Research Question: How is racism a key factor in college admissions?

What I know 

Colleges evaluate your readiness to attend their school based on your SAT/ACT scores, GPA/transcript, class rank, and other test scores, as well as your extracurriculars, application essays, and letters of recommendation. In the 1800s a student had to rely on their skin complexion to be able to attend a college or university. If you fell in the category of a colored individual your college admission would have been revoked. Before the civil war, most states in the USA didn’t allow African Americans to have a proper education. This was due to the segregation laws. African Americans had to rely on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Historically Black Colleges and Universities were created for African Americans who wanted to continue their education but couldn’t since segregation was stopping them. Now being a minority can come as an advantage. Colleges want to have a culturally diverse group of students attending their institution. Schools do take into account certain factors as to why your scores may not be as high as other people’s if you are a targeted minority. What sparks my curiosity is if race plays the most important role in college admission. Is a person’s race the first-factor college administrators look at on an application? When there are two students with the same academic scores but one person is white and the other student is black, will colleges favor the white student over the black student? These are some of the questions I would like answered by the end of this research paper and hopefully, I figure out if race actually does play a role in college admissions.

 

The Search (Documenting the Research Process)

With my knowledge on HBCUs, I’m going to continue to learn more about its origins. Through a simple google search, I figured out the reason why HBCUs were created. After I broadened my knowledge, I looked more in depth into one specific HBCU called, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. I came across the Universities website where it gave a detailed explanation on the history of HBCU. Now that I have a strong understanding of the purpose of HBCUs, I continued to learn more about them. On the college page there was an article that was linked. The article consisted of everything that I knew already but more. I decided that this article can give me strong information on the origins of racism in college admissions. Through looking for more information about HBCU I came across a report written by Susan T. Hill which had statistical data showing African Americans admission rates into colleges. The data showed a significantly less amount of African Americans in institutions compared to white Americans. Then through a youtube search about racism in college, I came across multiple videos and the one that caught my eye was a news report from CBS Mornings. This article talks about how Asian American students are at a disadvantage when applying to Ivy League Schools. I came across a Washington post article explains into detail why Asian Americans are considered to have a disadvantage. In a Ted Talk I found, the speaker, Alex Chang explains how grades don’t matter when it comes to college admissions, and it is mainly about who you are as a person. Colleges look at you more in depth than your grades. Lastly, I watched an episode from “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj”. This Netflix episode showed that colleges have a set amount of diverse students that they admit. Through all of this research I wrote down important points from the sources and plan to use it in my research paper.

 

What I learned

When a student applies for a college, why do they need to include what race they are in their application? Times may have changed now, however there was an extended period of time where students weren’t allowed to attend colleges due to the color of their skin. Blatant racism in college admission existed during the 1800s. To be admitted into a college or university, a student would have to rely upon their color of skin. Student’s college enrollment would have been rejected if they were a colored individual. Most states in the USA didn’t allow African Americans to acquire an adequate education prior to the Civil War. Segregation laws were to blame for this. African Americans had to rely on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to receive a proper education. Most of the colleges and universities founded were prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The colleges/universities were created so that African Americans who are unable to attend non-colored colleges might attend HBCUs. As a result, race has been an apparent element in college admissions throughout history, yet as time has progressed, other statistical data has become more prioritized, and universities have become more inclusive of different races in order to establish a diverse atmosphere.

 Before the 1960s, practically every African American attended a historically black college or university. Cheyney University of Pennsylvania was the first HBCU, founded in 1837. HBCUs aided in the protection of African Americans from laws and regulations prohibiting them from attending schools and universities. It is a location where African Americans can pursue their education without restriction. Based on Susan Hills’ book, The Traditionally Black Institutions of Higher Education, 1860 to 1982 (1985), she states, “HBCUs offer all students, regardless of race, an opportunity to develop their skills and talents. These institutions train young people who go on to serve domestically and internationally in the professions as entrepreneurs and in the public and private sectors.” (Hill) This book describes how historically black colleges and universities (HCBUs) were established to ensure that African Americans received an appropriate education. Although African Americans lacked the optimal approach for their future due to their race, historically black schools and institutions were established to help them achieve it. Hill also provides statistical data on the amount of African Americans attending college in the 1970s on pages 11-12 of her book. She states, “In 1970, blacks accounted for only 4.3 percent of the full-time undergraduates in the non-TBI’s in the South. That year the NAACP filed a class action suit (Adams) to enforce desegregation of the public higher education systems in 10 States. It requires that public TBI’s be enhanced to effectively compete with public non-TBI’s, and also requires that non-TBI’s increase the number of black students and faculty.” (Hill) African Americans were first allowed to attend non-Traditionally Black Institutes after the Supreme Court ruling in Brown versus Board of Education. The class action lawsuit known as Adams mandated more African Americans to attend institutions since only a small fraction of African Americans were accepted. 

