Affirmative Action? Nah. Fairplay.

Izzy, Frank, David and John all applied to the same university. All are "minorities"; John was Asian, the rest were Mexican. All received similar ACT scores. Here are each of their student profiles:

Izzy
Student Government member
Band (drum major)
Varsity soccer
A couple of honor course,s mostly "A-track" (normal) courses
part-time pizza parlor job

College essay was about how you wanted to study political science to "change the world."
Parents are not college graduates.

Frank & David
Varsity soccer
part-time jobs
"B" track courses

College essay topics are unknown.
Each young man's parents are not college graduates.

John
Honors/AP courses save one for one class
Band (Vice-President)
Varsity Track & Field and Basketball
National Honors Society
year-round community service
founder of school's Improv Club

College essay was how multiple roles of responsibilities he held were different "hats," and how each "hat" helped him become a holistic person.
Parents are college graduates.

What score would you give each individual on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest? Halves are allowed.

Izzy - 3
Frank - 1
David - 1
John  - 3.5

The results of the university for each?

Izzy - accepted
Frank - accepted
David - accepted
John - denied

Too bad, John. Good luck finding another university's colors to wear.

____

Have you heard of Kwasi Enin who was recently accepted into all eight Ivies (there are others who also were admitted to all eight)?  Apparently he isn't as brilliant as the media makes him out to be, according to Debbie Schlussel (the most recent comments are hilarious).

So, if your parents are immigrants -- preferably from Africa -- and you're considered a "smart" kid who sees the Ivies as crème de la crème then you have a major advantage over applicants that may have better test scores, an overall body of work and essay. Because social justice.