[NativeNewYorker]

On first appearances, you are right. It is easy and often correct to assume a black kid in a good college is there because of a quota-like system.

But my experience as a college interviewer leads me to think that once you get past that first thought, the student's real worth becomes apparant in the course of time, and the quota cases soon self-select out of truly competitive situations.

What is telling, from my experience, is that US-born blacks, or those here from very early childhood, lag way way behind recent immigrants from the DR in terms of mental agility, energy and preparation. It is chilling.

[AmishDude]

But my experience as a college interviewer leads me to think that once you get past that first thought, the student's real worth becomes apparant in the course of time, and the quota cases soon self-select out of truly competitive situations.

That's actually the problem. A minority student who would have been a star at USSB gets into Berkeley and struggles -- either dropping out or taking a wimpy major.