Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ there are literally hundreds of these accepts/rejects posts on CC. not sure if hand-picking 3 examples to fit your point proves anything.

Take it any way you want, twist and distort any way you want. I could care less. Bottom line is that the holistic method works and affords an opportunity to those who would never get a shot IF used properly.

You can victimize all you want but the bottom line is that there are just so many seats, no one race is getting all of them, and I applaud the holistic approach. Otherwise the Asian student would not have been accepted over other Asians with PERFECT scores of which there are many.

Finished.

I hope the Asians now attending Ivies get involved with activities. I went to an Ivy with lots of Asians but most contributed very little to the campus atmosphere. All most did was study. A few were better assimilated and actually got involved with things, but most might as well have taken distance-learning classes.

And how many Asians did you actually hang out with? I went to an Ivy in a very elite program where three quarter were Asians. No one was involved in a lousy fraternity where people drank too much, but we did all sorts of activities ranging from business associations to women's groups to acapella groups. Now we are all top finance/law/start up/hedge fund professionals. Do we threaten you?

You bored me then, and it sounds like you're just as boring now. Please don't try to ruin our schools - and, yes, our ancestors founded them, not yours - any more than you have already. I'm sure there are schools in China where you can learn to code, hack websites, and short mortgage bonds.

Anonymous wrote:The holistic admissions claim is a fallacy.
Asian Americans aren't idiots, we all know that it's not just grades it's also extracurricular activities.

The problem is when a valedictorian with excellent extracurriculars is passed up just because of the color of his skin because it is deemed there is too many of his race in that school. So you can take your "holistic" admissions and shove it.

I think many people just don't have a good grasp of the numbers involved in admissions to elite colleges/universities. Consider this:

There are 24,000 high schools in the US, so presumably at least that many valedictorians.

Harvard accepted just 1,944 students for the 2014-2015 school year (1,659 enrolled).

Let's say that Harvard changes it's admissions process so that ONLY students who were valedictorians of their high school can be admitted. If one valedictorian from each of 24,000 U.S. high schools then applied to Harvard, only 8% of them would be admitted. 92% would be rejected.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ there are literally hundreds of these accepts/rejects posts on CC. not sure if hand-picking 3 examples to fit your point proves anything.

Take it any way you want, twist and distort any way you want. I could care less. Bottom line is that the holistic method works and affords an opportunity to those who would never get a shot IF used properly.

You can victimize all you want but the bottom line is that there are just so many seats, no one race is getting all of them, and I applaud the holistic approach. Otherwise the Asian student would not have been accepted over other Asians with PERFECT scores of which there are many.

Finished.

I hope the Asians now attending Ivies get involved with activities. I went to an Ivy with lots of Asians but most contributed very little to the campus atmosphere. All most did was study. A few were better assimilated and actually got involved with things, but most might as well have taken distance-learning classes.

And how many Asians did you actually hang out with? I went to an Ivy in a very elite program where three quarter were Asians. No one was involved in a lousy fraternity where people drank too much, but we did all sorts of activities ranging from business associations to women's groups to acapella groups. Now we are all top finance/law/start up/hedge fund professionals. Do we threaten you?

The holistic admissions claim is a fallacy.
Asian Americans aren't idiots, we all know that it's not just grades it's also extracurricular activities.

The problem is when a valedictorian with excellent extracurriculars is passed up just because of the color of his skin because it is deemed there is too many of his race in that school. So you can take your "holistic" admissions and shove it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ there are literally hundreds of these accepts/rejects posts on CC. not sure if hand-picking 3 examples to fit your point proves anything.

Take it any way you want, twist and distort any way you want. I could care less. Bottom line is that the holistic method works and affords an opportunity to those who would never get a shot IF used properly.

You can victimize all you want but the bottom line is that there are just so many seats, no one race is getting all of them, and I applaud the holistic approach. Otherwise the Asian student would not have been accepted over other Asians with PERFECT scores of which there are many.

Finished.

I hope the Asians now attending Ivies get involved with activities. I went to an Ivy with lots of Asians but most contributed very little to the campus atmosphere. All most did was study. A few were better assimilated and actually got involved with things, but most might as well have taken distance-learning classes.

Anonymous wrote:I'll be even more blunt

This isn't Korea or China or India

The score on your test isn't what matters most here

Harvard could take all perfect SAT scores if they wanted.... but they don't

HOLISTIC Admissions

Did you know that Harvard turned to "holistic" admissions to exclude the majority of Jews? If you are white, then don't complain if a URM kid with low scores gets into a univ. over your higher scoring white kid. There were some white kids who sued some universities over this very thing. Do you think "holistic" admissions when these white kids sued, or only when Asian kids sue?

