Story by Anne Keogh
April 11, 2024
In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the college admissions offices at Harvard and UNC violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment by considering race as one of many factors in admissions. With that, more than fifty years of precedent for considering race as one factor in college admissions was technically undone.
Speaking for the majority, Justice John Roberts wrote: “The race-based admissions systems…fails to comply with the twin commands of the Equal Protection Clause that race may never be used as a ‘negative’ and that it may not operate as a stereotype.”
However, Justice Roberts added that, while a student cannot be solely judged by race alone, and certainly not by just checking off a racial category in a box, the student may discuss how race affected his or her experiences: “Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise…[but] the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual – not on the basis of race.”
With new marching orders in hand, admission officers turned their attention to a place on the application where a student’s unique life experiences (including experiences with race, background, and identity) could still be divulged in the context of their lived experiences: the essays.
Traditionally, college essay prompts come from two sources: The Common App (with its 650-word Main Essay chosen from seven prompts) and the colleges’ own supplementary questions.
The Common App kept its seven essay questions the same this year (two of which already had to do with identity and experience). Of note, the Common App, which still asks a student to disclose race on its form, is tracking which of its seven essay prompts different “student populations” are choosing compared to earlier years. Everyone wants to know how the reversal of affirmative action is impacting student decisions and choices.
Although the Common App kept its original essays, most colleges changed their prompts for the 2023-24 application cycle.
Some, like Sarah Lawrence College, took the affirmative action decision head-on in its 2023-24 supplemental essay prompt:
“In a 2023 majority decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, ‘Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the applicant can contribute to the university. Drawing upon examples from your life, a quality of your character, and/or a unique ability you possess, describe how you believe your goals for a college education might be impacted, influenced or affected by the Court’s decision.”
Most colleges did not address the court’s decision directly, but did jump straight into asking for students to talk about their lived experiences:
“What is distinctive about your personal experiences and development (e.g., family support, culture, disability, personal background, community, etc.)? Why are these experiences important to you and how will you enrich the Notre Dame community?”
“In her November 2019 Ted Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warned viewers against assigning people “a single story” through assumptions about their nationality, appearance, or background. Discuss a time when someone defined you by a single story. What challenges did this present and how did you overcome them?”
“We believe a wide range of personal perspectives, beliefs, and lived experiences are essential to making Duke a vibrant and meaningful living and learning community. Feel free to share with us anything in this context that might help us better understand you and what you might bring to our community.”
“Tell us about an aspect of your identity (e.g., race, gender, sexuality, religion, community, etc.) or a life experience that has shaped you as an individual and how that influenced what you’d like to pursue in college at Hopkins. This can be a future goal or experience that is either academic, extracurricular, or social.”
“There is a Quaker saying: Let your life speak. Describe the environment in which you were raised and the impact it has had on the person you are today.”
“It’s not easy being green…” was the frequent refrain of Kermit the Frog. How has difference been a part of your life, and how have you embraced it as part of your identity and outlook?
And yet, other colleges – like the University of Chicago – skipped the question about identity entirely.
“Where have all the flowers gone?” – Pete Seeger. Pick a question from a song title or lyric and give it your best answer.
You are probably wondering what the Court’s decision means for you. How do you talk about your race or identity if it is central to who you are? If you come from an underrepresented group, should you insert race or ethnicity into your essays?
The court’s decision really shouldn’t change how you approach your application, because the bottom line is: colleges want to know you. They want to know what makes you tick, what you have experienced, and what talents and passions you will bring to their campus. Colleges will continue to value diversity. Admissions officers are committed to fielding a diverse class through holistic admissions. No, they will not see a box you check about your racial or ethnic identity. Yes, they will read your essays and see the descriptions of your activities, including name, action, and impact of affinity groups. No, they cannot consider race as a factor in admissions – even as they understand you may come from an underrepresented minority group by seeing the contextual clues you’ve placed down. Yes, your lived experiences may present to admission officers an intangible quality, such as grit or honesty, that can give you an extra leg up – even as your ethnic background, which contributed to that grit, cannot be considered. And, yes, lawyers and data miners are lurking in the wings, making sure that essays and activities are not a proxy for race and that admissions remains faithful to the 14th Amendment.
Here is our advice at Varsity Vine:
Be your most authentic self. Discuss your background, especially if it has affected your life path or academic experiences or opportunities — absolutely. But don’t forget to also connect yourself to the university and the major you are applying to. If you talk about your life experiences, be sure to tie it back in to the shared mission you have with the school or the opportunities within your chosen field that the university provides. Talk about what you, specifically, will bring to the university that no one else can. Make them see you are a match. Colleges want diversity, yes. But they also want students who feel passion for their campus, will take advantage of their vast resources, and contribute to the student body. Place your efforts and focus there – and the rest will fall into place.
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