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Asian American Discrimination in Harvard Admissions [pdf]

(public.econ.duke.edu)
376 points undefined1 | 3 comments | 25 Apr 20 00:54 UTC | HN request time: 0.61s | source
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WholeLottaTrash ◴[25 Apr 20 07:18 UTC] No.22976340[source]▶
This is very clearly a throwaway. I found my experience as someone born in Asia who moved to the United States at a young age terrible, with regards to college admissions. We lived in a 1 bedroom apartment when we moved here, and didn't really advance more. I took quite literally every AP offered at school and did well, played a Varsity sport, and got a perfect 2400 out of 2400 on the SAT, in addition to various extracurriculars like a well-developed photography portfolio and robotics. I also happened to go to a very good public high school because my parents focused on my education instead of buying a house where they could afford one. I was rejected from every school I applied to, from the most prestigious to even "lowly" and "safe" Cal States, except for one. My sister, several years younger than me, with lesser metrics, ended up at a top 5 school with nearly a full ride in scholarships earned. I don't think it was from a lack of a good essay too, because I won several writing awards as a kid, and wrote many of my friend's college essays too, and they all got in.

I feel like it set me back tremendously in my life in the things that I value. There's a lot of bitterness here, but even more confusion.

Not really sure what else to say.

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1. misterbwong ◴[25 Apr 20 08:10 UTC] No.22976551[source]▶
Honestly, I find this very difficult to believe-it almost sounds like you've left something out. As with a lot of these types of stories on the internet, it feels like something else is amiss.

The SAT score alone puts you in a pretty small group of people (< 600 people scored 2400 out of 1-2 MILLION SAT takers in 2014, according to some light googling). This combined with uncommon extracurriculars and a "good essay" would easily land you in any cal state.

If you're saying that these are your qualifications, with no caveats, then literally 95%+ of the Asian males in California would get rejected from all but the "lowliest" schools.

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2. unishark ◴[25 Apr 20 09:52 UTC] No.22976978[source]▶
Well the GPA/ranking was left out (which could have guaranteed admission to a UC if it was in the top 9 percent or whatever). Though it's hard to imagine it being that bad if the person is so great at test taking.

Either way though, yes I am also pretty skeptical of this story because of the Cal State part. At that tier a top student should get a full scholarship. I guess Cal Poly is pretty selective, but still their average SAT score is pretty low. It's probably more about applicants self-selecting for UC's instead of Cal States.

3. WholeLottaTrash ◴[25 Apr 20 19:57 UTC] No.22980917[source]▶
I'm not really sure what else to say. I hadn't even gotten a parking ticket at the time when I applied to colleges. It's not like I was a convicted felon or anything. I had good academics, and got rejected just about everywhere I applied to. I'm just voicing my frustrations.

The entire reason why my family moved to the US was because my parents believed that their kids could get a superior education. I've taken that to heart. It's hard to move thousands of miles for fleeting opportunism and feel like you failed. I spent all my time as a kid viewing education as a competition, studying for hours, and training to be better in every task compared to my peers. I viewed college admissions as proof that I did what I was supposed to correctly, but clearly I failed.

My sister grew up in the exact same cultural context. She was a good student, but her scores weren't close to the same as mine, and her outcome is far better. I don't really have much to say beyond that.

I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20. I wake up everyday feeling quite empty and unfulfilled, having seen and currently living the downstream effects of what I feel was a subpar formal college education, experience, and post-facto opportunities, irregardless of if I "deserved" a better one or not. It's not pleasant.

Lots of people far superior to me academically have had worse outcomes. Please don't be skeptical to things you read online because they don't make sense to you. Often times reality is stranger than fiction. I ended up going to a middling UC, having been rejected by better and worse ones.