The college admissions process, to many Korean-Americans families, is the most important and life-changing of times. Being in one myself, I learned that one must pour their blood, sweat, and tears, synonymous to top SAT scores, a variety of difficult AP classes, and stellar extracurricular activities, into the college process. However, embarking on my senior year of high school and entering the world of college admissions myself, I have learned that the process is biased against me and other Asian-Americans.
Stemming from years of Asian-Americans being deemed as the “model minority” in which they, as a minority group, are perceived to experience greater wealth, opportunity, and intelligence than other minorities, colleges are biased against Asian-Americans, whether they know it or not. Affirmative action has been known to take place in the college process, as colleges uplift minority groups that have previously been discriminated against. However, it uplifts some groups at the expense of Asian-Americans. In the affirmative action lawsuit against Harvard, the school claims that Asian-American students have the strongest academic records, yet they receive the lowest scores on personality rates, which include traits such as courage and likability. Racially stereotyping Asian-American applicants as intelligent but not likeable have plagued Harvard University and most likely other schools as well, showing that Asian-American applicants are judged based on stereotypes of their race rather than on their individual qualities.

Not only that but 12 percent of Asian-American applicants are accepted to Harvard despite the fact that they average higher grades and SAT scores than other students. Additionally, Brown and Stanford Universities have conducted studies that show percentages of Asian-American student acceptance have remained roughly constant while the number of highly qualified Asian-American applicants have increased dramatically. Although Asian-Americans are more than qualified to be accepted, the reason their acceptance rates have remained relatively the same shed light onto the admission quotas that many colleges place on Asian-American applicants. These statistics have confirmed my cynical view of the college admissions process.

With the rise of the college admissions scandal and the introduction of the SAT adversity scores, I am dejected to see that Asian-Americans, myself included, are racially prejudiced by the very process we deem important and life-changing.

With this in mind, I hope in the coming years, colleges do not fall victim to racial stereotyping, but rather see Asian-American applicants for who they truly are.

<Elissa Kim/ Marymount High School 12th Grade>