Rejected by State University due to her morals??

[jimmyr]

How many times did she take the ACT? Did she prep for it? I don't mean a prep class, which can be expensive, but did she buy a prep book or get one from the library and really PREP for the ACT? Many high school students take the ACT 3-4 times. Most colleges, including U of M, superscore, only taking into account the applicant's best score, on each part.

If her grades are really that good she should have been able to score better than a 23 if she took it a few times and with a little bit of prep.

Michigan does not superscore.

With regard to her ACT, a 23 is not terrible for DPS. The average ACT score for a black high school student is 17[[!); so her 23 actually puts her at 90 percentile among black students. I personally know many current and alum non athlete Ann Arbor students with 19-25 ACT scores. That said, it would have been a far better use of her time to drop debate and take the test again. After all, fee waivers for Detroit students are easy to come by, so there is really no excuse.

I think it's safe to infer her essays were very...hostile and intellectually shallow.

[jolla]

The Michigan Daily notes that her scores are below average when compared to the university's fall 2013 class, which achieved an average GPA of a 3.85 and an average ACT score range of 29 to 33.

She wasn't even close.

[bailey]

She wasn't even close.

that doesn't matter. the ACT is racist and so are grades.

[Hermod]

that doesn't matter. the ACT is racist and so are grades.

ACT, SAT, GRE, LSAT, and MSAT are culturally biased in favor of people with a good command of the English language, ability to read the English language and absorb ideas from that reading, do math through high school algebra and geometry, and have a decent vocabulary and ability to reason.

[GPCharles]

From the U of M Admissions website...

If I take the ACT and SAT, which score does Michigan consider? Will I be penalized for taking ACT or SAT multiple times?
Michigan will only consider the best test score from one sitting and will not penalize students for taking the exam multiple times. We do encourage students to submit all test results as we may use elements of test scores to benefit a students application where applicable even if it’s not representative of their best sitting [[for instance, a stand-out ACT-Math subscore would be a plus factor in reviewing an application to the College of Engineering)

[Bham1982]

23 is a mediocre ACT score. U-M has no race-based affirmitive action, so no way 23 is going to get you in unless you're an athlete or Daddy builds a library on your behalf.

[noggin]

Unfortunately the race baiters only look at the freshman admittances. Since affirmative action was dropped, minority graduation races went up 17% at UM. At Wayne State, who has a large minority population admittance, only 10% African Americans graduate. This means the other 90% would be saddled with high student loan debt. The whole picture of upward mobility needs to be looked at. Affirmative action was a program that was a failure for everybody.

[Hermod]

Unfortunately the race baiters only look at the freshman admittances. Since affirmative action was dropped, minority graduation races went up 17% at UM. At Wayne State, who has a large minority population admittance, only 10% African Americans graduate. This means the other 90% would be saddled with high student loan debt. The whole picture of upward mobility needs to be looked at. Affirmative action was a program that was a failure for everybody.

When it was first inaugurated, "affirmative action" meant that you put extra effort into recruiting and advancing minorities by advertising in non-traditional areas, mentoring promising candidates, tutoring, and training. It quickly lapsed into a quota and racial spoils system.

[jimmyr]

A 23 ACT and her attitude = scrapes by as a sociology or African-American studies major. It's not as if U. of Michigan missed out on some future brain surgeon.

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

When it was first inaugurated, "affirmative action" meant that you put extra effort into recruiting and advancing minorities by advertising in non-traditional areas, mentoring promising candidates, tutoring, and training. It quickly lapsed into a quota and racial spoils system.

Hermod.. Kudos for an outstanding and insightful post!!!

[gazhekwe]

Hermod is right on about recruitment being the true focus of affirmative action. This is not easy but boy, does it work! Many colleges and universities have mentoring programs in high schools and community colleges as it is, spreading the target into less traditionally accepted communities is key to affirmative action. As time went on, the shorthand answer to 'Why didn't I get accepted, hired or whatever' became, "because of affirmative action" which readily translates to the idea that less qualified candidates were accepted because of their minority status. For internal applicants who could see the successful applicant, they then just KNEW that person got it because they were black. And as scuttlebutt goes internally, this perception spread and affirmative action is now widely understood to be a quota system benefiting less qualified people. Responsible EO programs really do focus on recruitment.

What is needed is a good study on the %ages of applicants from designated underserved populations compared to the available %ages of those residents within the communities. The applicant pool should match the community availability for both underserved and majority populations. Then those admitted should match the community percentages as determined by actual availability. It is not rocket science, but there is no common understanding of the actual workings of affirmative action.

[Hermod]

Hermod is right on about recruitment being the true focus of affirmative action. This is not easy but boy, does it work! Many colleges and universities have mentoring programs in high schools and community colleges as it is, spreading the target into less traditionally accepted communities is key to affirmative action. As time went on, the shorthand answer to 'Why didn't I get accepted, hired or whatever' became, "because of affirmative action" which readily translates to the idea that less qualified candidates were accepted because of their minority status. For internal applicants who could see the successful applicant, they then just KNEW that person got it because they were black. And as scuttlebutt goes internally, this perception spread and affirmative action is now widely understood to be a quota system benefiting less qualified people. Responsible EO programs really do focus on recruitment.

What is needed is a good study on the %ages of applicants from designated underserved populations compared to the available %ages of those residents within the communities. The applicant pool should match the community availability for both underserved and majority populations. Then those admitted should match the community percentages as determined by actual availability. It is not rocket science, but there is no common understanding of the actual workings of affirmative action.

I remember when I was working in an engineering office. I was a branch chief of a group of engineers. The other branch chief of a group of engineers was responsible for recruiting college graduates for an engineering intern program which had a pretty good track record of fast tracking the interns to select engineering positions. We had a meeting there the director was castigating the division chief and the other branch chief for lack of minority recruitment. The said that there were too few black engineers and that the ones they did interview had better offers. I asked why they never recruited at North Carolina A&T which cranked out more black engineers every year than any other school. Duhhhhh. First time they interviewed down there they got two really good candidates.

[gazhekwe]

^^^Love it! That's music to my ears. Worked in Affirmative action development and assistance for many years. We helped many community colleges and companies turn on their lightbulbs with ideas like that. I still itch to get my hands into work like that, so rewarding.