The college admissions process is a mysterious and complex one, and a looming pressure that both high school students and parents feel well before high school. Every achievement that students earn seems to weigh differently in deciding an acceptance or a rejection. However, there is a factor that no student can control: race. In recent years, the issue of representation for minorities has been made prevalent again, and colleges have strived to create more diversity in the admissions process. In this process, students of racial majorities have found it more and more difficult to be accepted into college, even with outstanding academic achievements and extracurricular activities. Multiple lawsuits have been filed regarding the possibility of admission officers purposefully rejecting students in order to produce a more diverse student body. These lawsuits all translate to a common theme: colleges are utilizing racism to achieve equality.

True equality is accepting anyone, regardless of their race or gender. That is a statement that all people should agree with. Diversity is essential on college campuses, and should be a standard that all schools adhere to. However, the process of ensuring that all ethnicities are equally represented should not be at the expense of rejecting students that are of ethnic majorities. The UC (University of California) Board of Regents recently repealed Prop. 209, which forbade the consideration of race or gender in college admissions. The repealing of this law may seem like a step in the right direction, but will actually place race as the leading factor in college acceptance. Students of ethnic majorities will be more likely to be declined, just based off of their race. Admission officers that purposefully reject students to ensure that minorities are represented have not actually created equality; instead, they have institutionalized racism.

Academic achievements and extracurricular activities should be the only factors that decide a student’s acceptance. As with many schools, admissions officers often judge students based on stereotyping of their ethnic group. A famous example is Marilee Jones, a former MIT admissions officer that pronounced a Korean-American applicant as “yet another math grind” without even knowing the student. Every student of a certain race is different, and judging an individual based on a generalized opinion of their race is stereotyping. Students will only appear two-dimensional on an application, as words can only describe a person on the surface. A person’s likes and dislikes, experiences, and personality are all “three-dimensional” aspects that can only be learned while becoming familiar with them in person. In reality, every person has their own special characteristics that cannot be simply conveyed by information on an application.

Many students of underrepresented ethnic groups may have lesser educational opportunities compared to their peers, and are significantly disadvantaged when comparing their school grades and standardized test scores. African and Hispanic-Americans often are disadvantaged when it comes to education, and that cannot be ignored. Instead of focusing on filtering out represented students, the education system should take its concerns to improving students’ education throughout grades K-12. Increasing funding for public schools in high poverty areas will improve the students’ overall grades and graduation rates. Most students that are accepted into elite colleges have received some form of education that has been sufficiently funded, and if not, they have utilized private institutions to improve their grades. If students’ basic education is not up to par, even if they are accepted to a rigorous college, they will have a difficult time adjusting to the academic pressures. These students that are accepted into academically difficult schools will also be disadvantaged compared to their peers, as they have not had the same level of basic education. Only when K-12 schools have the same standard of education will colleges be truly able to factor out race, and judge students purely based on their individual academic and extracurricular strengths.

Attempting to create equal representation by purposefully rejecting other students does not create equality. In fact, this in itself is a form of racism. Many of those underrepresented students have not received quality basic education, and may struggle to maintain their grades while attending college. Funding should be increased for public schools in poor areas to ensure that students all have an equal basis for their initial years of learning. When students all have the same foundation of education, then they will be able to compete on a more equal footing. Perhaps college admissions officers should reconsider what true equality is before making decisions that could impact students’ futures.