Nigerian Teen gets accepted into all IVY League Schools

[KittenMittens]

Meh, of course Justice Sotomayor is going to be for affirmative action considering it benefited her.

"“Let me be clear about what affirmative action must not ... It does not mean – and I don’t favor – the unjustified preference of the unqualified over the qualified of any race or gender. It doesn’t mean – and I don’t favor – numerical quotas. It doesn’t mean – and I don’t favor – rejection or selection of any employee or student solely on the basis of race or gender without regard to merit…”"

But that's exactly what it is today and always has been. Just look at how today Mindy Kaling's Indian brother pretended to be black and how medical schools swooned over him as a result. Changed his name from Vijay to JoJo, said he was black, and he was getting admissions left and right - this was after he applied once as an Indian and rejected everywhere...

It's a way for underrepresented minorities get an easy pass, many/most that should not be entitled to that benefit. You would never realistically hear a story about an Asian or White person getting into 8 ivy league schools A) it would never happen (it just wouldn't unless they discovered the cure for HIV [and the research that's done in high school is just bench pipetting half the time thanks to the parents being friends with a doctor/scientist in a lab) and B) even if it did, it wouldn't be such a big story like "oh look a black kid got into all 8 ivy league schools!". Anecdotally, a physics professor/friend, told me in confidence, that a graduate programs would bend over backwards if a student was black and female. It's like winning the lottery as far as admissions go.

I've seen Asian and South Asian kids with higher SAT scores, higher GPAs, and even more impressive stats get rejected from all ivy leagues, except for maybe one of the "easier to get into" ivy's like Cornell. Happens all the time. My son for instance, top 10 in class, 4.0 GPA, all 5s on AP courses, strong E.C.s, and a 1520/1600 SAT score rejected from ivy league schools, but his friend who was half-Columbian and half-Afghani with a 1300/1600 SAT score, far far richer than us, little AP courses, and with a 3.6 GPA, got into Dartmouth and Brown...

The system is definitely rigged against Asians which is why, for example, California's Supreme Court ruled that UC's system cannot be based on a quota.That's why when you walk on UC Berkeley's campus it's literally 50% Asians, but you know what? That's merit and I'm completely happy with that because society seems to be ok with casually disregarding Asians as if they're 2nd class citizens and/or casually being racist as if it's socially acceptable but of course not for blacks. All we can do is work hard, but even then, we're turned down because we're "overrepresented" and not the right hue nor politically enfranchised...

So I don't really care about what the policies are supposed to be for AA; what they say is very different than how it's actually done (much like how the police and court systems should treat you with the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, in reality it's more like guilty until proven innocent!). I tend to agree that affirmative action delegitimizes the accomplishments of qualified blacks like this individual who did well in school and SATs and is obviously qualified, but we can't still discount that his race had a big impact on getting into all ivy league schools which is the upsetting part. [COLOR="#800000"]He wasn't the first black kid to do this either, another one did that the year before. [/COLOR] So if that doesn't scream affirmative action, then I don't know what else does.

And yes, I do agree that privileged white women in particular are some of the primary recipients of these types of policies which is is clearly not what these policies were designed for (they should be for people who are disadvantaged; not for the advancement of people who are already comfortable and well off). As a woman, I'm not really into the feminist movement in America because we're already at an equal level with men, and probably have more opportunities for school and careers in general. Those statistics that women make less than men are just hogwash. That commonly cited statistic, for example, that women get 77 cents to the dollar for men was debunked, yet even the President spews this crap. No matter how many times this wage gap claim is decisively refuted by economists, it always comes back. [COLOR="#B22222"]The bottom line: the 23-cent gender pay gap is simply the difference between the average earnings of all men and women working full-time. It does not account for differences in occupations, positions, education, job tenure or hours worked per week. When such relevant factors are considered, the wage gap narrows to the point of vanishing.[/COLOR]

In any case I'm very much against AA (obviously I'm biased since I'm Indian) because it's a pass for people based on the color of their skin based off of events from 100 - 200 years ago and not current socioeconomic conditions. Did slavery destroy families, break their cultures, etc.? If it did then at least only apply it to African-Americans and not Nigerians. I never really understood white guilt so much as historically all races have embraced slavery and in fact, most slavery is practiced in Africa today. and it could be argued that slavery was originally practiced by Africans. I'm definitely not condoning slavery, but as an Indian, who grew up in country seeing extreme poverty, and "servants," it annoys me how blacks are put on a pedestal in the West when everyone else in the world, including blacks, have been doing the same thing too.

[Exfactor]

Countless studies have already shown that the majority of African American college students attend HBCU's, these studies also prove that you are more likely to find a unqualified white student at a predominately white institution, than a black student. Yet, for some reason when a specific group of individuals generally immigrants can't get into the school of their choice they point their fingers at the black minorities on campus, while ignoring the fact that their are more unqualified whites on such campuses than black students. While also ignoring the fact that white women benefit from AA more so than anyone in the society. Yet, 70 percent of African American dentists and physicians earned degrees at HBCUs.

[UptonSinclair]

I fail to see how someone with a 4.0 gpa and a 2270 SAT (99th percentile) score getting accepted to top schools is surprising. He was also the 2nd runner up in a national science competition sponsored by Microsoft. This isn't the case of a poorly prepared applicant getting accepted because of affirmative action. He was simply an amazing candidate. Why the jump to conclusions based on race?

[KittenMittens]

I fail to see how someone with a 4.0 gpa and a 2270 SAT (99th percentile) score getting accepted to top schools is surprising. He was also the 2nd runner up in a national science competition sponsored by Microsoft. This isn't the case of a poorly prepared applicant getting accepted because of affirmative action. He was simply an amazing candidate. Why the jump to conclusions based on race?