Anonymous wrote:^ there are literally hundreds of these accepts/rejects posts on CC. not sure if hand-picking 3 examples to fit your point proves anything.

Take it any way you want, twist and distort any way you want. I could care less. Bottom line is that the holistic method works and affords an opportunity to those who would never get a shot IF used properly.

You can victimize all you want but the bottom line is that there are just so many seats, no one race is getting all of them, and I applaud the holistic approach. Otherwise the Asian student would not have been accepted over other Asians with PERFECT scores of which there are many.

Finished.

^ there are literally hundreds of these accepts/rejects posts on CC. not sure if hand-picking 3 examples to fit your point proves anything.

This is my last example. The Asian student below, in my opinion, does not have the stellar credentials that other Asian students had in my College Confidential review. Her scores aren't even as good as the African-American student I posted YET she was chosen over many in her ethnic group and outside of it. Additionally, with her scores and NO awards, she was accepted to a few Ivy schools.

Should she be kicked to the curb because her credentials aren't as good as the OP's or does she get a pass because she's Asian?

I'm not saying that some Asian bias doesn't exist but nobody, and I mean NOBODY of any race, deserves all the college seats.

04-01-2016 at 1:38 pm edited April 1
Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 34M, 33CR, 36W, 28S (oops)
- one attempt
SAT II: 770M-II, 710Literature
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 5.1
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/300
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5-APUSH, 5-ENG.LANG, 4-CALC.AB, 4-COMP.SCI, 3-CHEM, 3-BIO, 3-US.GOV
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP CALC.BC, AP ENV.SCI, AP STATS&PROB, AP PHYS, AP PSYCH, AP HUME.GEO, AP ENG.LIT, GYM
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
- Numerous publications (editor)
- Environmental Coalition/Commission (vice president and liaison)
- Student Council/Government (president, student rep for board)
Job/Work Experience:
- Video game guides at home
Volunteer/Community service:
- Key Club/local foodbank/tutor at library
Summer Activities:
- Courses taken at Boston University
- Interdisciplinary program studying climate change
- MIT's Online Science, Engineering, and Technology Community (MOSTEC)
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
- Common App - 10.1/10: very personal, anecdotal, interesting metaphor utilized (came from the heart)
- Areas of Appeal - 10/10: posed a rift in humanity through a series of questions
- Why Yale - 9/10: very casual free verse poem, talked about the humble community at Yale
- Supplemental Essay - 9/10: talked about incense and how such smells serve as my culture (universal and boundless)
- I admit some essays were a bit poetic/non-sequitur, but I was happy with them overall.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
- Biology Teacher - 10/10: knew him since I began high school, worked with him in various clubs, talk to him a lot outside of class
- English Teacher - 9/10: although she was my 10th grade teacher, she knew my love for literature, and I think that's what she talked about in her letter (Socratic circles, research papers, etc)
- Guidance Counselor 10/10: her letter essentially captured my story but also revealed my love for learning by talking about my various projects in the summer programs
- Supplemental Recommendations from MOSTEC Professors: first one was quite bland (so was he somewhat) but talked about an above-and-beyond attitude; second was much more casual and talked about my love of writing.
Interview: I did not receive one.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Humanities
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: M
Income Bracket: Lower Bracket
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Personal story (? - I never specifically referenced it but I think it could be inferred from recs)

Reflection

Strengths: Genuine essays that were essentially entries to a diary, lackadaisical approach towards admissions process (I never really followed proper procedures in handing in documents/submitted my scores quite late)
Weaknesses: Scores (although I have a theory that really high scores can hinder a person)
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My application process was never superficial: it was revelatory for me, and I think such effect transpired for the adcoms.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
- Accepted to Princeton
- Accepted to Stanford
- Accepted to Harvard
- Rejected from MIT
- Waitlisted from Duke
- Waitlisted from Columbia

General Comments: So I think the most important lesson I garnered from such a long, drawn-out (and sometimes horrifying) process is that the result is simply just a copied-and-pasted letter (a digital one, in fact). Prior to beginning any of my college applications, I reflected on the tumultuous journeys of myself and of my classmates, and I couldn't help but to notice how there have been so many pressures that have alienated us into believing and subscribing to such a superficial dream of what "success" really is. Thus, I took the entire admissions process as a source of inspiration for myself, and only myself. My essays mirror that of a senior thesis of any college student, and they weren't written with the intention of impressing the admissions officers (bragging is quite useless and unnecessary), but rather with the genuine desire to cohesively put together the snippets of my own story. And I think that, if an institution is compelled and intrigued with your story, it'll check its acceptance marks. If not, then there isn't a compatibility, and that's totally okay. And if you have no story at all, I plead you to go write it for the sake of knowing yourself.

