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A physician on the admissions board for a top 40 medical school told me the secret to their process. They separate each applicant into their respective ethnic b
by kyro 16y ago
A physician on the admissions board for a top 40 medical school told me the secret to their process. They separate each applicant into their respective ethnic background, take the top 5% of each pile, and then take a closer look at the individual applications. His words, verbatim, were "So if you're a black guy with a 3.2 gpa, you're good. But an Asian dude with a 3.9? You see that all the time; so good luck." The arbitrary nature of the admissions process of schools in America is pretty ridiculous. I like the way the UK does it -- fairly structured, and your candidacy is more typically rooted in your actual achievements and performance. That and they limit you to the number of schools you apply to, so you don't get kids firing their flak cannons by applying to every school in the nation, taking up spots in 'back up' schools that could be better taken by those who actually want to go there. I could go on and on.
- idm 16y agoThis is different at every school, and I've never heard of the system you described. The two grad schools I've gotten a 'behind-the-scenes' look at work like this: - a team of 3 will review applications - the applications are split into 3 piles, one pile each - they rank their pile in order - the group reconvenes, and they make an argument for their favorites The one prejudice I've heard of involves the reputation of your undergraduate school. If you weren't from a top-tier place, it would be tough to get onto the top of certain professors' piles. That part sucks, but I can't corroborate your account of race-based admissions at all. I should also mention that I'm specifically talking about admissions to a graduate research program.
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- strebler 16y agoOf course, he's out of California and you're in Canada where the admissions process is different (closer to the UK system). This is the sort of thing he's talking about: http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2009/10/12/24103/ http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2009/10/12/24103/ "African-American applicants with SAT scores of 1150 had the same chances of being accepted as white applicants with 1460s and Asian applicants with perfect 1600s" I'm not sure if that necessarily translates into graduate studies, but I'd guess that it does.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- carbocation 16y agoIt's not so much arbitrary as it is structured with racial preference in mind. Why that is so, and the degree to which that is good or bad, is probably for a different discussion.