Essay On Race-Based Admissions

Each year, millions of students apply to college. They spend hours slaving over applications, essays, and admissions tests so they can be accepted into their dream school. It has been said that hard work reaps great rewards, but often in the college admissions process, more than ambition and an impressive application is required to get into a university. In today’s world, race can play an important role in determining whether a student is accepted or rejected. Although colleges are no longer allowed to use quotas when forming a new class, race and ethnicity is taken into account along with the student’s academic background. The original goal of this was to promote diversity, but it is not being reached. Using race as a factor in the admissions …show more content…
One would think that a policy having to do with fostering acceptance wouldn’t rely on stereotypes, but stereotypes do influence admission criteria. One study showed that at selective colleges, students who marked their race as “Asian” on the application form had to have SAT scores that were on average 140 points higher than those of white students (Jaschik). African American and Hispanic students were sometimes admitted with scores even lower than those of white students. Colleges who accept Affirmative Action portray themselves as very cultured and open-minded people, but they still use the false notion that all Asians are exceptionally intelligent to determine if a prospective student is right for the school. Even though many East Asians pride themselves on high grades and test scores, that doesn’t mean that they should be discriminated against. After all, members of other races do this as well. White students are also discriminated against because they are seen as privileged. An Asian or White student with an impressive background should not be passed over in favor of a student of a “preferred” race with a mediocre