Ivy League universities are preparing for a review of race’s role in college admissions. The Trump administration is investigating allegations claiming Asian-American students at Harvard University are being discriminated against. Princeton’s president defends the university’s policy of considering race in the admissions process in an exclusive interview with CBS News. They pretend to value diversity, yet in the end, a person’s entrance to a school is determined by their color. The CBS Morning News Report done by News Anchor, Charlie Rose (2017) states, “But a group called students for fair admissions is accusing elite colleges of discriminating against Asian Americans and white students using a legal caps on her roommate and higher academic standards for admissions. In a Washington post op-Ed, The groups president Edward Blum writes the racial preferences of Spanish better qualified individuals and pit Americans against one another.” (Mornings) If SAT and GPA scores are the main requirements, the Ivy League colleges would have well over 75% Asian students. It’s already biased in their favor, with Asian students representing over 20% of Ivy League students, more than double the Asian population in the United States. Asian parents are well-known for preparing their children for Ivy League schools from the moment they are born. They’re constantly studying, and anything under a 4.0 GPA is viewed negatively. When their children are young, Asian parents even hire tutors to assure that they are achieving all of the qualifications for future admission. Is it true that having a good GPA and outstanding ACT scores makes you the ideal candidate? Well, Asians are thought to have much less social abilities, which might impact how they are seen outside of their academics. I believe this is what the Princeton President was trying to express, even if he didn’t entirely mention it. The Asian American population at Harvard has decreased significantly as a result of the introduction of a rigorous admissions procedure. Edward Blum is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also president of Students for Fair Admissions. In a Washington post op-Ed written by him, called “Harvard’s discrimination against Asian Americans must end.” he states, “In 1992, 19 percent of admitted students were Asian, while in 2013, 18 percent were Asian. Research also shows that Asian applicants make up a large percentage of the most qualified applicants. This rate of admissions for Asians cannot be a coincidence. The California Institute of Technology, for example, has seen Asian American admittees grow from 25 percent in 1992 to nearly 43 percent in 2013.” (Blum) Affirmative action is not the most effective strategy to create a diverse student group. They claim that it unfairly targets students, penalizes better-qualified individuals, and puts Americans against one other. It is more appropriate to implement needs-based affirmative action in addition to formal community engagement, financial assistance, and academic assistance. Using these strategies might result in a considerable rise in minority enrollment, such as Asian Americans. It is hurtful to feel that a dream has been taken away, but students who are serious contenders for the most highly selective colleges and universities in the world will find many other doors open to them. With their skills they might find even more opportunities as bigger fish in smaller ponds.

Students of color with the same grades. extracurriculars, and test scores are often rejected from schools that white people with the same stats are accepted to. This has to do with how white students, due to the privilege that generations before them had of attending institutions of higher education, are seen as better applicants. So often, legacy students take the seats of more deserving people. The college admissions process also issues race quotas that feel like they limit the number of non-white students admitted. Yes it is good to try to make a place more diverse, but quotas feel strange. Hasan Minhaj, who is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host of Indian descent describes instances where the college admission process feels very racist in his Netflix show, “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj.” He implies, “However, the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld that race can be used as one factor among many factors in the holistic review of an applicant.” (Minhaj) This source shows how racism actually functions in the college admissions process. Hasan Minhaj describes how schools issue race quotas, meaning they have a certain amount or number of people of a certain background attending. This feels like they are capping the amount of people of one race they let attend. Additionally, Minhaj describes how white people, who have been going to college in America for the past several centuries, have the upper hand over people of color who only more recently had that same privilege. Colleges are more likely to accept legacy students as opposed to first generation ones, who are all too often people of color. When it comes to racism, students aren’t the only ones who believe they are subjected to it. Colored teachers have also claimed receiving discrimination because of their race. Dannielle Joy Davis who is a tenured Professor of Higher Education at Saint Louis. University stated in her book,  “The work also informs academic promotion and tenure policies, where faculty are evaluated on their teaching via student evaluations and collegiality. Women and racial minority faculty tend to be rated more harshly than their White male peers (Carle, 2009; Davis, 2004). This, coupled with the likelihood of women and minorities teaching race- and gender-based material, which may cause discomfort for some White learners, contributes to the possibility of students expressing resistance to difficult classroom topics.” (Joy Davis) This book contributes to the discipline by highlighting the ongoing issues that teachers of color confront at primarily White institutions, how we could interpret racism in academic settings, and how individuals of diverse racial origins interact. Helms’ concept and the evidence presented here imply that schooling can play an important role in the formation of an autonomous, healthy White racial identity. The research also helps to shape academic promotion and tenure practices. Women and racial minority academics are typically ranked lower than their White male counterparts. This, together with the frequency of women and minorities teaching racial and gender-based content, increases the risk of students showing aversion to challenging classroom subjects. The use of Helm’s White Racial Identity Model might aid in mitigating the impacts of racial discrimination. 

