I really wish people would stop acting like this is so incredibly prevalent. It happens, but not as often as you'd like to think so.

If you got rejected from Yale, and you're White, and you supposedly had all the qualifications, it is probably not because some Black kid took your spot.

It is more likely due to the fact that you are from Middle America, and aren't that interesting. At the end of the day, colleges want visionaries. People who will spice up the  social/intellectual pool.

Same thing for Asian kids, who say Affirmative Action works against them.

Did it ever occur to some of these kids that maybe colleges get tired of seeing the same, standard candidates? An Asian guy who does a sport, has a 4.0, was student council president, and helped the homeless.

Come on.

I do think Affirmative Action plays a role, but not as big as people complaining about it claim. Colleges don't always know your race. If you're name isn't something like Tyquisha Smith, and you didn't put your race, they couldn't possibly know your race.

Maybe someday, someone should see a legit study to see just how seriously affirmative action has helped/harmed prospective college students.

Post edited at 5:27 pm on Jan. 4, 2009 by major

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when anything's that anything becomes nothing
that's everything and nothing is the only thing
you ever seem to have

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I don't think you come from an environment like I do. I know an extremely intelligent, capable white person who applied to Harvard, and were turned down, when his classmate, a black girl that could be described as "above average" at best, got accepted. Her stats would have been mediocre at best for a white person, but because she was black she had special consideration.  
Harvard very very VERY rarely accepts more than one person from the same school. I go to one of the top 5 public high schools in the nation, which is also in a historically black neighborhood. The magnet is an IB program, which I'm in, but the minorities that aren't in it still get the benefit of that name on their record and the compulsory AP classes that they've taken.

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Actually, I do. I too go to one of the top highschools in the nation, and we have plenty of Black people. In fact, I am a Black person.

Do you know this Black girls stats, personally? How do you know that Harvard knew she was Black? Was her name, like, Taquisha or something? And what about her essay? How do you know she didn't just write a kick ass essay?

I think you may be making a lot of assumptions.

Post edited at 4:29 pm on Jan. 4, 2009 by iamsparta

Post edited at 5:16 pm on Jan. 4, 2009 by major

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when anything's that anything becomes nothing
that's everything and nothing is the only thing
you ever seem to have

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she got a 30 on the ACT and was not ranked in the top ten  
she probably marked down that she was black on her application, because it is an advantage  
people with personalities as bland as hers do not write kick ass essays. at best it was passable.

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Well, a 30 is a pretty good score on the ACT. Let's throw in her having a pretty good GPA, and since you are assuming her essay wasn't all that great, that leaves her with a better than average GPA and a better than average ACT score.

Once again, you are making assumptions. You have yet to give me a solid reason as to why she couldn't have possibly gotten in, other than, apparently, you think she's an idiot.

You should keep in a mind that a lot more goes on in admissions offices than we know of.

Post edited at 5:41 pm on Jan. 4, 2009 by iamsparta

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Because she wasn't outstanding.

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Clearly, we aren't going to come to an agreement here.

But, you really shouldn't just assume a black girl got in because she was Black, because you weren't there every step of the way as she applied.

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she said it herself that it was probably because she was black
another example is a kid I know who has a 3.0 GPA, got a 28 on the ACT, and he got into Harvard as well, because he's black and because his parents both went to Ivy League schools.
it's very little to do with the person

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