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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I remember hearing Harvard admissions people saying the single biggest thing you can do to help your kid get into Harvard is to move to Alabama. I'm sure that is true. The court case about Harvard admissions that isn't going to the supreme court has revealed how much geographic diversity helps (interestingly it helps more or less depending on race - [b]Asian applicants get fewer geographic diversity points because Harvard says they aren't "really" from there[/b] - but that is another topic).

Geographic diversity helps a lot but it isn't a slam dunk. My friend does alumni interviewing in a rural state and she is surprised about the kids she interviews who seem impressive and don't get in.[/quote]

As an Asian person born and raised in an underrepresented state (and raising my kids in a different underrepresented state), I know this is true, and it makes me angry, and I hope this lawsuit finally does something about it. Of course, my multiracial kids won't be checking the Asian box, but-- how many generations do we have to live here to be considered Real Americans?[/quote]

[b]Asian here.  To the PPP, what in the H??  Where was this and why is this the first I’ve heard of this?  This is just as bad as the points docking personality traits.[/b]  [/quote]

Asian PP born and raised in "Sparse Country", as Harvard calls it, and raising my kids there. This is from William Fitzsimmons' testimony at trial, as summarized in this New Yorker article:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/at-trial-harvards-asian-problem-and-a-preference-for-white-students-from-sparse-country

"When asked whether Harvard 'put a thumb on the scale for white students' from Sparse Country, Fitzsimmons contrasted students who 'have only lived in the Sparse Country state for a year or two' with those who 'have lived there for their entire lives under very different settings.' Perhaps he meant that whites are more likely to be 'farm boys' or 'great ambassadors,' like his South Dakotan roommate. Or perhaps he meant that Asians are more likely than whites to apply to Harvard, less likely to be accepted, and more likely to enroll if accepted, so Harvard saves itself postage costs by reducing its recruiting of Asians. But the exchange highlighted a key question of the trial: whether the Harvard admissions process treats white racial identity as an asset, relative to Asian identity (or treats Asian identity as a drawback, relative to white identity). By pointing to the higher numerical cutoff for Asians as a group at the recruitment stage, before any holistic review of individual applicants could have occurred, the plaintiff apparently was suggesting that race is not used as one factor among many but, rather, as the determinative factor, in Harvard’s alleged effort to shape its class to be more white and less Asian."[/quote]

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