Asian SAT Scores = Useless
sha | October 19th, 2009 - 1:59 pm
A recent study by professor Thomas Espenshade at Princeton University found that Asians applicants who scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT have the same chance of being accepted by colleges as African Americans applicants who scored 1150s on the test and white applicants who scored 1460s. Before anyone starts screaming discrimination, shattering my already fragile eardrums, I just want to point out that the study did not account for variables such as extracurricular activities and teacher recommendations, a.k.a. the other, MAJOR parts of college applications.
So just one thing professor Espenshade. Do you mean to tell me that I was forced to listen to my obnoxious friend memorize his SAT vocabs all for nothing? The daily recitation of definitions and getting lectured on my grammar didn’t even help him get into college? My pain was all for nothing?!? Damn. If I can only go back in time and tape his mouth shut.
That being said I’m not really sure if the results of this study are actually relevant since it’s probably skewed by the lack of information used in the study. The results do sound impressively discriminatory though and reminds me of Jian Li’s case. Remember him? The rejected Princeton applicant who filed a complaint alleging that the decision to reject him was made based on his race? Maybe the guy was onto something.
On a side note I wonder if the same pattern of SAT scores also holds for job applications. We’re in the middle of recruiting season right now and many consulting companies ask applicants to list their SAT scores on resumes. Hmmm….
P.S. As I am writing this it occurred to me that It’s optional to identify your race on college applications. However, it probably isn’t too tough to identify the race of someone with the last name Chen or Kim. So why not identify all applicants by numbers? Wouldn’t that do more to take the race card off of the table? How will admission officers pick their candidates and what kind of freshmen classes will colleges have then?
Why is this so shocking to anyone? It has been legally upheld by numerous courts that being of one race or another can be used as a factor in helping certain students get into college for the purpose of diversity. Obviously, since admissions are not unlimited, that’s going to cut both ways. Asians are, if anything, OVER-represented at elite universities, demographically- so, if diversity is going to be considered a reasonable factor in admissions, some Asians are going to lose out. So sure, get your 1600, but also do some interesting things with your life- preferably something OTHER than learning how to play violin or cello, since they already probably have someone who does that.
By the way, we’re really judging intelligence by SAT scores, still? I got a 1570 (800 Verbal) back in 1993- back when the test had not been modified into oblivion and it was actually a great deal harder to get “perfect” scores. Guess what- I was rejected by every Ivy League college I applied to. The SATs are and have always been a joke- which is why many universities are de-emphasizing them- and culturally, they play to the strengths of any person who is good at doing “drills.”
I’m sure the studies didn’t say that these kids couldn’t get into ANY college. No Harvard? Oh, well- I went to NYU, instead. I can’t say I feel my life has suffered because of that turn of fate.
On an unrelated note, the guy in the headset microphone is dreamy. Who is he?
Asian applicants need perfect SAT scores AND stellar essays, recs, and extracurriculars.
Had you not heard of the lawsuits against Harvard, Brown, UC-Berkeley, etc. on discrimination in the application process? There was a tight quota against Asian American applicants up to the 1990s, such that is was 30% more difficult for Asian Am applicants to get accepted relative to white.
Right after the lawsuit, Berkeley’s proportion of Asians went from 30% to close to 65%, but then went down in subsequent years as they started accounting for “extracurriculars.”
Regardless, quotas will keep the % of AA students down relative to their qualifications.
I got into Stanford and UC-Berkeley by mailing in my full art porfolio. So, if you’re Asian, you really have to go waaayyyy out of your way to get into the top schools. Perfect SATs and GPAs aren’t enough.
My most important advice to all of you is to click on the “Other” box for ethnic category when you apply to colleges. Then they will assume you are mixed race rather than full Asian even with a name like “Chen” or “Chang.”
This will greatly increase your odds of getting in.
^lmao, really?
Of course I’ve heard of the lawsuits. The point is that nearly every time it’s been taken to a Constitutional court, universities have retained the right to use all sorts of criteria for admittance. You made the point yourself- UC Berkeley had a 65% Asian population? That would be awesome, if it weren’t for the fact that Asians account for only 4.4% of the US Population. Tell me something- if the article and study had been authored by white guys complaining about losing their slots to less “qualified” blacks, would you agree with them, or call them racist?
What exactly is your point? It’s not clear.
Ah the age old affirmative action debate.
On your college app just be different. Take up rock climbing instead of tennis. Start a domestic public policy club or something, don’t just join what’s there. Spend a summer volunteering at an international NGO, don’t just go to SAT-prep school. Get creative, otherwise you’re app is going to look just like the Mike Lee who lives down the street.
