My daughter is doing the college admissions dance this year, and one of the amusing things I discovered was what happened when you tinkered around with the demographics on "college odds" sites like Parchment. That one in particular is based on thousands of people who have used the site in the past and have provided their information along with whether they were accepted to a particular college.

Let's just say that with the exact same SAT/GPA, there is a VERY significant effect of changing certain boxes in the "demographics" section. Like, increasing admission odds from 10% to 50% at some schools.

1. Check "Other"
2. Fill in Antarctican
3. ???
4. Profit

dahmers love zombie: My daughter is doing the college admissions dance this year, and one of the amusing things I discovered was what happened when you tinkered around with the demographics on "college odds" sites like Parchment. That one in particular is based on thousands of people who have used the site in the past and have provided their information along with whether they were accepted to a particular college.

Let's just say that with the exact same SAT/GPA, there is a VERY significant effect of changing certain boxes in the "demographics" section. Like, increasing admission odds from 10% to 50% at some schools.

go on.

Surprised I hadn't thought of this before, but how are biracial people supposed to answer those questions? For example, I'm white and my girlfriend's Indian. If we were to get married and have kids, how are they supposed to choose one race?

Plus you have to figure this will become more common in the U.S. as time goes by.

What about Cymmerians?.

FreakinB: Surprised I hadn't thought of this before, but how are biracial people supposed to answer those questions? For example, I'm white and my girlfriend's Indian. If we were to get married and have kids, how are they supposed to choose one race?.

White supremacists would help you, but then again they'd never been to college and are probably inbred, so disregard that.

and, i usually like to put this here

"racial" categories.
Thats all of them for US. No, Arabs arent Brown. They're whiteys.

American Indian or Alaska Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.

Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as "Haitian" or "Negro" can be used in addition to "Black or African American."

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

Ethnicity is one seperate category. Can be any "racial" type.

Hispanic or Latino. A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. The term, "Spanish origin," can be used in addition to "Hispanic or Latino."

Despite filling this type of govt form out, Americans are somehow ignorant of the silliness of these categories and how they may disagree with them.

Bad_ad85: CygnusDarius: What about Cymmerians?.

[www.sandrocastelli.com image 640x428]
FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

I said cymmerians, not chimeras.

Huge difference.

No pics of what an Asian co-ed may look like?

/disappointed.

FreakinB: but how are biracial people supposed to answer those questions?

The categories start to get even dumber, then.

Dr.Fey: No pics of what an Asian co-ed may look like?

/disappointed.


Don't think she's a co-ed, but...

StanTheMan: Check "black" to get in.

Actual story. I was at the college booth at my HS. I was at the UCLA table. At the USC table right next to it, a white kid was told by the USC rep, "sorry, you probably can't get into USC with a 2.7 GPA." A dejected black kid standing behind the white kid began to walk away, saying, "Oh, OK," but the USC rep quickly said, as God as my witness, "no, not you!"

That's the day I realized affirmative action was evil. I was 15.

I'm getting a kick, etc...

I'm half Korean, half white. In cases where I'm allowed to check "all boxes that apply", I check both Asian and White. In cases where I have to choose one, I identify as Asian, even though my last name is Italian. In the US, I feel more Asian (likely the fact that I actually grew up in Korea contributes to this). Also, if someone saw me, they would visually perceive me as being Asian to some degree. For the record, I got 1430 on my SATs (so-so), 4.3 GPA, and a list as long as my arm of extracurricular activities and achievements; I got reject from UPenn and Harvard, but accepted at UVa (all engineering schools). I never really thought about whether or not my identification as Asian helped or hurt me in any regard.

But like one student said in the article, it's dependent on context. The label that sticks is generally the label that identifies your furthest deviation from whatever is considered "normal". For example, fat, skinny, tall, short, redheaded, Asian, Black, etc; it's all relative. When I'm in a group of fully Korean people, I definitely feel more white.

I also found it interesting that while being half Korean I usually identify as Asian, the students in the article that expressed the most reservation about not including Asian on their applications were also half Korean. National pride thing? I don't know.

/two ten cents