How Does Being a Minority Help College Admissions?

College-going students represent a diverse population, particularly among minority groups.

Affirmative action is a legal system that has enabled historically excluded groups to attend college.

These policies have helped create an educational atmosphere that is welcoming to students of all backgrounds, increasing their chances for success in our society. However, the Supreme Court is currently reviewing race in admissions decisions and could overturn years of precedent.

Benefits

Minorities may have the advantage of getting into some prestigious colleges at a higher rate than average students due to some schools that take race into account when making admission decisions.

The American college system has long discriminated against minorities, so affirmative action helps provide opportunity to those who have been historically left out. These policies guarantee students of color access to high-quality educations, leading to higher incomes, improved health outcomes and more fulfilling lives.

Studies have demonstrated that being a minority can increase your chances of admission into esteemed colleges, particularly top-tier institutions such as Ivy League universities. Furthermore, these studies reveal that being part of a minority can enhance academic performance.

Disadvantages

Recently, college admissions offices have placed greater emphasis on campus diversity. While this effort has made it easier for students of color to gain admission into top-tier universities, there remain some drawbacks.

Many colleges admit students based on a combination of factors, including academic records, high school course rigor and extracurricular activities. Therefore, even if a minority student meets all the admissions requirements, they may still be denied admission.

Minority students admitted based on group preference are more likely to drop out of college than their white middle-class counterparts, even when their test scores and high school grades match up. This trend holds even though minority students’ test scores and high school grades are comparable to those of their white, upper middle-class peers.

Even worse, students granted preferences tend to lie about their race more often than non-minority peers. This type of dishonesty completely undermines the purpose of affirmative action and negatively impacts minority students.

Challenges

As colleges and universities strive to increase racial and ethnic diversity, they must guarantee that students are admitted based on merit. This can be a difficult undertaking as many students of color must overcome legal and historical discrimination in order to receive an education.

One of the greatest difficulties minorities face is a lack of vocabulary to express their experiences. As such, many admissions officers find it difficult to adequately describe a student’s story in words.

In certain situations, students must craft an identifying story to help them stand out from the competition. This could include writing an effective essay highlighting how their experiences and background have enabled them to excel both academically and personally.

Colleges should also take an active role in recruiting minority students by partnering with organizations that provide assistance to low-income families. Doing so can provide these students with invaluable assistance during both the college application process and during their first year on campus.

Solutions

College admissions can be a murky area, but there are ways colleges can make the process more equitable. Some have done away with standardized-test requirements since they often favor students from wealthier backgrounds.

Another strategy is to decrease preferences given to athletes and legacies – students whose parents graduated from a particular college. According to David Selingo, author of “The Black Box: How Schools Are Selecting Their Student Body” and founder of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, this could result in more diverse student bodies.

For decades, affirmative action has been used as a means to increase racial diversity and equity in college admissions processes. But that could change if the Supreme Court decides to review two lower-court rulings related to these cases.