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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yawn.  White privileged folks prevail as usual w/ alumni connections and donations.[/quote]

Of course, if you happen to be white and have parents who never graduated from high school and Dad makes less than $15 per hour with a SAHM, no special interest group cares about you and  you are totally screwed....[/quote]

Totally wrong -- you're a highly coveted "first-gen" student who will get a free ride if you have the credentials to get into HYPS.  Doesn't mean it'll be easy -- if you fall in this category, you aren't likely to have had the educational opportunities and developed some of the academic skills that UMC kids have, and you may experience a real cultural schock, struggle financially (or cause your family to), and may not have the support you need at home.  But college admissions officers do care about you and you are not totally screwed.[/quote]

True - it is the kids of these white "First Geners" who are now UMC who are screwed![/quote]

Well (I'm the PP you're agreeing with and a quasi-first gen myself), not exactly screwed.  My UMC kid has directly benefited from the upward mobility that Harvard educations gave her parents.  Harvard was a life-changing experience for me, but it'd be more of the same for DC -- she was born into that transformed life.  Doesn't it make more sense to give access to the kids for whom Harvard will make the most difference vs. kids who start out with so many advantages that they're going to do well whether they go to Harvard or not?  I get why legacy preferences exist (($$$)), but I wish they didn't.  [/quote]

Your assumption is that legacies and other UMC students don't bring anything to the table that a "First Gener" doesn't have.  If the push for "diversity" is going to be sustainable over the long term as something that truly benefits students and adds to the educational experience, it must be in the service of producing a group of students with a truly wide range of experiences. I think a class entirely made up of "First Geners" would be as bad as a class only made up of legacies.  I suspect that a great deal of the "upper mobility" that Harvard gave you wasn't just the intellectual experience, but the social/economic education, as well.  I went to a school that was not as academically respected as Harvard, but which was a popular recruiting stop for employers, as the school was known for producing graduates with a certain "polish" and an ability to feel comfortable in any situation.  I was from a very middle class family, and I learned to fit in with the children of billionaires as well as students from disadvantaged backgrounds.  Denying admission to either the billionaire's kids or the students from disadvantaged backgrounds would have been a significant detriment to my "education."

One of the statements from OP that concerned me was the point about wanting interviews from recent graduates who have a better feel regarding who will "fit in" at the school. This sounds a lot like "we want people from all socioeconomic and racial backgrounds...as long as they think exactly like us." [/quote]

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