When it comes to college entrance, you must have a unique application. In a tweet written by grad student and a socialist, Delaniac [@ChadNotChud], he implies, “Breaking: there are many more “exceptional” students than there are spots at elite universities. Upper middle class WASPs convinced this is a sign of oppression. Kaitlyn Younger applied to five lvy League schools, plus Stanford and Berkeley, with a 1550 on her SAT. None accepted her.” (Delaniac) To get admitted to an Ivy League institution, you must be regarded as an extraordinary student. You cannot just have a mediacore academic record to gain admission to these colleges. Even though the student, Kaitlyn Younger, is a non-colored individual, her SAT score of 1550 is insufficient to gain admission. You are regarded as a generic student with those particular academics. Assuming that the student Kaitlyn Younger is someone who is in the middle/ higher class she was rejected from all of the Ivy League schools she applied to, her not being a minority still didn’t increase the chances of her getting accepted to any of the five Ivy Leagues she applied to. At the end she was just considered mediocre to the colleges because she was just semi-exceptional in her academics. Finally, in a TedTalk called, “What I Learned Through College Applications”, by Alex Chang, the founder and CEO of Ivy-Way Academy and a college application expert, he describes universities’ mindsets while reviewing applications, and how grades are not as significant as most people assume. He also discusses how candidates must “be awesome” and “be unique” in order to get admitted to dream colleges. He asserts, “I’m probably indistinguishable from any other Asian American applying to an Ivy League school but what I was forgetting was the past that I took to get everything that I had presented on my application all the struggles and failures all the mistakes that I made that brought me to that place and that’s where I think the uniqueness can come in…I was hesitant to open up because these are really tough questions but I was just overwhelmed by the pressures and stresses of everything that I had to do now is evil able even able to recount the time.” (Chang) This shows that there are many people just like you when it comes to college admissions. Your background and struggles such as being an immigrant can help you through the process but at the end it depends on you. If you are the same as everyone else it will be very hard for you since colleges read a lot of applications. You have to stand out to them in order to get admitted. 

Conclusively, there are several factors that might impact your college admissions. Have you had good grades or been active in your community? Many of the questions listed are frequently asked of applicants to prestigious colleges and universities. However, you will never be asked about your ethnicity. Instead, you will be given an application to fill out that includes a spot to designate your race. Although, many institutions are currently striving to create a more diverse campus by admitting more minorities, spreading a little color over the campus, hoping that they will appear more enticing to candidates seeking diversity in their ideal school. 

 

 

 

What I think about what I learned

As someone who has gone through multiple college applications, I always wondered why there were so many questions about my ethnicity background. Now I’m realizing why that truly is. It’s because colleges want a more diverse group of students attending. This is why they give people who are minorities more opportunities during the application process. As there was once a time period were African Americans were extremely discriminated against for having dark skin, I knew it would have been difficult for them trying to receive an education. This was true since they were allowed in most colleges and universities. This led to the creation of HBCUs. Then I learned about the Asian American population in schools decreasing. This ultimately is the result of colleges not only focusing on academics, but they also look for people with much more experience in the real world. Colleges look at you as a person rather than just your academics. A person can be book smart but when they lack extracurriculars they can be looked past by colleges. That is what a lot of my sources such as the TedTalk and the tweet was trying to say. You need to be unique as a person and people who are unique tend to be what colleges are looking for. With all questions aside, racism did in fact blatantly exist in the college applications, but currently you can’t really find colleges favoring people based off of them being white. They in fact do prefer people in the minority so they can create a more diverse student population.

 

Works Cited

Blum, Edward. “Harvard’s discrimination against Asian Americans must end.” The Washington Post, 8 Aug. 2017

Delaniac [@ChadNotChud]. “Breaking: there are many more “exceptional” students than there are spots at elite universities. Upper middle class WASPs convinced this is a sign of oppression.” Twitter, 23 April 2022, https://twitter.com/ChadNotChud/status/1517905641444196352?s=20&t=xsTjxSK1XiZqJG_bjxo1fg

Hill, Susan. “Highlights.” The Traditionally Black Institutions of Higher Education, 1860 to 1982, U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, National Center for Education Statistics, 1985, pp. 11–12.                        https://nces.ed.gov/pubs84/84308.pdf

Joy Davis, Dannielle. Social justice issues and racism in the college classroom : perspectives from different voices. United Kingdom, Bingley, U.K. : Emerald, 2013.

Mornings, CBS. “Princeton’s president defends race-conscious approach to admissions.” Youtube, News Anchor by Charlie Rose, 8 Aug. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SfDWD_G3M

Minhaj Hasan. Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, 2018-2020, Netflix, www.netflix.com

Talks, TEDx. “What I Learned Through College Applications | Stephen Pyon | TEDxYouth@ICS.” Youtube, TED talk by Stephen Pyon, 20 May. 2019, https://youtu.be/Bv07DuXMURk