Also on an unrelated note, is that Britney Spears mic necessary?
As an Asian myself, I find most Asians are innately introverted due to their not-so-good religious upbringing. It’s like we don’t have the spark of life, or we have robot-like lives, without any initiatives and excitement. Most Asians are only good at making money and false representation, as illustrated by the above commentators.
. . . . . . . In comparison, most of the mostly Christian Whites are total opposites, ie extroverted, etc. I think the Whites have “The Secret” that the author Rhonda Bryne and others, do not have… lol.
. . . . . As for college app, all AA’s should emphasize less on SAT and emphasize more on extra-curriculars since a perfect SAT score won’t get them into the top colleges.
. . . . . I think college admissions based on racial composition of the population is a mistake. It’s a fact that in 2040, the Whites are projected to be in the minority due to their low birth-rate. It should be based solely on merit, ie on SAT score and extra-curriculars ; at 50:50.
. . . Just a theory.
Honestly, being Asian myself as well, and also constantly surrounded by Asians and people of other races, I don’t think that “most Asians are innately introverted”.
I believe myself to be quite introverted, but believe me, there are Asians out there who are no where near introverted.
“As an Asian myself, I find most Asians are innately introverted due to their not-so-good religious upbringing.”
What do you mean about not-so-good religious upbringing?
I’m a Christian, and I believe that religion is really important in one’s life, but what does this have to do with being introverted?
@ beyondinfinity … Most Asians, esp the Eastern ones, practice idol-worship, ancestor-worship, feng-shui geomancing, Buddhist philosophy, Confucianism, Taoism, re-incarnation, atheism, etc, ; which I think don’t have “The Secret” ingredient that’s present in American Coca Cola… lol.
. . . . . . . Normally, a Christian is extroverted like most of the Whites. Jesus Christ was extroverted. He was an Evangelist, a Teacher, a Prophet, a Healer, a Lawgiver, a sin-Convictor, etc.
. . . . . Btw, what is beyond infinity ? Joking. Heaven is already infinity or eternity.
rofl..
haha…
the memory of
my English teacher,”I’m 24 hours open for question on SAT vocabs through sms…just don’t ask me now during lesson”
my friend “Duh!…how to spell that word again? it sounds like !@#$%^&*”
my other friend” I’m literally sleeping with my SAT dictionary everynight”
and reading SATs book during math and physics and chemistry and english and break and lunch and art ..
haha..
Even if Asian-Americans have a lot of extracurriculars and athletics, the reality of the quota system is keeping them out.
My Korean friend was an All-American hockey star and got rejected from Brown and Cornell, while his classmate of far less academic and athletic achievement was admitted to both schools.
The system makes it really hard for SE Asians to get admitted (Cambodians, Indonesians, Thai, etc), as they have to compete with the academically more oriented NE Asians (Korean, Japanese, Chinese). It is ridiculous that most schools treat Asians as a monolithic unity.
So, the solution? More lawsuits. Also, the idea of checking “Other” in the application process is a good idea.
Yes, even with phenomenal extracurriculars and unusual essays, statistically speaking, it is really difficult for Asian Americans to get admitted into the top schools.
I worked with an admissions officer one summer when I was in college, and watched as the committee would end up with too many Asians in the “admit” category, and then later take them off, because there were too many. There are just too many stellar Asian applicants, from the perspective of all criteria.
The quota system imposed on Asians today is similar to the quota system imposed on Jews up until the 1960s. Now, there no longer are quotas for Jews, and they enjoy a higher admittance rate than Asians and are overrepresented at elite schools relative to their numbers.
I don’t think it is fair to use the argument that “Asians make up only 5% of the US population, so any proportion greater than that is reasonable.” The reason is that most Asian Americans in this country are in the middle to upper middle class group (their representation doubles as you go above the 100K mark). So, if you focus on the demographic groups that comprise most college applicants, especially to the elite schools, Asians are no longer as grossly overrepresented on college campuses.
I do think that the lawsuits generally help a lot.
Short of that, I think it’s important to educate the college admissions officers. They tend to be quite ignorant of Asian American cultures and of the differences between Asian ethnic groups. They do tend to view Asians as a single unit, and do not see the need to include a diversity of Asian cultures.
So, general activism in helpful, like writing to Vanity Fair to include feature articles on more than East Coast wasps, and writing to Airline companies to include more than just J-Pop on the in-flight radios. I think that more media exposure of Asian cultures is critical.
Aside from the lawsuits, it would be useful to write letters to the provost, president, and admissions officers of universities about this issue (of unfair quotas).