06/29/2023
Thoughts from the Boston Globe on today's Supreme Court "affirmative action" decision:
"Indeed, I believe that the ability of college admissions officers to continue to meet their enduring goals of filling classrooms, dorm rooms, and campus communities with a diverse roster of young people, and to do so within the new guardrails of the law, will rest heavily on the narrative portions of the college application.
Or, to put it another way: The success of the next iteration of affirmative action in college admissions could rise or fall on the degree to which young people maximize their use of their college admissions essays to bring themselves — and their “lived experiences,” as an admissions officer might put it — to full and vivid life. Also taking on additional import: the extent to which counselors and teachers use their reference letters to amplify the portraits that students sketch of themselves, including in their resumes.
Details, stories, and other examples drawn from applicants’ academic and personal experiences have always mattered. But these elements will be more critical than ever, especially with admissions officers no longer permitted to give weight merely to how an applicant checked the so-called race box, indicating whether they identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian American, or white, among other choices."
Details, stories, and other examples drawn from applicants’ academic and personal experiences have always mattered. But these elements will be more critical than ever.
