Benefits of being a minority

USMA17

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I am USMA candidate for the class of 2017. I am fully qualified with a nomination (NJ10) and am now just playing the waiting game to hear back from USMA. However, I am also a minority. I am Hispanic and first generation American. My question is does this give me a better chance of obtaining an appointment? I have been in contact with my diversity outreach officer back and forth for quite some time now.
 
I am USMA candidate for the class of 2017. I am fully qualified with a nomination (NJ10) and am now just playing the waiting game to hear back from USMA. However, I am also a minority. I am Hispanic and first generation American. My question is does this give me a better chance of obtaining an appointment? I have been in contact with my diversity outreach officer back and forth for quite some time now.

I was in the same situation as you (Hispanic, 1st gen American). I do believe you are more likely to get an appointment compared to other non-underrepresented minorities or, well, majorities, given you are fully qualified w/ a nom. But things change every year, so it could be different this year.

All in all, good luck! I know the wait can be terrible. I only got my appointment in mid-April, so I know that pain.

Good luck! Let me know how it turns out!
 
I think you have a very small increase in your chances vs. non-URM as an Hispanic. You'd have better chances still if you were female Hispanic, or African American female, and the grand prize goes to African American males. this is also more or less the order of "accomodation" within college admissions committees at every other college (not just service academies) that are legally permitted to use ethnicity in their diversity goals -- the University of California is one system that has outlawed this approach to admissions.

However, you have inadvertently asked a question that seems to usually last about a page and a half, with increasingly emotional posts about the wisdom of diversity admissions, including ad hominem attacks from one poster to another, at which point the Moderator closes the Thread
 
Interesting

I think you have a very small increase in your chances vs. non-URM as an Hispanic. You'd have better chances still if you were female Hispanic, or African American female, and the grand prize goes to African American males. this is also more or less the order of "accomodation" within college admissions committees at every other college (not just service academies) that are legally permitted to use ethnicity in their diversity goals -- the University of California is one system that has outlawed this approach to admissions.

However, you have inadvertently asked a question that seems to usually last about a page and a half, with increasingly emotional posts about the wisdom of diversity admissions, including ad hominem attacks from one poster to another, at which point the Moderator closes the Thread


______
I totally agree


Push Hard, Press Forward
 
I think you have a very small increase in your chances vs. non-URM as an Hispanic. You'd have better chances still if you were female Hispanic, or African American female, and the grand prize goes to African American males. this is also more or less the order of "accomodation" within college admissions committees at every other college (not just service academies) that are legally permitted to use ethnicity in their diversity goals -- the University of California is one system that has outlawed this approach to admissions.

However, you have inadvertently asked a question that seems to usually last about a page and a half, with increasingly emotional posts about the wisdom of diversity admissions, including ad hominem attacks from one poster to another, at which point the Moderator closes the Thread

I think it's slightly different when it comes to the SA's and every other college on this topic. I think the SA's look at it enlisted/officer ratio within all the different groups. Such as the Navy's or Army's big hispanic push lately for officers can't remember which. Other colleges try to match society population percentages.

And yes this topic can turn ugly very very fast so please keep it civil.

Thanks!
 
However, you have inadvertently asked a question that seems to usually last about a page and a half, with increasingly emotional posts about the wisdom of diversity admissions, including ad hominem attacks from one poster to another, at which point the Moderator closes the Thread

Haha I laughed out loud at this. Yes it is true, threads like these open the flood gates to many who hate the Affirmative Action system.

To answer your question, yes being a ethnic minority might give you a slight advantage. However, with a little research on google you could have easily figured that out or used common sense to derive the same answer. This begs the question, is this a baited flame thread?
 
It was not intended to be a "baited flame thread", I just asked the question on this forum because through research I was getting mixed answers. I figured if I wanted to get a more accurate answer concerning the Academy I should have asked on this thread (as well as contact my Diversity Outreach Officer).
 
I think the fact that you have a Diversity Outreach Officer at all is probably a good indicator
 
It was not intended to be a "baited flame thread", I just asked the question on this forum because through research I was getting mixed answers. I figured if I wanted to get a more accurate answer concerning the Academy I should have asked on this thread (as well as contact my Diversity Outreach Officer).

Let the numbers do the talking

http://www.usma.edu/bov/SiteAssets/Meeting Minutes/Signed Meeting Minutes 20120614.pdf

According to the West Point Admissions Office

for Class of 2012, of 159 fully qualified hispanic applicants, 143 were offered Appointment or 90% where as for Caucasian 81%, Asian/Pacific Islander 75%. For classes of 2008 - 2011, the percentage of fully qualified hispanic applicants getting appointment offers were also higher than the average rate. I doubt this trend will change for the class of 2017.
 
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Short accurate answer without any emotion-it is a DEFINITE advantage to be a minority-especially a black male or female.
 
My son received a letter from an WP official with "minority" in their title. At some level, this statistic seems to matter. To what advantage/disadvantage, I can't say.
 
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