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Transcending Race On Your College Application
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A Princeton University archway.
With competition to get into college at an all time high, it's no wonder that when an objectively great student gets rejected from a college, the student wants answers - especially if the student feels that he was rejected on the basis of race.
This is exactly the situation Jian Li found himself in after being rejected from Princeton University. Li asserts that Asian students are held to higher standards than other applicants to Princeton.
Now comes word that Princeton is denying requests from New Jersey's Star Ledger newspaper to release more detailed admissions data "broken down by race and test scores." While Princeton will not release such data to the Star Ledger, Lauren Robinson-Brown, Princeton's director of communications, said the university is fully cooperating with the Feds.
No matter what the investigation into Princeton turns up, it has been an open secret for years that not all minorities are treated equally in the greater world of college admissions. Whether universities that hold different minorities to different standards are doing the right thing in the name of "diversity" or doing the wrong thing in the name of "diversity" depends on who you talk to. But one thing is for sure; "diversity" is often cited by college admissions officers as one of their main priorities when composing a freshman class, right up there with academic accomplishments, standardized test scores, and extracurricular exploits.
Bottom line for the soon-to-be-college applicant: colleges will consider many factors other than your grades and scores when they make their admissions decisions. Some you have control over (like how you communicate about your accomplishments and how you communicate about yourself in your resume and essay(s)). Others (like your race) you have no control over. Each college applicant can only make the best of what he or she has, so make sure that the factors that you do have control over build the best case possible for your acceptance.
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