Former Ivy League (UPenn) admissions dean
“In many cases, students are denied admission because they don't have a "tag" associated with their application — what Harberson calls "the proverbial golden ticket for a student applying to an elite institution."
Students with tags may be "recruited athletes, children of alumni, children of donors or potential donors, or students who are connected to the well connected," according to the former admissions dean. However, Harberson writes, "Asian American students typically don't have these tags." As she notes:
Asian Americans are rarely children of alumni at the Ivies, for example. There aren't as many recruited athletes coming from the Asian American applicant pool. Nor are they typically earmarked as "actual" or "potential" donors. They simply don't have long-standing connections to these institutions.
And the fact is that Asian Americans often don't use the "connections" they do have. In all my years in college admissions, I never received a phone call or a visit from a well-connected politician, chief executive or other leader to advocate for an Asian American student.”