The idea that "holistic" admissions is used to benefit teens working to support their family is not realistic. An Asian-American kid who spends most of his waking hours doing deliveries to help keep his parents' struggling Chinese restaurant afloat is absolutely not getting admitted to Harvard, even if he is a valedictorian with a perfect SAT score. In practice, holistic admissions means admitting students who wouldn't otherwise be admitted in order to satisfy admissions officers' ideological or financial goals.
Unfortunately, the law currently treats “white” people as a single group, ignoring the cultural and indeed ethnic differences within the group. Harvard is racist against German-descended midwesterners just as it’s racist against Asians, and for many of the same reasons.
