When filling out activities on college applications, Asian and Asian American applicants often consider excluding activities that fit the Asian stereotype. They might exclude activities such as playing the piano and violin to avoid appearing too “stereotypical”.

The college admission process requires students to provide basic information about themselves, their school, their family, and so forth. Second, applicants present their extracurricular activities. Third, applicants provide a high school transcript to show their course load and the grades they earned.

The stereotype of Asian people in America is that they perform better academically than students of different races. Thus, they have a better chance of getting into top-ranked schools. Yet, being an Asian American can be a disadvantage as well as an advantage when applying to college.

How are Asian Americans affected by affirmative action?

The debate on whether Asian Americans have a disadvantage in college admissions due to their race stems from a lawsuit filed by Students for Fair Admissions, claiming that Harvard’s race-conscious admission policy discriminates against Asians.

Affirmative action policies aim to increase the number of underrepresented groups in colleges. Since a significant percentage of many college student bodies are Asians, critics argue that Asian Americans are being penalized for their ethnicity. They say colleges hold them to a higher standard than applicants from other ethnic backgrounds.

Critics argue that student diversity policies harm Asian students. Some argue that Asian students shouldn’t be held to higher standards because they outperform other groups, including white students, in high school. Critics point to the hesitance among Asian American applicants to include activities that admissions officers may consider “too Asian,” like music or academic decathlon. Furthermore, many Asian college applicants are hesitant to check the “Asian” box in the ethnicity section. This shows that Asian American applicants are concerned to come across as a “typical Asian” on their applications.

On the other side of the debate, Asian Americans are oftentimes overrepresented on college campuses. For example, in 2021, the University of California offered seats to 29,830 Asian American students, which is 35 percent of admitted students. Yet, Asians only make up 15 percent of California’s population. In general, Asian Americans already seem to have access to the tools necessary to succeed while other groups do not.

Another interesting statistic to look at is undergraduate enrollment by race. In 2022, 5.8 percent of Asian undergraduates enrolled in universities in the US, similar to the Asian American population by percentage in the country (around 6 percent). While Asian Americans are overrepresented in certain colleges or states, they are accurately represented overall.

The model minority myth

In Asian cultures, education is the key to success. One way to succeed is by getting into top universities. However, because of affirmative action policies, Asian students and their parents worry that their hard work and outstanding applications may not help them get into their preferred university.

The apparent bias against Asian American college applicants is rooted in the “model minority” stereotype. The model minority stereotype perpetuates the idea that Asians have a high level of academic and professional success relative to other groups. For example, Asians are typically labeled as math geeks and music prodigies.

Indeed, a considerably high percentage of Asian applicants do play violin or piano. Asian Americans are more likely to have higher test scores, finish school at higher rates, and attend college compared to white people. However, this is mainly because they exert greater academic effort and put a higher emphasis on education.

When college admissions classify Asian American students as a single group, they may harm Asian students. A 2014 report shows that 49 percent of Asian Americans hold a bachelor’s degree. But the percentage differs between different national origin groups. 72 percent of Asian Indians, 57 percent of Sri Lankans, and 53 percent of Chinese Americans have a bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, fewer than 15 percent of Cambodians, Hmong, and Laotians have a bachelor’s degree.

Thus, college admission officers harm all Asian applicants when they classify them as one group. Since different Asian ethnicities groups vary in their socioeconomic status and access to resources, colleges that practice affirmative action should make their policies more specific.

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Claiming that affirmative action harms Asian Americans is perpetuating the model minority myth. It depicts all Asian Americans as equally able to attain academic and professional success, thus many are harmed by race-conscious admissions. It also puts greater emphasis on test scores and GPAs. But they are one component of admission reviews and not necessarily accurate indicators of who is more likely to achieve success.

Although diversifying the student body enriches a learning environment, actually obtaining representative diversity can be problematic. Nonetheless, colleges should have the right to create a diverse learning environment. One alternative to affirmative action is to consider students’ geographical and socioeconomic backgrounds. As they often correlate with race. Colleges should also expand and diversify their outreach programs to engage demographics they have not engaged before.

Admission officers evaluate an applicant from a range of perspectives, including grades, recommendation letters, essays, and extracurricular activities. Race is not the defining factor as to whether college admits you or not. Therefore, I’d advise Asian (American) applicants to focus on your interests and give your best effort rather than worrying about how affirmative action might impact your application.