Do american white people get affirmative action when applying to mfe programs?

[TheDemonKing]

Since I am a white male, I've generally never thought that affirmative action would help me, but given that students in these programs are almost always asian, I was wondering if they would have slightly lower standards for white americans. My guess is these programs don't really care about the distribution of race, but if managers hiring quants in American prefer to hire white americans, then it could potentially help the programs' job numbers. Does anyone have any knowledge of the practices these programs use?

 

[Barny]

Good lord. Where did you come from? Were you born in the south during the 50's?

 

[mfegrad]

actually barny, it's a valid point. if schools were true to their affirmative action policies, the original poster would be correct in that being a white american male should proffer some bonus points. schools do not necessarily work that way, however.

 

[bigbadwolf]

My guess is these programs don't really care about the distribution of race, but if managers hiring quants in American prefer to hire white americans, then it could potentially help the programs' job numbers. Does anyone have any knowledge of the practices these programs use?

That's correct for various reasons having nothing to do with racism or white supremacism (such as wanting similar people around you with whom you can socialise and wanting people why can speak fluent and idiomatic English). I wouldn't be surprised if there is some bias towards white Americans that translates into slightly lower requirements. There's already a bias at the undergrad level at several universities, where East Asians need SAT scores of around 50 or 100 points extra to stand the same chance as a white candidate.

 

[FEnzo]

Execuse me for being blunt, but I think the discussion is kind of missing the point of AA?
Isn't it supposed to help underpriviledged races/ethnicities in America? which white american is anything but.
and to BBW: if the preference is entirely based upon culture, then it wouldn't be racism. But if you are preferring someone simply because they share the same skin tone with you, then no matter how natural it might be, it is still racism.

 

[pruse]

It's not about white vs. non-white, it's about who can actually communicate in English. you know, that part on your application where you check off your native language.

 

[TheDemonKing]

Barny: I'd like it to be clear that I was not born in the south during the 50s. I am a liberal who voted for Barack Obama.

I assume that programs will always give a slight advantage to students who have been speaking English their whole lives.

What I'm wondering is after taking into account English ability:
A. Do schools assume a slight hiring bias towards whites and take that into consideration in order in the admissionprocess to boost their hiring numbers?

B. Do schools give whites a slight advantage in the admission process to increase diversity?

 

[Jayanthan]

I agree with pruse.

Hope, we are not discussing any conspiracy theories!!!

 

[curltron]

I think being white is correlated with being an English speaking native, which have communication advantages in the US job market. Will being white enhance your chances? I don't think so, but speaking English as your first language certainly will.