on the application that will reveal your student's ethnicity and race. My DC is also half white and half Indian. The applications ask where parents went to college. My DH went to college in India so DC had to put that on the application. Both parents' names are on the app - not just student's last name. My DC also wrote some of the shorter essays about experiences in India during childhood. Hell - I wouldn't be surprised if AOs google parents for whatever reason during the admissions process.

Anyway, I don't think it affected my DC's application as they were admitted to some very selective schools and is now attending a top 20 school.

Good luck to your DC. I think the most important thing is to let your DC show their true self on the applications and not try to be who they (or you) think the admissiosn folks want them to be.

DP. I get your point, but my kid would have none of those things true of their app. The only thing that suggests not totally white would be my first name, which doesn't sound white, but doesn't necessarily sound like any other race. My kid is not there yet and I don't know how I would advise her, but she looks completely White and her first and last names are "white sounding". Actually I'm not sure what the right thing to do is being that the "world" sees her as white

The right thing would be to mark her as white, so that a deserving Asian/mixed race kid gets in. Your kid is white, and I bet is barely in touch with her Asian heritage, as you seem ashamed of it.

You're an idiot. She and I embrace our Asian culture.