Denied on basis of being a Non-Minority

Hunter.50cal

5-Year Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
15
Got denied from CGA late last year under EA. Highschool college counsiler tried to get me reconsidered under RA. CGA counciler said that they could not take me beacuse they had a minority quota to fill. Kinda makes me irrate.:rant2:
 
I'm really sorry and I kinda feel bad since I had no intention of finishing my application and half effort finished it a week before the deadline. I was shocked and taken back when I received an appointment then I got contacted by their minority officer. Right now I have an appointment from USMA for the same reason, and I'm waiting for word from USAFA. I hope that if I do decide on decline my appointment that it would go to someone who worked harder towards this than me.
 
I don't blame you personally. I just wish that the process was race/ origin blind with appointments going to the most qualified. I don't mind being beaten on a level playing field be that grades or athletics ect , but when the field slants because I don't fill a quota it angers me.
 
Lots of things to consider...

Hunter, I am very sorry for you. Unfortunately those things fall under the "life's not fair, get used to it" column. So many people have a hard time getting used to that, and rightly so.

USAFAhopeful... You sound like a great kid. Congratulations and good luck.

Picking students for an academy, ROTC scholarship, etc. is extremely difficult. I truly believe that there is no best way to do it.

If the admissions board simply picked the kids with the highest academic scores, would that produce the best fighting force?

If they picked only the best athletes would that result in the best fighting force?

If they select a percentage of appointees to reflect the racial percentage occurring in the nation's population would that make for the best possible results?

If they picked the exact percentage of females in the U.S. would that ensure a great Navy/Army etc?

The answer to all of these is no. There is no way to do it properly. Perhaps they should have tryouts like a baseball or basketball team. Do the physical stuff, take some aptitude tests, and have cadre evaluations. That might do it.

Personally if I am in a combat situation I don't care if the people behind me are white, black, male, female, or if they scored 800 on their math SAT. I just want someone to save my bacon!
 
No academy should picked based on race or gender. The fact that they do (and they do...) is a statement on what we consider "important" and it WILL affect the services. Diversity is great, but not for diversity's sake.

And you know who forced the Coast Guard with this? Congress. Thank them.
 
Truly sorry to hear about this. We are in the same boat...what makes it sting even more, when my son was at CGA for an overnight visit, we were told by 2 admission officers that the class of 2018 will have a 40% female presence and the one admissions officer told our table at lunch that we have enough white male majority we don't need any more. This almost sounds like the Alan Bakke situation in California in the mid 70's.
 
Am I the only one who doesn't quite buy into this? Everyone competes within their own pool, whether it be for nominations, appointments, etc. So while I sympathize with Mr. .50 cal for not being admitted, the fact is he wasn't competitive within his pool of applicants. Is it sometimes harder for white males to be accepted into some programs? Of course - they are also typically the largest pool of applicants.

Instead of bemoaning lost opportunities and blaming the system, try thinking of what you can do to improve your position and be more competitive. As Maplerock said, "Life's not fair". Those who succeed manage to do so anyway.
 
I don't pity myself nor have I gone off the deep end that this is the end of the world. To be quite frank CGA was not my first choice. This does fall into the bin of "life isn't fair and get over it". But the fact that being part of a majority or a minority is a irrelevant factor in actual preformance on a battle field, but is a factor in deciding who can go onto that battle field as an officer is wrong.
I full support that if I was less qualified than anyone else be them female, black, asian, or other they should be appointed to the academy and not me. The fact that an equally qualified black, hispanic, asian, or female is give preferance over me soley of that basis is wrong however.
 
I'm not saying I disagree, only that these are the times and circumstances we have to deal with.
 
Maybe it was the speling and grammer what done you in. They can be fussy about that in New London.
 
I don't pity myself nor have I gone off the deep end that this is the end of the world. To be quite frank CGA was not my first choice. This does fall into the bin of "life isn't fair and get over it". But the fact that being part of a majority or a minority is a irrelevant factor in actual preformance on a battle field, but is a factor in deciding who can go onto that battle field as an officer is wrong.
I full support that if I was less qualified than anyone else be them female, black, asian, or other they should be appointed to the academy and not me. The fact that an equally qualified black, hispanic, asian, or female is give preferance over me soley of that basis is wrong however.

Equally qualified is the important phrase here. The academies, as well as all universities, are building a student body, and are therefore looking for what each individual can bring to the class. There are many kinds of diversity goals, with geographic, URM, gender, sports, fine arts, previous ties to the academy, etc. Is it better for two equally qualified candidates to be differentiated by who has a better batting average? Perhaps the softball team needs a closing pitcher?

Last year the Coast Guard Academy had 1500 completed applications. Assume that half are fully qualified and would make excellent officers. How do you select the 230 or so students for the incoming class? As was stated earlier, the needs of the Coast Guard mean a well rounded student. A 4.0 student doesn't mean a good officer, and neither does a 300 PFE or perfect SAT. It's a combination of strong leadership potential, academic success, and moral integrety that the committees are looking for. And still, a candidate needs to bring something else to the table; something that makes them unique and desirable.

