Two demoralizing stories about UT and diversity issues....... (Dallas, Canadian: condo, neighborhood)

[kyam11]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Your logic along these topics never fails to make me laugh.

1. It's weird that you are in the medical business with endless strong related opinions and yet you have no idea how any of this stuff works. Clearly to anyone wired in even a little the UT school she interviewed with was her bail-out school. Say she came down with a case of smallpox and was turned down at all of the top notch programs she's considering this UT residency would keep her from waiting tables.

2. You are the guy always harping about ROI and money................. For a kid on a high confidence medical or Ph.D track the perceived quality of his undergraduate program/school brand is near meaningless i nthe long term. Additionally, he'd be, just a guess $200K - probably more - in the hole with any Ivy BS. If he plays his cards right he'll be mostly done with his Ph.D or MD before his $150K is gone.

What is funny is your lack of understanding of the medical community as a whole. As you wrote it and it was backed up by multiple people who understood and agreed with exactly what I said was that she turned down UT because they let he in because she was a woman and a minority. If that is not the case then do a better job of communicating that. If she did turn it down for that reason that she is dumber than a rock.

Once again you fail to understand the situation. Turning down Ivy for OU is pure idiocy. You have no clue what he may want to do at 25. A friend of mine went to Princeton. Was dead set on being a lawyer. Ended up getting into law for about 3 months before deciding he hated it. Was able to fall back on his Princeton degree and the contacts he made at Princeton. It is laughable that you think what an 18-19 year old thinks will be what they think at 30. The contacts a person makes at an Ivy in 1 semester will likely benefit someone more than the contacts they make all 4 years at OU. Not to mention a person with a MD or Phd from an Ivy will have far more opportunities in medical companies, etc than someone from OU. Outside of Dallas or Oklahoma there is nobody that is hiring someone because they went to OU (unless they are alumni). There are thousands of companies everyday who will hire people purely because of an Ivy degree.

Then again what do I know as I only have thousands more contacts inside the medical community than you likely do. I also am privy to the actual books of thousands of hospitals and physicians so I get to see what these hospitals and physicians make from a P and L standpoint.

You lack of understanding of education and the medical community as a whole clearly shows me why you are where you are and I am where I am.

[Katana49]

Originally Posted by kyam11

You lack of understanding of education and the medical community as a whole clearly shows me why you are where you are and I am where I am.

On a crash course for another well deserved time out?

[JTC Mom]

I wish these discussions did not always devolve into slinging insults and name calling.

To the OP, I think your friend’s story is inspirational, not demoralizing. The young man is extremely intelligent and has caring, resourceful, educated parents who helped him overcome challenges to gain admission to numerous selective colleges. They have a solid middle class income and, apparently, substantial assets to help him get through college. Some schools to which he has been offered admission will cost more than others, so they have to think about how they want to use their resources. He has a lot of good choices, though maybe none of them are perfect. This is what success looks look like. He has so much more going for him than most. He’s going to do great. Congrats to him and his parents.

[BLDSoon]

Originally Posted by kyam11

Wait. She loves Austin and wanted to go to UT but because they said they were committed to her because she was female and she was a minority she is no longer interested. This woman is dumber than a rock if that is the case.

For the boy - OU instead of Ivies. Pure stupidity.

Heck, I agree...

[BLDSoon]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Ivies are generous for low income/low asset families, not for well earning families with decent nest eggs. Ivies are Robin hoods in that regard, they milk full pay students to sponsor financial aid admits.

Lmao at Ivies are Robin Hood, Omg...the most ironic statement i’ve read on CD, maybe ever.

You my friend, never cease to amuse me when it comes to this topic.

Btw, by no stretch is a family with a 150k income considered ‘wealthy’ or even in the middle of the pack at the ivies. By no stretch. Their net worth is likely a lot higher for that outcome. Ivies aren't staffed by people deficient in math.

[aggie972]

How do Universities view under represented minority status when an applicant has one parent that is white and one that is Hispanic? Do they get less consideration than an applicant that has two Hispanic parents and more indigenous heritage? Do Universities take into consideration whether or not they were born in a Spanish speaking country, whether or not they can speak Spanish fluently, and even what they "look" like?

