4 ms·

In 1992, 19.1% of Harvard’s admissions offers went to Asian applicants, compared to 25.2% who were admitted to the California Institute of Technology, a school

In 1992, 19.1% of Harvard’s admissions offers went to Asian applicants, compared to 25.2% who were admitted to the California Institute of Technology, a school that doesn’t use racial preferences. In 2013 Harvard made 18% of its offers to Asians, while CalTech admitted 42.5% Asian students. It is an interesting choice to compare Harvard's racial admissions with that of CalTech. I would think that Harvard vs. MIT or Stanford would create a more convincing argument. So, here are the numbers: Stanford class of 2018: 22.6% Asian [1] MIT class of 2018: 30% Asian [2] Harvard class of 2018: 20% Asian [3] It looks like the writer of the article chose the school with the highest percentage Asian population to make this comparison (excluding Hawaii). [4] [1] http://facts.stanford.edu/academics/undergraduate-profile http://facts.stanford.edu/academics/undergraduate-profile [2] http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/profile http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/profile [3] https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/admissions-statistics https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/admissions-statistics [4] http://www.collegexpress.com/lists/list/colleges-with-the-highest-percentage-of-asian-students/2361/ http://www.collegexpress.com/lists/list/colleges-with-the-hi...

gareim 12y ago
A quick Google search found me this for Stanford. I haven't checked for MIT. >While Supreme Court justices question the role of racial consideration as a factor in the college admissions, Stanford remains committed to upholding affirmative action, arguing that the policy helps to ensure a diverse student body. One Stanford professor has submitted a brief to the Supreme Court defending the practice. http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/10/16/stanford-administrators-committed-to-affirmative-action/ http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/10/16/stanford-administrat...
yummyfajitas 12y ago
Caltech is fairly unique in that it explicitly does not use non-merit factors in admission (no racial preferences, no legacies, no "we want someone from all 50 states").
- Anechoic 12y ago
  Not true according to CalTech's CDS filing (see my other post upthread).
Anechoic 12y ago
who were admitted to the California Institute of Technology, a school that doesn’t use racial preferences. FWIW, this line from the article is wrong, according to CalTech's CDS statements over the last decade or so: http://finance.caltech.edu/Resources/cds http://finance.caltech.edu/Resources/cds (see section C7 in the filings). (this is assuming that "racial preferences" is being used to mean "racial/ethnic consideration" or "affirmative action")
- gareim 12y ago
  That's a really great find, wow. I wonder how the author concluded that Caltech didn't consider racial status then.
kevin_thibedeau 12y ago
... damn lies and statistics... and bad journalism. The numbers apparently conflate Asian-Americans with Asian foreign students. A breakdown of the two groups would be more useful to work from given the huge numbers of wealthy Chinese fighting tooth and nail to send their kids to the most prestigious American schools. The numbers are also skewed by simple geography. The West coast has more Asian-Americans and would be more desirable for foreign students in terms of quicker and cheaper travel between home and school. California schools can't be equitably compared to the East coast.
guelo 12y ago
Caltech is known for having the most meritocratic admission process with no racial balancing.
tzs 12y ago
MIT and Stanford both use race as a significant factor in making admission decisions. They have explicitly stated this [1]. Caltech much less so (I believe it can be used as a tie breaker). Hence, Caltech is a better control than Stanford or MIT to compare against when you are trying to see what things should look like if race were not a factor. It's not a perfect control, though, because of Caltech's focus on STEM. Caltech does actually offer non-STEM courses (and majors). In fact, it requires students to take about 1/4 of their coursework in humanities and social sciences, which is similar to what a science major at a good liberal arts school would take. Nevertheless, no one chooses Caltech for the humanities or social sciences, whereas people DO choose Harvard for them. Although undergraduates are generally not admitted on a department by department basis, surely the schools have to try to get some idea from the application what fields the student is interested in majoring in, and they have to take that into account in making their decisions. If you have facilities for 50 new chemistry majors a year and 50 new English Literature majors a yer, and you get 500 applicants from people whose application suggests they might go into chemistry and only 60 applicants who appear likely to go into English Lit, you are going to reject a lot of those potential chemistry majors, even if their applications look better (grades, tests, and so on) than those of many of the people you accept from the group that looks interested in English Lit. Since many high achieving Asians are driven by pressure from their parents, and parents push their kids toward STEM a lot more often than they push toward English Literature, it is possible that Asians could be getting effectively discriminated against as a side effect of them concentrating in STEM. [1] http://findlawimages.com/efile/supreme/briefs/02-241/02-241.mer.ami.mit.pdf http://findlawimages.com/efile/supreme/briefs/02-241/02-241....
- Anechoic 12y ago
  MIT and Stanford both use race as a significant factor in making admission decisions. What language in that brief makes you conclude that MIT and Stanford both use race as a "significant" factor (at least as compared with Caltech)? All three schools put race in the "considered" category of their CDS submissions.
  - ekm2 12y ago
    The brief does not mention Caltech.But for the other two: MIT considers all aspects of each candidate's background,including racial and ethnic factors.. Stanford is strongly of the view that race and national origin should no more be entirely ignore..