Here's an Asian kid with similar stats and also a semi-finalist in both Siemens and Intel, but he was rejected from all ivies except Cornell which is the easiest of the ivies to get into.

It's not so much that he got into an ivy league school, it's that he got into all 8 of them which is a blatant pass based on race. An Asian or White applicant with those credential wouldn't have gotten into all of them, maybe one or two or three, but not all 8. There was another black student the year before who got into all 8. Is that just merit, luck, or the race card? Statistically, the odds of getting into 8 ivy league, let alone 1, are almost non-existent. But to get into all 8? A 4.0 GPA and 2270 SAT are extremely good, but not good enough to get into all 8. A 2270 SAT score means that 13,760 SAT takers beat him. So how many of those 13,760 got into 8 ivy league schools, let alone just 1? Furthermore, the black kid who got into all 8 ivy league schools the year before had a 2250, ranked 11 in the class, so was this guy too also super qualified?

Harvard only accepts 5.9 per cent of applicants – roughly 2,000 of the 34,000 submissions they receive. Yale accepts 6.3 per cent of the 30,000 students who apply, and Columbia only 6.9 per cent of 32,000. Cornell has the highest acceptance rate of the eight Ivies – a minuscule 14 per cent of the 43,000 applicants.

Simple probability dictates that the odds of getting into all 4 schools mentioned here is basically 0%.

[Exfactor]

I fail to see how someone with a 4.0 gpa and a 2270 SAT (99th percentile) score getting accepted to top schools is surprising. He was also the 2nd runner up in a national science competition sponsored by Microsoft. This isn't the case of a poorly prepared applicant getting accepted because of affirmative action. He was simply an amazing candidate. Why the jump to conclusions based on race?

Because that's generally what most people jump too, especially many immigrants, as they typically believe in black inferiorty. I remember when I used to read the blogs over at Studentdoctor, many immigrants especially Indians and Asians would troll the blogs of black medical students who documented their medical school experience, as they believed their race got them in. These would typically be Asian and Indian students who were denied admission to such medical schools, and would blame the black students who got in for their failure for not gaining admission. However, this pretty much stopped when such students began to post their undergrad transcripts, and MCAT scores, which proved they had higher scores than the foreign trolls.

[UptonSinclair]

It's not so much that he got into an ivy league school, it's that he got into all 8 of them which suggests a blatant pass based on race. An Asian or White applicant with those credential wouldn't have gotten into all of them, maybe one or two or three, but not all 8. There was another black student the year before who got into all 8. Is that just merit, luck, or the race card? Statistically, the odds of getting into 8 ivy league, let alone 1, are almost non-existent. But to get into all 8? A 4.0 GPA and 2270 SAT are extremely good, but not good enough to get into all 8. A 2270 SAT score means that 13,760 SAT takers beat him. So how many of those 13,760 got into 8 ivy league schools, let alone just 1?

You make several claims based on no provided evidence. To claim "An Asian or White applicant with those credential wouldn't have gotten into all of them, maybe one or two or three, but not all 8" is absurd. This type of statement is based on ideology and not logic. In order to prove such a statement, one would have to have access to far more data than is available to the general public. Your statements appear to claim that all 8 Ivy League universities favored this applicant over similarly qualified applicants based on his race. This claim is impossible to prove and is therefore conjecture.

How many of the students with SAT scores that exceeded 2270 + have 4.0 gpa + have equally impressive writing skills + have equally impressive extracurricular activities + applied to all 8 Ivy League Universities were accepted to all 8? When phrased completely, your question is a good one. Unfortunately, it would take a significant quantity of research to answer.

[Outis]

I agree with a lot of what Kitten has said, as well as others, too. A lot of "he said she said" going on, without many citations to studies. But, that wouldn't matter a whole lot because one can find a study saying X while the other points to Y, you just have to love the "social sciences". Quick off-topic example: I just finished reading an academic study on peer influence at the college level in regards to political attitudes. Then I read a similarly styled academic paper saying that college has a negligible effect on one's political attitudes as an adult. WHAT?

Anyways, I think it should be pointed out that ivy schools, as private institutions, should be able to do whatever they want in regards to admissions. If a particular school decides it wants to increase the amount of underwater marble stackers within its student body, it can admit those who have underwater marble stacking experience over someone with a 4.0 GPA. That's their prerogative as a private institution. When a college or university begins to receive tax money is where I take issue.

[Exfactor]

I agree with a lot of what Kitten has said, as well as others, too. A lot of "he said she" said going on, without many citations to studies. But, that wouldn't matter a whole lot because one can find a study saying X while the other points to Y, you just have to love the "social sciences". Quick off-topic example: I just finished reading an academic study on peer influence at the college level in regards to political attitudes. Then I read a similarly styled academic paper saying that college has a negligible effect on one's political attitudes as an adult. WHAT?

Anyways, I think it should be pointed out that ivy schools, as private institutions, should be able to do whatever they want in regards to admissions. If a particular school decides it wants to increase the amount of underwater marble stackers within its student body, it can admit those who have underwater marble stacking experience over someone with a 4.0 GPA. That's their prerogative as a private institution. When a college or university begins to receive tax money is where I take issue.

Let me guess white privilege doesn't exist, and the laws in the 19th and 20th century which excluded blacks from their rights as Americans (seeking education etc) given 400 years of free slave labor, which eventually helped build the American economy, was nothing... LOL

[Outis]

Let me guess white privilege doesn't exist, and the laws in the 19th and 20th century which excluded blacks from their rights as Americans (seeking education etc) given 400 years of free slave labor, which eventually helped build the American economy, was nothing... LOL

If there was ever the need to scream "straw man"...

[Exfactor]

If there was ever the need to scream "straw man"...

...And if their was ever a need to ignore reality.