If you want to be a Coast Guard officer, don't give up on the academy, and look into other commissioning programs. In addition, US Merchant Marine Academy as well as several state marine academies provide paths to a commission.
 
Got denied from CGA late last year under EA. Highschool college counsiler tried to get me reconsidered under RA. CGA counciler said that they could not take me beacuse they had a minority quota to fill. Kinda makes me irrate.:rant2:

Hunter.50cal, It is your ATTITUDE, not your APTITUDE, that determines your ALTITUDE. Please read about the role of Inclusion and Diversity at the CGA. It may help you to see things in a different light. http://www.uscga.edu/about.aspx?id=32

To the rest of us...

We need to think carefully before posting on such controversial topics. There are many well qualified, outstanding cadets and candidates that also happen to be members of under represented groups. These type threads can be incredibly offensive and insensitive to these individuals and their accomplishments.

There are the slightly marginal cadets or candidates that really need support and encouragement. These are the young men and women that I really worry about stumbling on a thread like this and becoming discouraged.
 
Hunter.50cal, It is your ATTITUDE, not your APTITUDE, that determines your ALTITUDE. Please read about the role of Inclusion and Diversity at the CGA. It may help you to see things in a different light. http://www.uscga.edu/about.aspx?id=32

To the rest of us...

We need to think carefully before posting on such controversial topics. There are many well qualified, outstanding cadets and candidates that also happen to be members of under represented groups. These type threads can be incredibly offensive and insensitive to these individuals and their accomplishments.

There are the slightly marginal cadets or candidates that really need support and encouragement. These are the young men and women that I really worry about stumbling on a thread like this and becoming discouraged.

I agree. The fact that someone is part of another group doesn't mean they were less qualified. OP actually has no idea how they racked and stacked against anyone else.
 
The term they use is " diversity".

Sent using the Service Academy Forums® mobile app
 
Again, diversity for diversity's sake is ridiculous. Those factors should be absolutely BLIND in the selection process. And yet, they aren't (thank you Congress for mandating this).

If we want to get rid of the stigma of "you got in because they needed minority numbers" then you need to get rid of those numbers, plain and simple.

The best candidates SHOULD be selected, regardless of race or gender. My classmates were impressive, independent of the color of their skin or their gender. That said, there were some decisions while we were cadets that rippled through the Corps of Cadets who people believed certain positions were handed out for "diversity" reasons.
 
LITS, I doubt there's a single method to selecting the BEST candidate. I suspect the various service academies have a continually changing formula. And how do they judge the end result? By the GPA at graduation from SA? By the promotion evaluations?

The best way to get selected is to be from unrepresented geographical areas.
 
LITS, I doubt there's a single method to selecting the BEST candidate. I suspect the various service academies have a continually changing formula. And how do they judge the end result? By the GPA at graduation from SA? By the promotion evaluations?

The best way to get selected is to be from unrepresented geographical areas.

MAYBE, except that at CGA that "underrepresented geographical areas" doesn't mean as much because the entire school is smaller than a single class at one of the D1 academies, AND there are Congressional nominations "forcing" that generally meaningless "geographic" need.
 
I'm pretty sure its the general principle about reverse discrimation. Schools (service academies) that promote ethics, who go out of their way to get "less qualified students in" is blatent discrimination, and extreme hypocrisy. Assuming that you were truly not accepted on the basis of not being a minority, I would be really angry if I were you. The policy of aiming to attract and further get more minorities for the sake of having minorities is a practice that has gotten out of control. If this is truly what you want, I'm pretty sure their is legal recourse for this discrimination.
 
I'm pretty sure its the general principle about reverse discrimation. Schools (service academies) that promote ethics, who go out of their way to get "less qualified students in" is blatent discrimination, and extreme hypocrisy. Assuming that you were truly not accepted on the basis of not being a minority, I would be really angry if I were you. The policy of aiming to attract and further get more minorities for the sake of having minorities is a practice that has gotten out of control. If this is truly what you want, I'm pretty sure their is legal recourse for this discrimination.

Suing the Feds is nigh impossible and by the time the suit wound its way through the courts one would undoubtedly be aged out of starting at the Academy.

The academies do not attempt to get more minorities for the sake of having more minorities, but for the sake of having the officer ranks be more representative of the enlisted ranks.

Finally, this debate goes round and round every year to no avail on either side of the issue. Frankly it doesn't seem like a debate worth having any longer. Nothing is going to change because of what is written here. Diminishing the academies or anyone on either side of this issue serves no useful purpose.
 
Kinnem...

It's not worth having unless you are one of the unfortunates with excellent ECAs, great GPA, and High Class Rank sitting on a thin white envelope.
 
Back
Top