gareim 12y ago

A quick Google search found me this for Stanford. I haven't checked for MIT. >While Supreme Court justices question the role of racial consideration as a factor in the college admissions, Stanford remains committed to upholding affirmative action, arguing that the policy helps to ensure a diverse student body. One Stanford professor has submitted a brief to the Supreme Court defending the practice. http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/10/16/stanford-administrators-committed-to-affirmative-action/ http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/10/16/stanford-administrat...

yummyfajitas 12y ago

Caltech is fairly unique in that it explicitly does not use non-merit factors in admission (no racial preferences, no legacies, no "we want someone from all 50 states").

Anechoic 12y ago
Not true according to CalTech's CDS filing (see my other post upthread).

Anechoic 12y ago

who were admitted to the California Institute of Technology, a school that doesn’t use racial preferences. FWIW, this line from the article is wrong, according to CalTech's CDS statements over the last decade or so: http://finance.caltech.edu/Resources/cds http://finance.caltech.edu/Resources/cds (see section C7 in the filings). (this is assuming that "racial preferences" is being used to mean "racial/ethnic consideration" or "affirmative action")

gareim 12y ago
That's a really great find, wow. I wonder how the author concluded that Caltech didn't consider racial status then.

kevin_thibedeau 12y ago

... damn lies and statistics... and bad journalism. The numbers apparently conflate Asian-Americans with Asian foreign students. A breakdown of the two groups would be more useful to work from given the huge numbers of wealthy Chinese fighting tooth and nail to send their kids to the most prestigious American schools. The numbers are also skewed by simple geography. The West coast has more Asian-Americans and would be more desirable for foreign students in terms of quicker and cheaper travel between home and school. California schools can't be equitably compared to the East coast.

guelo 12y ago

Caltech is known for having the most meritocratic admission process with no racial balancing.

tzs 12y ago

MIT and Stanford both use race as a significant factor in making admission decisions. They have explicitly stated this [1]. Caltech much less so (I believe it can be used as a tie breaker). Hence, Caltech is a better control than Stanford or MIT to compare against when you are trying to see what things should look like if race were not a factor. It's not a perfect control, though, because of Caltech's focus on STEM. Caltech does actually offer non-STEM courses (and majors). In fact, it requires students to take about 1/4 of their coursework in humanities and social sciences, which is similar to what a science major at a good liberal arts school would take. Nevertheless, no one chooses Caltech for the humanities or social sciences, whereas people DO choose Harvard for them. Although undergraduates are generally not admitted on a department by department basis, surely the schools have to try to get some idea from the application what fields the student is interested in majoring in, and they have to take that into account in making their decisions. If you have facilities for 50 new chemistry majors a year and 50 new English Literature majors a yer, and you get 500 applicants from people whose application suggests they might go into chemistry and only 60 applicants who appear likely to go into English Lit, you are going to reject a lot of those potential chemistry majors, even if their applications look better (grades, tests, and so on) than those of many of the people you accept from the group that looks interested in English Lit. Since many high achieving Asians are driven by pressure from their parents, and parents push their kids toward STEM a lot more often than they push toward English Literature, it is possible that Asians could be getting effectively discriminated against as a side effect of them concentrating in STEM. [1] http://findlawimages.com/efile/supreme/briefs/02-241/02-241.mer.ami.mit.pdf http://findlawimages.com/efile/supreme/briefs/02-241/02-241....

Anechoic 12y ago
MIT and Stanford both use race as a significant factor in making admission decisions. What language in that brief makes you conclude that MIT and Stanford both use race as a "significant" factor (at least as compared with Caltech)? All three schools put race in the "considered" category of their CDS submissions.
- ekm2 12y ago
  The brief does not mention Caltech.But for the other two: MIT considers all aspects of each candidate's background,including racial and ethnic factors.. Stanford is strongly of the view that race and national origin should no more be entirely ignore..