> One panellist, Rachel Cederberg—an Asian-American then working as an admissions official at Colorado College—described fellow admissions officers complaining of “yet another Asian student who wants to major in math and science and who plays the violin.”
The discrepancy of performance required between asian and white kind of makes sense taken in context of that quote. If your application looks exactly the same as a couple hundred other students, you're going to be compared against them first. A University can't admit only the math/science violinists, they need at least some variety, so you'll be measured against the people similar to you rather than all the applicants.
p.s. what is it with violin and piano, anyway? Is it because they are classical (and thus appear refined) yet can solo?
Violin and piano are indeed the most popular solo instruments in classical music. I won't stretch it too much if by saying that some of the best classical pieces are piano and violin concertos. At least 7 years of piano education were almost unavoidable growing up in former Soviet Union as well. There were free music lessons for everyone. Most people never touched the instrument after they were done. However some ended up switching to guitar or being able to play piano/keyboard for friends' entertainment. So overall I am glad I grew up in a country where music education was so universal.
The discrepancy of performance required between asian and white kind of makes sense taken in context of that quote. If your application looks exactly the same as a couple hundred other students, you're going to be compared against them first. A University can't admit only the math/science violinists, they need at least some variety, so you'll be measured against the people similar to you rather than all the applicants.
p.s. what is it with violin and piano, anyway? Is it because they are classical (and thus appear refined) yet can solo?