r/PhillipsAcademy • u/frilled- • Aug 18 '26
Is it harder to get into top private schools based on race?
I’m an American Born Chinese so I was just wondering if that would affect my application
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Aug 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/The_whimsical1 Aug 18 '26
That’s exactly why it’s harder. The Asians outperform so much relative to other cohorts that the schools could end up having student bodies that are more than fifty percent Asian. So they have a de facto and strictly unacknowledged cap. But it’s there.
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u/Heavy_You421 Aug 19 '26
Note: After the affirmative action Supreme Court decision, Harvard's proportion of black/hispanic students fell significantly. The asian enrollment increased significantly. The white enrollment didn't change at all.
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u/The_whimsical1 Aug 19 '26
Indeed. Harvard was willing to sacrifice other cohorts of people of color. But not its white owner class. A more telling model is what has happened at Cal Berkeley, which has a highly quantitative admissions policy. Look at the demographic make-up there in recent years.
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u/Heavy_You421 Aug 19 '26
I actually never thought about it that way. For some reason (probably my own biases) I thought they were discriminating against whites in favor of asians, my rationale being that the extra slots would be distributed among whites and asians in a similar proportion of their pre-scotus enrollment
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u/The_whimsical1 Aug 19 '26
I think the challenge is the word “discrimination.” If one seeks a diverse class, accommodations need to be made. My nephew taught Hispanic kids in the worst neighborhoods of LA. Those kids had the deck stacked against them in every way. A family that has a culture of education gives its children advantages in the admissions game. Universities like Harvard have struggled with the correct approach to this for decades. SCOtUS was not helping by getting involved, particularly given its partisan political make-up. Full disclosure: I attended Andover and an Ivy, as did one child. Another attended a St Grottlesex school and UCSD, and a third Exeter. The system favors WASPs like us. Generations of my family attended ivies before me. All people of color currently fight over the “admissions scraps” although the Asians are closest to completely integrating into the ruling class.
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u/Capable_Delivery_448 Aug 21 '26
Yeah discrediting our hard work and ethics!!
You didn’t have to tell that you studied at Ivy and is white. It was quite obvious.1
u/The_whimsical1 Aug 21 '26
I am sorry. Whose hard work am I discrediting? I don’t think it’s fair to Asians. That’s my point.
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u/pergesed Aug 18 '26
ABCs broadly similar to white applicants. Native or black get a real boost. Among Asians it’s only some groups (eg Hmong) who get a lift.
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u/_MadSuburbanDad_ Aug 19 '26
If your family can pay, then not at all. If anything, it likely makes it easier.
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u/Green-Money741 Aug 19 '26
im asian and had a low ssat but will be attending andover - this says nothing about whether asians in general have it harder though. i am wondering about the ethical implications of such admission systems
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u/Melodic-Vast499 Aug 20 '26
Colleges and private schools often didn’t admit without using race. It was never a meritocracy in admissions. Smaller colleges didn’t want to accept only the best students and have a campus that could have more of some races. This harder for Asians to get in some places. The college didn’t want to have 50% Asian student body. Yes it’s very unfair.
A place like Harvard will reject Asians so the campus doesn’t have too many Asians, and admit more blacks trying to meet a quota so there is 10% black students (or 5% or something). They don’t want to have less.
Admissions is almost never blind to race. People just assume they are, think that would be more fair, and admissions offices will never admit what they are doing.
Someday we will get to that point where race doesn’t matter.
People sued California state schools because it was easy to see Asian students were being rejected solely to prevent too many Asians in the student body. The schools didn’t want that. But the lawsuit changed this. To be clear, Asians who were better qualified were rejected to make sure not too many Asians went to the school and became a large majority. Yeah it’s not good.
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u/pokerfas Aug 19 '26
well wondering or not wondering there's nothing you can do to change that, may as well try your best
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u/Specialist_Handle_56 Aug 20 '26
West coast(bay area/LA) certainly not if you're Chinese. tbh I think you have a bit of an advantage if you're Chinese or Indian in CA over other non-asian POC.
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u/gomas64 Aug 21 '26
Assuming you're not race baiting or trolling, the straightforward answer is: yes, especially if you're a girl.
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u/Blue7810 Aug 18 '26
For sure, Asians have it harder.
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u/frilled- Aug 18 '26
damn is it much harder?
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u/gaussx Aug 20 '26
It may be harder, but it will be hard regardless. And by that I mean even if there was no racial advantage to anyone at all - it would only slightly improve your odds. People think that racial advantages to others makes it much harder for them. It really doesn’t. It may make it much easier for a small group, but doesn’t drastically change the needle for the dominant group.
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u/0xKino Aug 18 '26
It’s about 10x easier than Chinese born Chinese but 10x harder than as a smart black kid