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If that is the case, then why do Asians underperformed compared to Whites? If affirmative action is meant to help underrepresented groups, shouldn't the overrepresented group be the one "taking the hit"?


Over represented by what metric?


Asians underperform? Please explain.


Asians are the overrepresented group.


Overrepresented? Is the Asian to non-Asian ratio is higher fir college students than for qualified applicants to those colleges?


You'd have to define "qualified" first to answer that question... but anyway, that's not what overrepresented means.


What does it mean then?


There is a higher proportion of X in Y than there is of X in the total population.


That's like saying children of age 6 are overrepresented in kindergarten, because there is a higher proportion of kids of age 6 in kindergarten than in the total population!

The "natural" (equally-represented) proportion isn't that in the total population, it's the proportion in the population of interest, which in this case is the set of qualified applicants.


The meaning of words does depend on context of course. Regardless, rest assured that when you hear someone say "overrepresented" and they are talking about higher education, they are using the definition I gave you above.


Well then the word is quite uninteresting and meaningless.




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