(05-07-2021 11:03 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 10:11 AM)Rice93 Wrote:  One of my closest friends at Rice likely was helped with his admission by affirmative action. He's one of the smartest people that I know and is, by any measure, a success.

You say "likely". I presume that means you don't think he likely would have been accepted without special consideration given his race. Why do you make that assumption? If he is one of the smartest people, it seems he likely would have been accepted on that.

How do admissions committees know that he was one of the smartest people? SATs/extra-curriculars were not as good as the average incoming freshman that year. Good GPA from a less-than-stellar high school.

Quote:As an alum interviewer, I traveled to a nearby town to interview a young man. he was top of his class, football player, band member (yeah, I had to ask how that worked). I recommended him. He ended up going to West Point.

I went to another town, larger HS, to interview a young man. Good impression, but relatively low SATs. I recommended him anyway, but admissions turned him down. He went to Trinity.

One was black. Did it make a difference?

I don't know. Not a lot to go on with those two stories.