first of all race can be a criteria. and there is a very compelling interest for the state of texas to have race as a criteria. the reality is that necessary services that a college graduate provides will be denied to many communities that need it most without race as a factor. asians are already very very disproportionately represented at UT-austin. however, your belief that there can't be 10% of the student body which may have lesser sat/gpa yet distinguish themselves in other things is absurd. not only is it incredibly doubtful that the non athletic, outside of top 10% of the student body is disproportionately minority, i think an inner city kid who is top 15% and gets a 1200 is eminently more qualified for a subsidized education from my state's premier institution than this girl. so are bilingual kids. so are kids from nontraditional households. etc. these are all factors which hint at the dedication and potential of the student. there are also an infinite number of other activities kids may have engaged in which gave UT reason to admit them over this girl.
See below. The article contends that the racial mixture of UT is at an all time high since passing the law in '96. So when people say the 10% rule is dumb, why? They effectively got rid of Affirmative Action and EXACTLY solved the problem it was intended to solve. It seems to me the 10% law couldn't be any more effective. In her freshmen year, she had equal opportunity to get into UT as every other student in Texas. She knew the rules. Based on her performance alone is the SOLE reason she didn't get in. Sometimes life doesn't happen the way you intend. Move On.
yeah seriously. your school is handing out 4.5 GPA's and you can't make the top 10%? Talk about grade inflation...
My point is the average student, regardless of race, who attends FB Austin is more well off than the average student, regardless of race, who attends HOU Austin. Is this girl rich? I don't know. What I do know is she attends a good high school and has the opportunity to attend a good college. It's unfortunate that her minority classmates who are also well off are able to take advantage of the system. I am in favor of geographic (high school) diversity than ethnic diversity. I think geographic diversity will create ethnic diversity just like the top 10% rule has increased minority enrollment at UT. My $0.02.
My thoughts exactly. If people are making a 4.5 at your school and are not in the top ten percent of the class, blame your school and not UT. I hate racial preferences as much as anyone but something the top ten percent rule does, effectively, is put a cap on the number of people per high school that can goto a top public university. Prior to the rule, there were obscene amounts of UT students that represented a small number of these types of high schools where grades are handed out. For what it's worth, I graduated high school in 2003 with a 4.4 GPA and was #14 in my class of 1,045. To say that someone who has a 4.5 isn't in the top ten PERCENT is shocking and a poor reflection on the school. Having had to write about the top ten percent rule (but not having the numbers with me) studies have shown that students admitted under the top ten percent rule do better in college than students who don't finish in the top ten percent. Also, it has vastly increased geographic diversity.
there was a thread from 2005 about a 60 minutes episode with UT's president talking about the success of the rule. it has worked better than a lot of people expected.
I think the 10% rule makes sense until everyone is on a level playing field, but her suit attacks how the school selects the non-10%ers who are admitted. If the school thinks that additional efforts are required for leveling the playing field then I'm all for it. Anyone going to tell me they would expect the same education for their kids in a ward school vs. a River Oaks school? She might not like it, but she should be a 9.9%er and this would be a non-issue for her. Too bad, earn it next time instead of using Daddy's money to try to take it.
Not to mention, class slots aren't solely based on GPA and SATs. Extra-curiculars, languages spoke, degree of difficulty of classes you have been taking - a lot plays into it. But it's easiest to point at GPA/SAT and say, "hey! i'm better than she is!".
It's the kid's parents fault. If they didn't work hard and be successful they might of lived in a crappier school district.
Or if the girl had done some more extra curricular activities, studied harder, taken SAT prep classes etc. She might have been able to make it. After all why should personal responsibility for one's own actions be taken into account here.
This is stupid. Maybe some of the kids with similar or worse grades did a ton of extra activities. Maybe the volunteered. Maybe the worked to support their families. Maybe the took higher level courses. Maybe they were Eagle Scouts or won awards for art. Maybe their essays were dramatic and inspiring. Its not totally objective material they look at. They look at the total package after the top 10%. I would be more mad at a "total package" student that did a lot of extras not getting in because they were 11% rather than this girl.
because if you go to a nice school you don't have as much personal responsibilty. this is ridiculous, anyone who argues going to a good school hampers anything has just fell off the deep end. now black kids have it easier because they go to america's worst schools. this is the same logic that says obama has it easier running for president because he's black.
it happens every year pretty much at every university that is popular. someone who you believe should get in doesnt, and someone who shouldnt does. it happened to me I got rejected from a top university when i was a senior because I had declared a very competitive major at the university while some of my friends got in all of which who had lower gpas, less extra curriculars and lower SATs and they were white while I was a minority. the only difference they did was they went in undeclared. (note my friends were pretty qualified to get into the school though) unfortunately they only let in soo many into that major at the school and the other people who applied for that major there were better qualified than me. i was upset but i moved on and understood that was the break sometimes. i ended up going to a great school anyway i was happy with. this girl just just whining probably always wanted to go to UT because it was either the cool thing to do or whatnot and though she would and now is just crying her way in. i hope she does get allowed admittance but fails out her first semester/quarter there
How can you defend the position that being a minority should mean you get preference for admission? Performance is performance. If this girl has unfairly obtained advantages from her parents via tutoring or resources (laptop, more books) that that is a factor in the "real world". Frankly the USA rate for graduating is pathetic and the fat needs to be trimmed.
Because being exposed to diversity helps all the students at a University, and it helps to overcome some of prejudices and biases that exist in the education system.
Well my friend isn't black, but she did graduate top 10% at Reagan despite being a dunce. She certainly benefited from attending Reagan. Luckily, lol, she didn't go to college.