[serger]

Originally Posted by BLDSoon

Lmao at Ivies are Robin Hood, Omg...the most ironic statement i’ve read on CD, maybe ever.

You my friend, never cease to amuse me when it comes to this topic.

Btw, by no stretch is a family with a 150k income considered ‘wealthy’ or even in the middle of the pack at the ivies. By no stretch. Their net worth is likely a lot higher for that outcome. Ivies aren't staffed by people deficient in math.

Well, this thread made me visit again the rough estimate calculator on the Harvard website. So with 150k gross and 3 person family it shows full cost after 1.2 million in cash/investments (retirement funds don't count). In contrast with same income and zero assets parent contribution is 15k with total cost at around 70k a year.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by aggie972

How do Universities view under represented minority status when an applicant has one parent that is white and one that is Hispanic? Do they get less consideration than an applicant that has two Hispanic parents and more indigenous heritage? Do Universities take into consideration whether or not they were born in a Spanish speaking country, whether or not they can speak Spanish fluently, and even what they "look" like?

UT has a pretty loose definition of "Hispanic." I knew a student whose Brazilian mother was ethnically Polish, as in was the daughter of Polish immigrants to Brazil. This girl didn't speak a word of Portuguese (or Spanish). She was classified as "Hispanic" and had a "Hispanic" heritage scholarship.

[Katana49]

Originally Posted by aggie972

How do Universities view under represented minority status when an applicant has one parent that is white and one that is Hispanic? Do they get less consideration than an applicant that has two Hispanic parents and more indigenous heritage? Do Universities take into consideration whether or not they were born in a Spanish speaking country, whether or not they can speak Spanish fluently, and even what they "look" like?

It boils down to what the applicant lists as their race on the application. There are no photos attached (at least there wasn't when I applied at UT, but that was a long time ago.)

In the example you gave, if the parents/child are smart, they will list race as Hispanic. That will give the child a leg up on a similar applicant with similar scores and grade ranking.

That's exactly what we will do with my child... I am white, my wife is a Brazilian citizen, and my child has dual citizenship. She was born here, but when it comes to admissions, we will list her as "mixed" or "other" to give her a leg up on a strictly white student.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by JTC Mom

I wish these discussions did not always devolve into slinging insults and name calling.

To the OP, I think your friend’s story is inspirational, not demoralizing. The young man is extremely intelligent and has caring, resourceful, educated parents who helped him overcome challenges to gain admission to numerous selective colleges. They have a solid middle class income and, apparently, substantial assets to help him get through college. Some schools to which he has been offered admission will cost more than others, so they have to think about how they want to use their resources. He has a lot of good choices, though maybe none of them are perfect. This is what success looks look like. He has so much more going for him than most. He’s going to do great. Congrats to him and his parents.

Through some issues with our son years ago we met a psychologist who has become a friend. Among other things he works with kids who have an IQ rarity of about 1 in 10,000/159ish IQ or better. Our kid didn't speak much or well until quite late vs. peers. He didn't like to be touched. He'd thow full blown tantrums if his socks were inside out claiming the top side seams hurt his toes. He hated social group interactions with other kids - stuff like that. So by luck we found the guy above. And years on whatever issues our kid had he grew out of completely and he became a math tutor of sorts helping the doc. with bright kids and some of their issues. This stuff also relates well to my son's intended path in medicine.

There's a notion, and lots of current research going on as well, in psychology/medicine that an outsized number of child prodigies (1 in 10,000,000), near-prodigies (1 in 1,000,000) and superachievers (1 in 10,000) - rough numbers - are kids with hints of or even strong elements of autism but for whatever reasons their bodies have fought off/suppressed many/most of the negative effects that are so common. I think we are all vaguely aware of this kind of thing.

Anyway my son meet the kid in question years ago and noted that his low level math skills were excellent. His ability to understand complex and even esoteric abstract constructs was excellent but his ability to tie the two together was relatively weak. Over the years my son has tutored the kid maybe 100 times - we've all become at least friendly and I want what's best for the kid.

___________

So far as his parents go, even though it will be a non-issue going forward, the parents should have managed the kid's high school better. IMO they should have pulled him out completely or made sure he paid at least some attention in HS. In all other way so far as I can tell they've been amazingly supportive.