As someone has already stated in another thread, "people aren't lying when they tell you to just be yourself."

Anonymous wrote:I'll be even more blunt

This isn't Korea or China or India

The score on your test isn't what matters most here

Harvard could take all perfect SAT scores if they wanted.... but they don't

HOLISTIC Admissions

I scrolled through dozens and dozens of College Confidential's acceptance/rejection list. This individual has the credentials of any academically high ranked applicant. Yet, rejected AND African-American.

The whole process is a crapshoot. There are just so many seats and so many qualified candidates. There has to be some type of holistic process. The seats do not belong to every Asian who has a perfect score. And that goes for blacks, whites, greens, purple, and pinks.

04-04-2016 at 9:50 pm
Decision: Rejected

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT: 35 Composite, 36 Math, 36 Science, 34 English, 34 Reading
(36 Superscore)
SAT II: 800 Math II , 740 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.6
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geo 5, World History 5, Chemistry 4, Calc BC 5, Bio 4, Physics 1 4 (self "study"), English Lang & Comp 5, US History 4
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP CS, AP Lit, AP Econ, AP Physics C, AP Seminar, Honors Adv Math II, Academic Decathlon, WOOT
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National and state medals for academic decathlon, but really nothing, probs why I got rejected, National merit scholar, National ap scholar, city and state medals for math team, invite to nationals for science bowl

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Math Team 9-12
Physics Olympiad, 10-12, Captain
Science Bowl 11-12, Co-Captain
Table Tennis 9-12, Co-Captain
Academic Decathlon 11-12
Piano, 1-12

Job/Work Experience:

Volunteer/Community service: 100+ service hours

Summer Activities:
Math camp at UChicago after 7th, 8th, 9th
Particle Physics Research at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory after 10th
Summer Math Program at MIT after 11th
Astrophysics Research at UChicago after 11th


Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App 7/10, I thought my roommate essay was funny and showed my personality. I tried to show how much I liked Stanford in my essays and thought they were good. 8/10 for short essays.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: idk
Teacher Rec #2: idk
Counselor Rec: idk
Additional Rec: none
Interview: none

Other
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public Magnet
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 120k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):none

Reflection
Strengths: none
Weaknesses: GPA, lack of significant awards. Tried to do stuff like math and physics olympiads but never got to the point I should've for the amount of work I put in. I sacrificed my grades to try to become good at them in the same way an athlete or musician might, but ultimately it didn't pay off. no regrets though, still learned a lot. Now that all of my decisions are out, I'm guessing it was also my essays.

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: ^

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Rejected Caltech, WashU, Northwestern, UChicago, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Brown, UPenn
Waitlisted MIT, University of Michigan
Accepted Carnegie Mellon, University of Illinois
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Anonymous wrote:I'll be even more blunt

This isn't Korea or China or India

The score on your test isn't what matters most here

Harvard could take all perfect SAT scores if they wanted.... but they don't

HOLISTIC Admissions

And this WHITE student is a perfect example of holistic. I agree with Harvard on his admission. They don't want all single race students regardless whether that race seems superior in their ability to test.

03-31-2015 at 8:00 pm
Decision: Accepted!!!


Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 650 Math, 650 Writing, 730 Crit Reading for a total of 2030 on my second try.
ACT (breakdown): didn't take
SAT II: didn't take
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/8, Valedictorian
AP (place score in parentheses): n/a
IB (place score in parentheses): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: We only have one advanced course and it's a college credit class, so my course load is really unimpressive: Senior English, Personal Finance, Physics, Cit Ed, Fitness, Math 111/112 (the college course) and Yearbook.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none, just lots of local-level awards.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): FFA (President of Chapter and District), Yearbook (Co-Editor) (though it's also a class), President of Senior Class, Drama Club, Tech Club, National Honor Society (Vice President last year), Track and Field. Outside of school I do 4-H and orchestra.
Job/Work Experience: I only ever worked for pay one summer on a local mint field. I also live on a ranch, however, so you could count that.
Volunteer/Community service: I volunteer at the hospital every Friday, local museum during the summer, and I'm a 4-H Camp Counselor during the summer. I also have
Summer Activities: Not much! The aforementioned museum volunteering, 4-H camp, music lessons, etc.
Essays: My Common App essay was about living in such a rural area and wanting to get the most out of my education and get new experiences. My Harvard essay was the future roommate one; I really got to be myself in that one and I thought it was an entertaining read at least, so I guess they liked it! I'd rate them both around 8/10. I thought my writing was good but without seeing anyone else's essays I have no idea how they compare.
Teacher Recommendation: Probably pretty good. I like my teachers a lot and (as far as I'm aware) they like me too! I didn't read them though. 8/10
Counselor Rec: Again, probably pretty good. My counselor is a cool lady. 8/10
Additional Rec: I don't believe I submitted one.
Interview: Awesome! I think I came across as a bit shyer than I would have liked but my interviewer was a really great lady and she was very easy to talk to. I think she liked me a lot and she said (when I called her a few minutes ago to tell her I got accepted) that she had strongly recommended me, so that must be a good sign. 9/10
Supplementary Material: n/a

Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
State (if domestic applicant): OR
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): 80,000 (ranch and my mom's work income included)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Coming from an extremely rural area and ranch.

Reflection
Strengths: Essays, interview, from a unique situation
Weaknesses: SAT score, lack of advanced classes, no SAT II, no major awards...lol
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Honestly, I think it must have been something in my essays or interview, or perhaps my unique location. I mean, it had to be, since my academics are less than the average for Harvard.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was rejected from Yale, Princeton, and Columbia (since I didn't take the subject II tests some of my applications weren't even considered complete anyway) but accepted to my more local private universities.

General Comments:

I am genuinely shocked that I got in. I come from an extremely, EXTREMELY rural area (I drive 15 miles to school every day and we have more cows than people in my county) so I think that must have been an advantage. My school has 52 students 9-12 grades, if that says anything. I mean, as you can see, my academics are below the average (which is partially due to the lack of classes to take) so I'm truly humbled by the fact that I got in when so many other amazing students didn't.

I'm very, very pleased however. And also nervous! If I end up attending I can't wait to meet everyone else. I hope I can keep up!!

Anonymous wrote:Im an asian who says make the races equal in admissions, but give lower income applicants an advantage.

Agree.

I'll be even more blunt

This isn't Korea or China or India

The score on your test isn't what matters most here

Harvard could take all perfect SAT scores if they wanted.... but they don't

HOLISTIC Admissions

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's scary to read some of your comments and know how you REALLY feel about me, an Asian American. So many ignorant, scared racists among you.

Well, don't feel too bad. It's not just against Asians. I think Americans, generally speaking, feel a lot of resentment towards other races. From that standpoint, we (regardless of your race) are equally guilty. It is no "melting pot"... Just a pot with different things that don't mix thrown in.

That doesn't make this AMERICAN feel any better. I don't like to see racism against other races either.

The game changed. This is not 30 years ago. Thirty years ago the population was primarily was white and black. Affirmative Action for colleges to allow black children with lower scores to be accepted was the right thing to do. Today, our country has not closed the achievement gap unfortunately still. MCPS thinks they can solve it and even they are not successful. Here is how the "college game" for race changed. The population has changed. It's now Asian scoring high, and African American and now Hispanic children too still scoring lower. The white children numbers most likely will not change. The reality is it will allow more Asian children and black and Hispanic will no longer be accepted with lower scores. Everyone is American and it's not a white vs minority issues, it's what is best for all children and actually it impacts all the minority groups. I am really torn on this issue as I see both sides.

The achievement gap hasn't closed because throwing money at won't solve the issue.

You could throw 100 billion at developing basketball players in china and the nba would still never have more than a handful of Chinese.

I have never understood how people blindly accept racial differences below the neck but suddenly think these differences stop at the neck and everyone is the same from the neck up

Actually, this is another stereotype. Chinese people and Chinese-Americans differ considerably in terms of body types. And, contrary to stereotypes, many Chinese people and many Chinese-Americans are very good athletes. The same is true of Asians and Asian-Americans in general.

Anonymous wrote:

You could throw 100 billion at developing basketball players in china and the nba would still never have more than a handful of Chinese.

I have never understood how people blindly accept racial differences below the neck but suddenly think these differences stop at the neck and everyone is the same from the neck up

No the NBA would be all chinese- Black people aren't specially gifted at athletics/basketball- its that a lot of black kids see it as a goal and play hard at it and scouts go find them, if chinese or Azerbaijani kids did the same they'd be the best basketball players. This happens all the time- if a group of people work hard at something they accomplish domination, it has to come from the heart, not just throwing $$ at it. You realize the implication is that 'neck up' ppl are differently abled- if this is so than Asians are as a group the smartest & yes we can lead and be creative so white ppl should shut up & get out of the way and darker skinned natives of africa and south/cenral america are bot- that is sooooo dumb & not true!! Human nervous systems are not racially different