Reply to Asians are NOT the model minority: the Affirmative Action Chess Game

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote] Can you explain how Asian Americans can claim discrimination in college admissions but are overrepresented on most college campuses relative to their U.S. population? [/quote]

Easy. If they are 30% of the elite college population but would be 60% on the basis of merit, then they have been discriminated against.[/quote]

Merit as defined by you, you mean.

What Harvard is way more interested in than GPA and test scores is who's going to be a future leader in a realm that will be sure to garner Harvard lots of attention and potentially money. Some of that comes from being smart and hard-working, but there's much more to it than that.

Asians are not being discriminated against.[/quote]

Merit as defined by Harvard itself, actually.

So you think Asians, who excel in extracurriculars as well as grades, lack "future leadership potential"? They just don't have that extra je ne sais quoi on top of their intelligence and grades? The only reason to think this is... racism.

Asians are being discriminated against by racists just like you.[/quote]

You should really be more judicious in your use of the term 'racist'. I was dating women of Asian descent and studying Asian languages because I love the culture before you were born probably.

Nothing in my statement said that I don't believe those with Asian ancestry can be leaders--you just inferred it incorrectly. But Harvard, which examines each application very carefully, chooses who they will make great leaders. Almost all are extremely bright and hard-working, but those that aren't have something beyond that. Students who aren't chosen, regardless of background, don't have as much of what they're looking for as those they do choose.[/quote]

Is it possible that “what they’re looking for” is inherently racist against Asians? Sure maybe less of our kids play golf and squash and have experience speaking with other social elites, but what else is missing other than something that is a function of wealth and status (which some of these colleges are supposed to help with)? We are not against affirmative action but we are displeased with what is currently happening to Asians in admissions - when my daughter applied two years ago with perfect tests and grades, high level of leadership, international awards, etc. we were somewhat disappointed with the results. Most of the ivies didn’t accept her, and she also got some surprising rejections and waitlists from other schools she thought were “realistic.” And we don’t believe her writing or recommendations were the issue either - her teachers loved her, and her essays were reviewed several times by other teachers and professionals. Luckily she was able to get into UPenn, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, and Johns Hopkins among other good options but we were told she should be very competitive for the likes of Harvard, MIT, Princeton given her level of awards and leadership. She’s happily at Duke (and very involved with their Asian community) but now we’re being extra cautious for our son applying this year.[/quote]

Your kid got into those schools and you were disappointed? If you want to know what the problem was, look in the mirror.[/quote]

At the time we were a bit disappointed, but only because she had some major awards that in past years correlated strongly with acceptances to Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Princeton. However after getting to know Duke we quickly became very happy with the school and what it has offered our daughter - but it does not change the fact that the admissions process came surprised us. Perhaps it was our fault of expecting so much, but a lot of the data points we had supported our thoughts about where our daughter would get in. The point is that we've thrown that expectation out the window for our son based on our daughter's experience.[/quote]

those schools have sub 5% admit rates - the only sure ticket to any of them is athletic recruiting. [/quote]

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