The ban on affirmative action was supposed to be a pursuit of equality. It was supposed to support the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment by turning more impartial eyes to the college admissions process. And yet, it seems to have done much of the opposite. June 29 marked a day that wouldn’t actually make the admissions process more equal, but instead, may have potentially skewed it further.
Students have long battled with the prospect of including race in their application. However, before the ban on affirmative action, things were a lot simpler. Students could check a box and tell colleges much of what makes them themselves without having to frame their applications around it and create limitations on how they are perceived. Now, the application process and the inclusion of racial background has become complex and confusing.
Admissions officers have just about now received all applications and will begin reviewing them. From here, tension builds. A student’s entire high school experience is supposedly summed in one application, and to exclude a fact of importance could jeopardize results.
In the midst of this pressure, I myself have already begun to wonder what decisions I will make when applying. I won’t be experiencing the application process for three years, and given how fast regulations are changing, I have no idea what the process will look like by that time. With acceptance rates dropping every year and standardized tests becoming less relevant, I can only expect there will be greater effort to stand out within students. However, what will standing out mean? If race becomes something that is actually more included through more important essays, does that make its inclusion less valuable? My mother is Korean and my father is African American, meaning that in the current day, framing essays that concern my race around my father might be much more beneficial in terms of getting in. Yet, that would mean leaving out a huge part of who I consider myself to be. I obviously haven’t been through the college application process; however, we all applied to Andover. I know that in my applications, I talked proudly of my familial background, and exemplified how much I cherish where I come from. Yet, without my race, then, would things be any different?
I come from a place of great privilege, so not being able to simply check a box is not something I am substantially afraid of in the college admissions process. However, what about people that face similar dilemmas but do not possess as much privilege? Has the ban on affirmative action only made their application process harder?
In my eyes, what separates certain racial groups from others is opportunity. That, fundamentally, was the reason for affirmative action; certain students who may surpass their peers have faced an inherently harder time showing it. Thus, in a lot of regards, it would be cardinal for students to be able to tell colleges why and how they have acquired certain opportunities, and how much they did with what they could. This used to be easily included by simply checking a box through affirmative action. However, the ban has given way for an alternative. Colleges have begun to encourage loopholes like asking questions concerning how identity has shaped their applicants. Making essays the only outlet for race inclusion has augmented its importance because colleges must assume anyone who could find benefit in their race would. In order to show their background, students must frame their essays around their identity, even if this was not what they originally sought to convey. If these loopholes are avoided, colleges might guess that applicants aren’t of a minority group, and actually pay more attention to this detail than the merit of the application. Given these windows, the ban on affirmative action has not actually removed colleges’ ability to know the race of their students, but instead, inspired them to see more of it.
In a “New York Times” podcast titled “A Confusing New World for College Applicants,” student Francesco Macias presents worries that talking too largely about his racial background might confine him. He believed it would be better to “play it safe,” instead of trying to force his race into his writing. There is no doubt that students who would like to focus more on other aspects of themselves feel squeezed to talk about their racial background in greater detail. Students who might have focused on, say, robotics, might now have to frame their essays completely differently just to be able to show colleges how far they have actually come.
In this way, colleges have put more weight on the inclusion of race in applications. Affirmative action hasn’t eliminated the importance of racial background, it has only augmented it.
