Filling a quotum?

[xp_dust]

I will be the first to admit that I am not an expert on the American college system...  But today left me really wondering... Do they have some kind of quotum to fill with a certain type of students?

I had a kind of combined admssion/scholarship interview at a small nearby liberal arts college today that I will leave nameless. I had expected questions like "Why do I want to attend our college?" or "What can you contribute to our community?" Or at least something like that.

No, the first thing he asked me after introducing himself and offering me a seat was if Xavier's was truly that school for mutants and if I was a mutant myself. He also went on about me being a refugee from Afghanistan, fleeing the horrors of the Taliban. O yes, and he asked if I was a observant Muslima...

Now, I would not have minded the questions if he just asked this briefly. But he kept coming back to those points. And I saw his scrawl something about hitting four catagories... with several exclamation marks behind it... That is what gave me the quotum idea...

All with all... it didn't feel good... They had a program that looked fairly interesting, but now I have having serious doubts about this school...

Comments

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

Dude, I'm actually pretty sure they're not allowed to ask some of that stuff. I don't think they're allowed to ask you about religion or like, actually ASK if you're a mutant, because some privacy stuff.

[x-quebecois.livejournal.com]

Oui. This is considered unethical, I think.

[x-dust.livejournal.com]

I didn't even think about that during the interview...

Especially since I thought that for example the observant Muslima thing was fairly obvious because of the fact that I cover my head...

[x-quebecois.livejournal.com]

I think it is that they are not allowed to make the decision about whether you are allowed into the school based on these these things - your status as a mutant, your religion, etc. They should look at your merit as a student, oui?

[x-skin.livejournal.com]

It's called affirmative action and they're not really supposed to do it anymore. They're definitely not supposed to be that blatant about it.

[x-dust.livejournal.com]

If I even would get chosen to attend or to get the scholarship I think I would be wondering all the time if it was because I fit neatly in those criteria or if I had not had those things I would still have been picked out...

[x-mandelbrot.livejournal.com]

They sound lame. I mean, maybe the actual classes and shit are awesome but if someone who's that big a douche is doing the interviewing there are probably plenty of other douches working there too. I say pass!

[x-legion.livejournal.com]

You are not obligated to answer any questions about your religious or genetic background. If the questions make you uncomfortable, you are well within your rights to decline to answer.

If you need a scholarship, there are several you could pursue based on your race, religion, financial and immigration status and yes, even genetic status -- but these are things you may choose to apply for or not as you feel comfortable with. If you would like I can probably locate a few, depending on what you want to "claim".