There are numerous other factors considered than just grades when determining qualification, as has already been pointed out to you.

If one student has a 3.2 with no extracurriculars and another has a 3.0 but was captain of the football team, newspaper staff, community volunteer, worked their way through school, etc., the 3.0 can be considered more qualified. Same goes with a student who comes from abject poverty, had to help raise their siblings, had to struggle just to eat everday, had to deal with institutional bias b/c they're a minority, that student could be considered more qualified than one who has slightly better grades but comes from a wealthy family and only had to concentrate on school.

Once that lower student receives the same opportunities there's a chance they'll far excel over others who've had more opportunities to that point, and the schools know that, that's why they consider more than just grades which AA factors into the equation. It would be stupid and counter productive not to if they want the best people. You're just dead wrong on that point in every way.

And as long as the legacy factor continues where people like George W. Bush get into Yale even though they barely passed high school, AA is all the more needed. You say it too should be abolished, but it never will so it's a moot point.

Where job discrimination is concerned, same thing as above. If two potential employees out of college have similar qualifications but the lower income minority who had to work to pay their way through school and came from a poor area doesn't quite stack up to the millionaire's son, that's going to be taken into consideration, employers would be foolish to not if they want to hire the best person. Because once the lower income minority, who's more so learned values such as steady work, street smarts, and time management to that point, has the chance to put their full attention to their job, there's a chance they're going to be a more productive employee. And has already been pointed out, if they don't perform the job well, they'll simply be fired.

As far as two NYC firefighters, or any type of other applicants, where the white loses out simply b/c of AA, yes that's reverse racism set in motion to counter the 150+ years of establishmental racism that's manifested itself in the form of everything the black candidate and his ancestors have had to deal with every day of their lives, and has affected virtually every aspect of their current standing. Statistically the white will have a much better shot at receiving employment elsewhere at a predominantly white managed businesses than will the black. At this point every state in this country excepting a few sees it as a justifiable utilitarian measure, so I guess you'll just have to live with it or move out.