Reply to Harvard's odd quota on Asian-Americans

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I think that is mainly the problem. Asians bring it during the school years but they have difficulty actually doing anything after schooling is over. AA are killing Asians in the creation of businesses. All those great test scores are meaningless. Harvard wants students who will become somebody that is a "connection" so their student have and edge in the work place. Asians are not able to do that.[/quote]

TPMS mom here, and I think there's a lot to this. I wouldn't phrase it as "difficulty in doing anything after schooling" but instead I'd say that straight As, just on their own, are not a good indicator of potential to be a famous innovator, CEO, business leader, or philanthropist. Let's face it, Harvard wants its grads to do great things so that you continue to read about Harvard grads doing great things.

This potential is not necessarily demonstrated by an ability to chain yourself to your desk between ages 10 and 17, especially if there's a suspicion (perhaps unfair, because the Tiger Mom thing may be overblown) that your parents are the ones who did the chaining. It can be difficult to discern the motivation and drive behind those straight As. I don't have time to read the rest of this thread, so I don't know if this has been discussed already, but I think I can speak to this because my older kid is at a university that like Harvard accepts 6-7% of applicants (younger kid hasn't applied yet), and I've seen a lot of kids get accepted and rejected. Straight As may be (or may not be) a sign of a great future scientist or lab worker, but on their own, straight As are not a clear signal of a budding tech innovator or CEO.

Harvard is just as likely to be interested in the kid who got straight As (a given for most applicants) while also starting a business at home, raising major funds for a cause, showing resiliency (a key trait in success) in the face of big life challenges, or demonstrating exceptional leadership skills. Straight As and high SATs are basically a threshold for applying to Harvard--that's all. Any competitive applicant for Harvard already has straight As, high SATs, and 8-12 AP scores of mostly 5s, and I'm guessing that 20,000 out of Harvard's 33,000 annual applicants already have these stats. But here's the kicker. After you rack up your straight As, then you need to do something additional to stand out from the 20,000 other straight A applicants. This other accomplishments make your (de riguer) straight As look easy, something you did well while you were also saving the world or building that nuclear reactor in your basement. It's a huge burden on aspiring Harvard applicants, but these are the kids Harvard wants. [/quote]

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