It’s interesting how people love to talk about racial preferences for admissions but no one talks about preferences for Students whose parents were Alumni. Or If their parents are donors. Or if their parents are well connected.
How the F*&k do you think George W Bush get into Yale? Affirmative action, but no one talks about it. His SAT scores were well below average.
Also, Students who are able to pay full tuition without aid get preference at many schools.
This conversation is biased without discussing other forms of affirmative action; Parental Alumni preference, Paying Full Tuition, Connected Parent, etc.
^That reminds me, there was an article a while ago about a local state school giant that was boasting its commitment to diversity and how 30% of its applicants/admissions/year were international. (I’m making numbers up).
And the admissions person was like “yeah we’re not recruiting internationally or anything, but the number of international admissions just keeps going up!” Yeah no kidding, you take internationals over residents because they pay what 3 times the tuition of in-states?
That’s not commitment to diversity it’s $$$.
And re:other biases, it’s pretty much a given that well connected parents=open doors isn’t it?
Alumni have legitimate standing. Parents as donors provide real funding. United States Presidents getting their children is a huge boost to your school reputationally.
Accepting a random black person just because he/she is black doesn’t give you anything except “greater diversity”. And by giving bonus points to someone because of their race and nothing else means you are disadvantaging and likely took away that spot from someone who had BETTER scores and worked HARDER to get those scores. What to see a true definition of discrimination? here it is.
So buying your way in over better qualified people is ok, but begging your way in is not. Okie dokie. I’m against affirmative action, but I also think there is huge issues with a society that defines your likely outcome in life primarily on your pedigree.
I read a survey of college admissions staff members a few weeks ago, and only around 15% of them said parents’ alumni status was a consideration when making an admissions decision. There are too few spots to care anymore, especially when minorities have to take x% of the admits.
The job of your parents still matters and of course money talks.
I wonder what would’ve happened if that guy’s story was the exact same except he came from the Ukraine instead of Africa. I wonder if his essays would’ve been so “inspiring”
@ITERA, You said, " And by giving bonus points to someone because of their race and nothing else means you are disadvantaging and likely took away that spot from someone who had BETTER scores and worked HARDER to get those scores "
There are two problems with your argument:
The amount of minority students at many prodeminately caucasian Universities, especially Yale, is sooooooooo freaking small that if you didn’t get in it’s more likely that it was another class of affirmative action student that took your spot (but let’s not look at the numbers when we can argue emotions).
What you don’t realize is that it works both ways; white students also get diversity scholarships and affirmative action acceptence to attend black schools! It’s a two way street; but again no one talks about the white kids taking black students spots
Also, what legitimate standing does an Alumni have? This is endorsing the genetic lottery; last time I checked this wasn’t the UK.
Having parents who are alumni does not automatically punch your ticket, at least not to Princeton. My wife is a researcher at Princeton and her boss is a professor at Princeton and received both his master’s and PhD from Princeton. He also generates several milion dollars a year in grant revenue for the university. His daughter, a slightly above average student in a very good school district, was rejected by Princeton and is attending a state college instead. I realize that’s just one example and legacy candidates certainly get some preferrence, but it’s not a golden ticket.
i think affirmative action is good, especially for blacks juss cuz i think there is enough ppl that are biased that can potentially hold them back. in my hs, i know a brother and a sister who took the same class at different times. the sister took the class first and turned in an essay about how firemen were juss doing their jobs during 9/11. the sister was a whitewashed asian and got an A on the essay. no issues no problems. the brother, on the other hand, dressed like tupac and took the same class a year after. the brother decided to use the same essay the sister used to try and get an A. The teacher asked to see him after class. the brother thought “damn i got caught”. so when he spoke to him after class, the teacher was furious, and said “how can you write this about people who are trying to save our lives, my brother is a fireman, blah blah blah blah blah”. Anyways, the brother got an F, and failed that class.
Now obviously the brother cheated, but that is not hte point. the point is that ppl will react differently to other ppl based on how you are perceived even if the substance (essay) is the same. the brother was not even black, but was perceived as one hence the lower grade. so the underlying problem on why black people have lower grades could be tainted by biased gatekeeppers keeping them out.
Now you work in the investment indsutry, so you should know its sort of the same way. clients are more likely to invest with their own kind. Bosses are more likely to hire their own kind. its juss how the world works. its unfair, but such is life. we give preferential treatment to those that share the same characteristics as us.
This story doesn’t back the racial prejudice argument since the brother (sibling) wasn’t black. The reason he was treated differently was because he dressed like a thug. Perception is everything, and if a white kid dressed like that I’m sure he would have gotten the same treatment. I’m not saying there’s no racial discrimination in our society, but I don’t think there’s enough to warrant the rampant affirmative action taking place. College applications should just stop requiring applicants to disclose their race. If your parents named you Laqeesha, then I’m sorry but you may run into some racist ass hat with some power in an admissions office.
Couldn’t possibly have been the same teacher, so one could argue that the 2nd teacher’s bias regarding firemen was the driving factor, not his perception of the student.
“I’m not saying there’s no racial discrimination in our society, but I don’t think there’s enough to warrant the rampant affirmative action taking place.”
How did you come to this conclusion? Was it based on data or your feelings?
I know private schools that half of the students get into an ivy league school. Your telling me this kid in long island who’s mother worked at a department store had it easier than the kids who attend schools where every other student gets accepted to one of the best schools in the country.