Asians and Ivy League Admissions

Asians and Ivy League Admissions February 11, 2013 Theres a terrific op-ed out today in The Daily Californian by Jason Willick. In the op-ed entitled The Ivy Leagues Asian Problem, Willick, a skeptic of the holistic review process in highly selective college admissions, asserts that Asians might well be the new Jewish students of years past. How so? For years, Jewish students were discriminated against in the highly selective college and graduate school admissions process (see our post on the Emory University admissions scandal with respect to Jewish students). But these days, its Asians who face the brunt of discrimination at Ivy League schools. On this point, we at Ivy Coach do not disagree with Mr. Willick. Its not as though we havent written about the discrimination faced by Asians and Asian Americans at Ivy League schools before. It really does happen and we endeavor to educate the public, like Mr. Willick, about the extent of the issue. Asians and Asian Americans face discrimination in the Ivy League admissions process. Writes Mr. Willick, But what if there is a more unsettling explanation for admissions offices’ emphasis on applicants’ personalities? What if holistic review is just a politically correct term designed to give colleges license to achieve a desired ethnic makeup among admitted students — in particular, to cap Asian enrollment? Mr. Willick goes on to write a bit later on in the piece, In other words, admissions officers are suggesting that Asians superior academic performance is outweighed by their inferior personal qualities compared to other races. The parallels with the Jewish quota system are unmistakable. Admissions data at Ivy League colleges indeed backs up Mr. Willicks argument. Asian and Asian American applicants with better grades and test scores than other applicants often dont gain admission to the Ivy League school theyre applying to while their non-Asian or non-Asian American peer with worse test scores and grades does. As weve always said, it doesnt just come down to SAT scores and grades (in spite of what a recent article states about the admissions process at Penn). At Ivy Coach, we help our Asian and Asian American students overcome a process that discriminates against them. Asian and Asian American applicants dont have to change their names to gain admission to an Ivy. But there are a number of strategies our students capitalize on to gain admission.