[ti:US Colleges Ask for More Writing after Affirmative Action Ban]
[al:Education Report]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2023-08-06]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]August 1 is the start of the new college admissions season in the United States. 
[00:05.87]It is the day students can start to complete the Common Application for college admission in 2024.
[00:14.69]The Common Application is accepted by over 1,000 colleges and universities. 
[00:21.38]The service permits students to apply to many schools by submitting their information only one time.
[00:30.78]However, some colleges and universities that accept the Common Application are asking students to send in an extra piece of writing. 
[00:40.83]They are using the extra "prompt" to give students a chance to discuss their background.
[00:48.94]The reason for this new writing prompt is the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to end affirmative action in college decisions.
[01:01.34]The court said selective colleges and universities, such as Harvard University or the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, can no longer use race as a way to decide between two qualified students.
[01:17.95]But the court did say schools can consider "an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life..."
[01:27.60]That is why some schools are re-writing their prompts.
[01:32.70]At Yale University, students who apply with the Common Application must also answer one of three questions.
[01:42.75]The first question permits students to write about a time they discussed an important issue with someone holding an opposing view.
[01:52.08]Another question asks students to discuss a meaningful community to which they are connected.
[02:00.76]But a third question is new, compared to past years.
[02:05.78]It asks students to talk about part of their "personal experience that you feel will enrich your college."
[02:14.73]That question permits a student to state their race and discuss how they would add something special to the group of students at Yale.
[02:25.93]At Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, a new prompt asks students to "tell about a community that you have been part of where your participation helped to change or shape the community for the better."
[02:44.59]Timothy Fields is a top admissions official at Emory.
[02:49.75]He said the new questions "are going to be much more targeted."
[02:54.84]At Sarah Lawrence College outside of New York City, a new question asks students how the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action might affect their lives.
[03:08.51]Kevin McKenna is a vice president at the college.
[03:13.33]He said the new question gives students a chance to discuss the decision "that could impact the student bodies of the colleges to which they are applying."
[03:25.21]In addition to the new questions, many colleges and universities are thinking about how to connect with Black and Latino students. 
[03:36.08]The school leaders worry that those students may think they are no longer welcome at selective universities after the Supreme Court decision.
[03:46.46]Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez is the top admissions official at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. 
[03:55.90]He and his team are planning extra time at high schools and more meetings at college information events to tell minority students they are still welcome.
[04:11.09]He also will offer more training to his admissions officers so they can work to build a diverse group of students without going against the Supreme Court's decision.
[04:23.68]Visits such as those by the Wesleyan team are important, said Angel Perez.
[04:30.68]He is head of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. 
[04:36.50]Perez said some college counselors for high school students are uncertain how their students should address their race in applications.
[04:49.16]"The general feeling with school counselors right now is mostly anxiety," he said.
[04:56.53]But those who work with students, like private admissions counselor Shereem Herndon-Brown, say students should not overstate how race affects their lives.
[05:09.36]Herndon-Brown wrote a book with Fields, the admissions leader at Emory.
[05:16.04]He said students need to write "authentically" about how they think and have developed as a result of their background.
[05:25.03]He gave an example of a Black student from New York who recently visited relatives in the southern part of the U.S. 
[05:35.19]Herndon-Brown encouraged the student to write about that experience although it was not in the student's original plan.
[05:44.58]That he said, is a better idea than declaring their race or overstating their disadvantage.
[05:52.81]"There is no way to trick an admissions officer or a school into believing you're something that you're not," he says.
[06:04.19]I'm Jill Robbins. And I'm Dan Friedell.