Reply to Harvard's odd quota on Asian-Americans

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Re: differences in admissions standards - a post has already addressed it and [b]everyone ignored it for some reason.[/b]

[quote]Black/Hispanic scores are lower, as a group, than Asian scores. After the first cut, where everyone deemed "not academically qualified" are rejected, SAT scores are not considered in making admissions decisions. For the purposes of this discussion, let's just say that anyone whose SAT is below 2100 is rejected at this point, but the determination of academic qualification is probably more complicated and less clear cut.

Now the distribution of scores for everyone who is left looks quite different. For the Asians, the scores likely skew higher than the scores for Blacks, simply because a 2100 is a 99th percentile score for Blacks as a whole. For Asians, a 2100 is only around the 90th percentile, with 2400 being the 99th percentile score.

Selection after this point appears random with respect to SAT scores because they are based on non-quantifiable factors, but, as expected, the accepted Asians have a much higher SAT score than the accepted Blacks. It has nothing to do with Black applicants being given a boost.
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Two reasons, I think.  One is that some posters (I know I'm one!) lose track of what's been said where, since this discussion of affirmative action seems to be sprawling across 2-3 different threads simultaneously.  I made a similar argument on one of the other threads, saying SATs are used more for a rough sort and for disqualification than for rank-ordering strong candidates.  The other is that lots of people either just refuse to believe (and/or think it's wrong) that college admissions doesn't work on the premise that the higher the SAT, the smarter (or better prepared or more deserving) the student.  So much time, money, effort and angst is invested in these College Board products that kids/parents lose track of what they are and aren't good (or used) for.
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