Affirmative action

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ether
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 2:46 am

Affirmative action

Post by ether » Sat Dec 06, 2008 3:31 am

In view of chinese and indians flooding the US universities, I think they should allow some places for students from unknown countries like myself....I think this is necessary to create a more balanced world in the long run....I mean think about it, chinese have already put man in space and and indians aren't far behind....I mean they all have ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons and they have some world class universities and they are growing economically like no other in the world and yet they get the preferential treatment in the usa....I understand USA needs world class talent to feed it's own economy and stay competitive or dominate the world but I don't think they need 5000 phd students from china and india every year when half of them will drop out anyway.....I don't think I can compete with chinese or indian with my 1300 in GRE and 810 in PGRE and that makes me sad coz I don't think anyone from my country has ever been to decent university in America whereas there have been like millions!! from india and china over the years ....I think they should set aside at least 5% seats for students from unknown and unheard of countries who are half decent....just a thought...

robertson
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:23 am

Re: Affirmative action

Post by robertson » Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:38 am

I'm not exactly in the same boat as you, because I'm Spanish, and even though just a few Spanish do the Ph.D. in the USA we have the chance to do it here or in other very nice universities in Europe. Then lots of Spanish physicists do the post-doc in the USA because there is not such a big difference between some of our universities (or at least some of the really nice supervisors that you can find here).
I cannot agree completely with you, I'm against this kind of affirmative action. It is not in your favor to get admitted in a university that is gonna require you more than you can give. However, I think that people from unknown countries like yours can be as good as Chinese people. In your case, who can say if you are ten times better than a Chinese with a 990? No one, because you come from an unknown country and your educational background might be more similar to the American rather than to the Chinese. My point is that no 5% or whatsoever, but you deserve to have a chance to compare yourself with similar students and not directly put in the International bag. I hope they'll do the same with me.

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muonman
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:19 pm

Re: Affirmative action

Post by muonman » Mon Dec 08, 2008 3:28 pm

Ether, which country are you from?

ether
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 2:46 am

Re: Affirmative action

Post by ether » Tue Dec 09, 2008 4:15 am

muonman wrote:Ether, which country are you from?

you woudn't recognise and I will be sad.... :)

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Helio
Posts: 809
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:11 pm

Re: Affirmative action

Post by Helio » Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:17 am

ether wrote:
muonman wrote:Ether, which country are you from?

you woudn't recognise and I will be sad.... :)
By the spelling i am judging a former colony, so somewhere between australia and the canada

ether
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 2:46 am

Re: Affirmative action

Post by ether » Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:32 am

I come from a country with proud history of never being colonised....they tried but failed....now your imperialistically washed brain may be saying we should go in there now and put the record straight...may be they have WMDs or some other sh.it....their poverty is great risk to civilized and free world and we should just go there now and kill all of them..... :lol:

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secander2!
Posts: 264
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2008 12:25 pm

Re: Affirmative action

Post by secander2! » Wed Dec 10, 2008 7:04 am

ether wrote:a lot of sentiments presented here are typical american infatuations with intoxicating overconfidence, probably stirred heavily by toxic doses of prozac......one interesting typical american thing to do when you get 5th percentile would be arm yourself with your dad's machinegun and shoot everyone in the physics department, even the freaking annoying secretary, lock yourself in the department toilet, flush down all your transcripts with 4 GPA and shoot yourself.....now i am giving an advice based on what i've heard about american schools....
ether wrote:now your imperialistically washed brain may be saying we should go in there now and put the record straight...may be they have WMDs or some other sh.it....their poverty is great risk to civilized and free world and we should just go there now and kill all of them.....
ether, judging from the extremely antagonistic posts here and in this other thread, it seems like you really dislike Americans and the United States. As an American, I also have problems with the US, but I it just seems ironic to me that you are arguing that there should be a special spot funded by American tax payers in an American university for you, while brazenly insulting Americans in your posts. This would be like me arguing that more Americans should be allowed to work at CERN while saying saying "all Europeans are stupid bastards!!!" I agree with your idea about "affirmative action" for small unknown countries, but if you want to get others to agree with you, you should stop being so hostile.

robertson
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:23 am

Re: Affirmative action

Post by robertson » Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:32 am

Nooooo don't come to CERN!!! I would need to come back to Europe after my Ph.D.-postdoc-suicide cycle ;) I guess that he was just joking about imperialistically washed brain, and more knowing that we physics are ussually against this kind of political views. Ether your popularity is increasing in this forum, keep it real!



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