U-M Sees Dive In Minority Applications

Detroit Free Press ^ | February 10, 2004 | Maryanne George

[ShadowDancer]

Minority applications are down 23 percent and admissions of those students have dropped 30 percent at the University of Michigan, the school said Monday as it released preliminary admissions data.

School officials said one of the reasons for the sharp declines is the chilling effect of the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the university's point system that gave some students a boost.

[sgtbono2002]

If we raise the standards of getting a job back to where they were previously to affirmative action days there will be a similar drop in hiring of minorities. If you cant take the heat , get out of the kitchen.

[blanknoone]

applications have dropped 8.5 percent overall and 18.6 percent among African-American students

What amazes me is that these schools did not have admission essays in the first place.

[Loyal Buckeye]

"School officials said one of the reasons for the sharp declines is the chilling effect of the U.S. Supreme Court decision ... "

Do the RATS have a patent on the word "chilling"?

[Feckless]

The answer is a corresponding rise in study, homework, etc.

[mhking]

Some prospective minority students percieve a "chilled" atmosphere at Michigan (which has happened at other schools that have enacted AA reforms), and resultingly, they don't apply.

Studies like this do not take this factor into account. If a true study were undertaken, the true picture would evolve: students that would have considered Michigan under the pre-SCOTUS-ruling guidelines, are applying elsewhere.

The percieved drop (as Ward Connerly and his organization would tell you) is temporary.

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[shhrubbery!]

"Minority students say we lost the undergraduate case without investigating what happened," Spencer said. "There is a feeling that even if they have a chance, they don't want to put up with the hassle."

They don't want to put up with the HASSLE ???

So they demand their college admissions be handed to them on a silver platter - just like it used to be at U-M with their 20-point "boost."

After going through the college application process yet again with my 17 year old son, with all the hard work and planning it has taken for years --and no extra points for skin color-- I find this INCREDIBLY OBNOXIOUS.

[alisasny]

Its been a while but isn't there an application fee? Why would they throw away that money if they have no chance of getting accepted now?

[ShadowDancer]

They do have a chance to be accepted, by working hard and getting good grades.

[FreedomPoster]

It seems to me the "plus" side is that minority students who were underqualified, will now be more likely to attend a college for which they are more academically suited, and from which they are presumably more likely to graduate. Net result would be more minority college grads. This does not seem to be a bad outcome to me, though I'm sure we'll be hearing from Jesse that it is.

Did I miss anything here?

Here's to the day when more minority students *are* fully qualified. <*hoists FR coffee mug*>

[shhrubbery!]

Spight said some students see the essays required by U-M as a chore.

So writing essays is a "chore." Well so is college-level work, Ms. Spight, get a clue!

If these 'minority' students were being admitted without even being required to show that they could write a decent couple of paragraphs, then no wonder they've failed in college at such a high rate (and Thomas Sowell has documented this).

Admitting students who are ill-prepared for college-level work does no real favor to them --they find they can't do the work, get resentful, and drop out.

My son had to write a total of seven essays for the six colleges he's applied to. I've never heard of a college or university NOT requiring essays. From this article, it sounds like Ohio State didn't require essays, either.

[cynicom]

Find a victim, pass a law, end the problem.

[shhrubbery!]

Its been a while but isn't there an application fee?

You can get a waiver of the application fee if your high school counselor will say you're underprivileged.

Even so, the fees aren't prohibitive -- usually about $45, more like $60 at fancier schools.

What's that, the cost of a couple of boxes of cigarettes?

[BaBaStooey]

Overall applications are down 18 percent. Minority applications are down 23 percent.

Both numbers are fairly close to each other. I bet that white applications are down by a percentage within the same order of magnitude.

This is such a hilarious non-story. One of those New York Times kind of "stories." Nice to see the Freep sinking to this level. I'd be interested in the location of this story. The NYT would have it Page 1 above the fold.

[FITZ]

This should greatly help those 'minorities' who do get accepted to U-M, they will be recognized as being fully qualified to attend that school, sometimes people assume all minorities got in for their skin color. The ones who can't make it into U-M should consider UTEP --- no admission standards at all and 65% of the students are taking remedial (high school level) courses.

[shhrubbery!]

This should greatly help those 'minorities' who do get accepted to U-M, they will be recognized as being fully qualified to attend that school, sometimes people assume all minorities got in for their skin color.

Exactly right. Now why doesn't the NYT get that?

What's UTEP? Sounds like CUNY.

[Guvmint_Cheese]

When did they stop having essays? I had to write one when I applied to U-M.

That was one of the things I couldn't stand about Michigan was the whole race crap. Everyone was a "racist." I can remember when they tried to implement MLK Day there in the late 80s. I was pretty indifferent about it, until the protest where if you went to class on MLK Day, you were a racist. That was probably the only day where I made damn sure I went to class!

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

I would think that a hard-working black person, as rare as they might be, would be offended by the insinuation that a quota system makes.

Quotas, affirmative action, or whatever else you want to call it, is a perfect example of governmental overstep and is counter to the principles of a free republic. The whole thing is bloody ridiculous and makes me want to puke.

[kegler4]

"What amazes me is that these schools did not have admission essays in the first place."

I work at a university that gets 19,000 applications per year, and admits about 4,800, many fewer than Michigan. Can you imagine the manpower and time it would take to read -- I mean really read and consider -- all of those essays? Some would be eliminated by grades or boards as clearly not qualified, but you'd still be reading a boatload of essays.

That's why an essay wasn't required.

[debaryfl]

I wonder what the figures would be if Asians were included.

How in the world can you describe statistics concerning "minorities" without counting ALL of them?

Never mind, I know the answer to that one. It wouldn't give you the answer you decided on before asking the question.