7 ms·

What I don't get is, what happens if you don't declare a race, or declare "Other", during admission? Why wouldn't Asian candidates do that?

by ridaj 7y ago

tastygreenapple 7y ago
The real question is "why doesn't everyone mark 'African American' " I always self-identify as an african american woman where possible.
thepaperone 7y ago
There's plenty of people who put AA as their race just to get a boost to their chances.
chillacy 7y ago
It's can be discerned anyways based on your full name and sometimes admissions essay.
zucker42 7y ago
Often your name gives it away.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- filoleg 7y ago
  Often, but far from always. Actual scenario that happened to me: had an asian-american colleague whose first name was a generic western name, while his last name was german (due to someone on his dad's side of the family being german).
notyourday 7y ago
A long time ago a daughter of a friend of mine received a letter from Congressional Black Caucus congratulating her on a phenomenal achievement. The letter congratulated her, Shoshana, a minority in a prestigious public school of overcoming the adversity caused by her circumstances in becoming one of 50 students in a school with the 99th percentile GPA and how the congressmen and women of the caucus were applauding her determination and would be delighted if she were to include that letter in her college application. She did. And was admitted to one of the Ivys. The school was a bit shocked when she arrived to see a 5'1 girl dressed in a way typical of Orthodox Jews. P.S. You should look up other stories coming out of Masterman which is located in North Philadelphia. This is not even in the top 100.
- magic_beans 7y ago
  > The school was a bit shocked when she arrived to see a 5'1 girl dressed in a way typical of Orthodox Jews. What "school" inspects every single arriving Freshman? This read like an invented story. Additionally, there is not much overlap between Orthodox Jewish and African-American surnames.
  - notyourday 7y ago
    > What "school" inspects every single arriving Freshman? Pretty much every single school that makes freshmen live on campus, which is pretty much every single school. > Additionally, there is not much overlap between Orthodox Jewish and African-American surnames. I'm going to make an educated guess you do not happen to live either in any of the urban areas with large Jewish and African-American populations or you at least do not happen to socialize with both groups. I can virtually guarantee you that you would have a very hard time sorting names in Bed-Sty, Flushing, Cheltenham, area around City Line Ave, Norristown, etc. The policies to prop any group always bite because those policies presume that the other groups won't figure out how to profit off them and those policies typically do not have a way to stop a determined adversary.
    - finolex1 7y ago
      In my experience this is not the case. You could live on campus, but I've never seen any member of the admissions committee in person, and any faculty living in your same dorm have no idea what you wrote on your application.
      - notyourday 7y ago
        Oh you misunderstood or I was not clear -- i meant the spreadsheet that listed who was assigned to where that is used by the staff to deal with the move in.
ilikehurdles 7y ago
A colleague of mine declared African-American when applying to a US medical school, being from Egypt, a country in Africa, despite also being visibly white and a US citizen. The medical school paired him with a black African-American interviewer for the interview, who was visibly surprised and possibly annoyed at seeing the person he was interviewing.
- lawnchair_larry 7y ago
  Did he get in?
  - ilikehurdles 7y ago
    No he didn’t, anywhere actually. He ended up spending a few years doing tangentially medical related stuff (research, not sure if he did grad school) before reapplying and getting in.
aquadrop 7y ago
I don't understand why do you even have to declare a race during admission? Does it happen in all US universities?
- chelmzy 7y ago
  Yes. You have to claim your race when applying for just about anything now.
- travisoneill1 7y ago
  If you don't claim a race they will just put you in as white.
neetdeth 7y ago
I've always figured that if you do this, it will be assumed that you are trying to dodge negative discrimination and will be treated the same as a White/Asian person.

What I don't get is, what happens if you don't declare a race, or declare "Other", during admission? Why wouldn't Asian candidates do that?

by ridaj 7y ago

What I don't get is, what happens if you don't declare a race, or declare "Other", during admission? Why wouldn't Asian candidates do that?

tastygreenapple 7y ago

The real question is "why doesn't everyone mark 'African American' " I always self-identify as an african american woman where possible.

thepaperone 7y ago

There's plenty of people who put AA as their race just to get a boost to their chances.

chillacy 7y ago

It's can be discerned anyways based on your full name and sometimes admissions essay.

zucker42 7y ago

Often your name gives it away.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
filoleg 7y ago
Often, but far from always. Actual scenario that happened to me: had an asian-american colleague whose first name was a generic western name, while his last name was german (due to someone on his dad's side of the family being german).

notyourday 7y ago

A long time ago a daughter of a friend of mine received a letter from Congressional Black Caucus congratulating her on a phenomenal achievement. The letter congratulated her, Shoshana, a minority in a prestigious public school of overcoming the adversity caused by her circumstances in becoming one of 50 students in a school with the 99th percentile GPA and how the congressmen and women of the caucus were applauding her determination and would be delighted if she were to include that letter in her college application. She did. And was admitted to one of the Ivys. The school was a bit shocked when she arrived to see a 5'1 girl dressed in a way typical of Orthodox Jews. P.S. You should look up other stories coming out of Masterman which is located in North Philadelphia. This is not even in the top 100.

magic_beans 7y ago
> The school was a bit shocked when she arrived to see a 5'1 girl dressed in a way typical of Orthodox Jews. What "school" inspects every single arriving Freshman? This read like an invented story. Additionally, there is not much overlap between Orthodox Jewish and African-American surnames.
- notyourday 7y ago
  > What "school" inspects every single arriving Freshman? Pretty much every single school that makes freshmen live on campus, which is pretty much every single school. > Additionally, there is not much overlap between Orthodox Jewish and African-American surnames. I'm going to make an educated guess you do not happen to live either in any of the urban areas with large Jewish and African-American populations or you at least do not happen to socialize with both groups. I can virtually guarantee you that you would have a very hard time sorting names in Bed-Sty, Flushing, Cheltenham, area around City Line Ave, Norristown, etc. The policies to prop any group always bite because those policies presume that the other groups won't figure out how to profit off them and those policies typically do not have a way to stop a determined adversary.
  - finolex1 7y ago
    In my experience this is not the case. You could live on campus, but I've never seen any member of the admissions committee in person, and any faculty living in your same dorm have no idea what you wrote on your application.
    - notyourday 7y ago
      Oh you misunderstood or I was not clear -- i meant the spreadsheet that listed who was assigned to where that is used by the staff to deal with the move in.

ilikehurdles 7y ago

A colleague of mine declared African-American when applying to a US medical school, being from Egypt, a country in Africa, despite also being visibly white and a US citizen. The medical school paired him with a black African-American interviewer for the interview, who was visibly surprised and possibly annoyed at seeing the person he was interviewing.

lawnchair_larry 7y ago
Did he get in?
- ilikehurdles 7y ago
  No he didn’t, anywhere actually. He ended up spending a few years doing tangentially medical related stuff (research, not sure if he did grad school) before reapplying and getting in.

aquadrop 7y ago

I don't understand why do you even have to declare a race during admission? Does it happen in all US universities?

chelmzy 7y ago
Yes. You have to claim your race when applying for just about anything now.
travisoneill1 7y ago
If you don't claim a race they will just put you in as white.

neetdeth 7y ago

I've always figured that if you do this, it will be assumed that you are trying to dodge negative discrimination and will be treated the same as a White/Asian person.