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Comment by pascalxus | Hacker News Reader

Regardless of what your hobbies are, nothing will change the fact that your Asian American, and that's huge disadvantage. I don't know if getting another citizenship of another country will help much: if you can change your application race legally, that should help.

I would suggest a different major other than CS, or at least go in as undeclared: that should help a little bit. Or try a major that's not typically associated with Asian-american.

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I’m 1/8 Native American. I didn’t check that box when applying for schools, but wised up when applying for a scholarship. I got that scholarship.

I would encourage any white or Asian person that’s against affirmative action to also mark themselves as an additional race, even if it’s a lie. What school you get in to (and what job, etc.) should be based on merit. If affirmative action is still to exist now it should be based on income, not race.

Lying on your application can get it summarily rejected. I would advise against this.

College applications season is ending and decisions are out. I don't know about going in undeclared, but choosing a different major is a risk that can backfire if your classes and ECs don't match up with it and admissions officers see through it, or if it's hard to change your major to CS or transfer into the school that has it.

Yeah... I wouldn't listen to GP, because being Asian-American is not a disadvantage, and gaming the system is bad advice. As someone who is Asian and went to a predominantly Asian high school, I saw tons of my schoolmates succeed in getting admitted to great colleges. College applications, like job applications, are really all about how you present yourself and how you tell your story. If you have a strong essay, you have a good chance at convincing an admissions officer to let you in.

My advice to you would be to:

a) Talk to a counselor about your essay. My fiancee worked at a SAT prep school and she helped tons of people get into Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Ivy League schools. Your essay matters a lot. It's the only thing that shows you're more than a statistic, and gives you a chance to show off your passions. Having someone look at this helps a lot.

b) Apply to as many schools as you can. Don't fixate on individual schools, try to get as many opportunities as you can. College admissions, like job applications, are mostly a numbers game, so the more place you apply to, the higher your chances you'll get into something you like.

c) Don't be too disappointed if you don't get into your first choice. In the end, college is really more about what you make of it, rather than the pedigree of the school itself. I've worked with tons of great engineers with degrees from top universities and small community college alike. College pedigree doesn't determine your success, hard work and discipline do. Having a passion for CS is great too.

Good luck! Don't give up hope, I'm sure you'll get into a good school.

>because being Asian-American is not a disadvantage

It very clearly is.

You should read the GP a bit closer. He already got rejected by his first choice. This is one of the reasons why he said that being Asian-American is a disadvantage.

And he's right -- it is a disadvantage in terms of getting into American universities. You can read my story in response to the GP. You can read countless anecdotes online. You can read the stats from the various studies and court trials.

Asian-Americans still do okay in American life in general, after college. One just has to be ready to accept that the university you attend does not have the final say in how your life unfolds.

Why do you think it's a huge disadvantage? Your advice seems defeatist, and at best, is highly discouraging. Do you really think it's a good idea to tell a young high schooler to game the system to get into college?

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