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WholeLottaTrash ◴[] 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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misterbwong ◴[] 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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1. unishark ◴[] 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.