By Jasmine Pascual, Staff writer/Webmaster
For most high school students, the college admissions process is one of the most stressful processes of being a highs school student, aside from the struggle of perfecting a decent ACT score and other standardized tests.
High school seniors spend several hours of their time that they could spend doing homework or hanging out with friends perfecting the most impeccable essay with sentences they wouldn’t normally use and finalizing the perfect application. All of this time spent to either be turned down or actually get accepted into a potentially great school.
Despite all the hard work high school students put into their college admissions, complicated decisions are made by admissions officers based on everything from ACT scores to how well the student does in school.
One controversial factor that may be considered is race. Both colleges and universities struggle with how extensively race should factor into the admission decisions.
Many colleges strive to have campuses with racial diversity, but is it ruining the chances for other great applicants? Should students who aren’t great academically but have considerably more assets and are determined, who happen to be Asian American or Hispanic, get a leg up?
Although certain colleges and universities are more selective than others as each year goes on, statistics have shown that over the last decade, acceptance rates have dropped a lot because the pool of applicants has grown, according to a fall 2016 U.S. News and World Reports article.
The acceptance rate drops when more students apply to a college or university. This especially happens at the nation’s most elite colleges and universities such as Columbia University, Harvard University, and Stanford University. Whether or not race is a huge factor in the acceptance drop is unknown.
Indian Trail High School and Academy guidance counselor Michelle Schroeder explains that colleges and universities have admissions criteria in order for students to be admitted to their institution. Admissions representatives relay to counselors that the college essay is required for most institutions, as well as a student’s extracurricular involvement, including their community service, all are important pieces to admitting students into their institution.
Admissions officials are taking a holistic approach, Schroeder said, not just focusing on one aspect or the other when it comes to deciding whether students will be a good fit for their institution. Whether race is a factor in a student being admitted to a college is something that would be for the institution to address, she said.
“I tell all of my students that they need to choose a rigorous course plan, be successful in those courses and be involved in their school and community. If they do those things, they will find and be admitted to the college that fits them and their academic needs,” Schroeder said.
Most Indian Trail students interviewed agreed that race should not be a factor in college admissions.
“No it shouldn’t be. They should allow people to go to college if they have the grades and if they’re a worthy student, not just because of color. That is disrespectful, and colleges should be ashamed if that’s how they do admissions,” said James Vandun, an Indian Trail Communications Academy junior.
“For me, I feel like it partly takes away from my own achievements,” said Adelina Gonzalez, an Indian Trail Communications Academy senior. “I’ll never know if I’m being accepted into a college for my own successes and achievements or if I’m just a number to boost up their diversity count. It feels like it’s a hand out I never asked for.”
A February 2015 Los Angeles Times report explained how Asian Americans had to score higher on standardized tests such as the SAT because they are penalized by 50 points. In other words, Asian Americans had to score much better than other races to win admission.
“I don’t think it should be,” said Nathan Giese, an Indian Trail Medical Science Academy senior. “College shouldn’t be about your background or race, it should be about how well you performed in school and what you as an individual will bring to the college.”
Accepting a student into college should be based on how well-rounded the student is, said Mike Walbran, an IT Communications junior.
Selective colleges typically seek well-rounded individuals in addition to having spectacular SAT scores and an at least average GPA. But an individual being too well-rounded is counterproductive. Another IT student responded as to whether race should be a factor in college admissions and had a different response.
“I think that race should be a factor to a certain extent. Race shouldn’t be used simply for schools to make them more ‘diverse’ because that is unfair to other students. However, I do think that race can be a factor that helps when necessary,” said Kayla Smith, an IT Communications Academy senior.
Colleges and universities receive countless applications with applicants who are trying to do a little bit of everything. Most colleges and universities encourage students to do what they’re really passionate about and excel in it. In a college application, college administrators claim that race is one of many factors they look at when accepting an individual and that race isn’t heavily influenced during the selection process.