Posted at 03:00 AM ET, 02/22/2012

College admissions: How diversity factors in

By Valerie Strauss

The Supreme Court just agreed to effectively consider whether affirmative action should be eliminated in college admissions via a case in which a white student claimed that she was denied admissions to the University of Texas because of race.

Amid this renewed attention to affirmative action in college admissions, here is a look at the issue by Jarrid Whitney, executive director of admissions and financial aid at the California Institute of Technology. He is a graduate of Cornell University — where he began his career as a financial aid counselor — and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has worked as financial aid and admission at a number of different schools, including Dartmouth College and Stanford University.

This post first appeared on the College Admission blog on the website linked to the book College Admission, From Application to Acceptance, by Robin Mamlet, former dean of admission at Stanford, Swarthmore, and Sarah Lawrence, and journalist and parent Christine VanDeVelde. (Last year I called the book “a new college admissions bible.”)

Introduction to post by Mamlet/VanDeVelde:

Learning to engage with those who are very different from us is now a critical piece of a strong education.So diversity in college admission makes good educational sense and good business sense. A broad range of perspectives enriches both the classrooms and residence halls. We will all be expected to be able to navigate an increasingly global society as well as a country in which there is no longer a clear majority. It is also critical to nearly all colleges that they educate the future leaders of multiple communities – that they have a presence, a “footprint,” in a variety of populations and settings.

But in evaluating diversity it is overly simplistic to look at admit rates alone. This is understandably cut-and-dried in media coverage: x amount admitted of this race and y amount of that. In real life, it feels very different than that. Human beings are messy and complicated and bring with them messy and complicated back-stories, well beyond grades and scores. A process that looks at applicants holistically necessarily takes far more into account than just grades and scores – it looks at many aspects of a student’s background, as well as what each student has done with what has been available to him or her.

By Jarrid Whitney:

Admission Committee Scenario:

The applicant was raised in a small, rural, farming community in upstate New York and attends a public high school that sends very few students to a 4-yr college. He has a Caucasian father who grew up on a working-class farm and later became a commuter pilot and builds houses on the side, and a Native American mother who comes from modest roots on an Iroquois reservation and now owns a small business. The applicant’s parents divorced when the applicant was very young and neither of them attended college. His older brother graduated with a degree from an art institute…

I begin by sharing this scenario in the hope that it illustrates how an admission committee might start a discussion about an applicant. Obviously there are many other elements to consider before a committee can vote. The focus should never be just on the student’s self-reported race or ethnicity, but as you can see it should and does include other factors such as where the student was raised, the family background and educational history, language spoken in the household, opportunities available in the school or local community, and many additional aspects of a student’s heritage.

Common Application Personal Essay Option 5

5 Tips for an Admissions Essay on an Your Contribution to Campus Diversity

By Allen Grove

College Admissions Expert

Before responding to the fifth essay option on the common application, be sure to consider the 5 tips below. Option 5 asks: A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.

1. Diversity Isn't Just About Race

The prompt for option #5 explicitly states that you should define diversity in broad terms. It isn't just about skin color. Colleges want to enroll students who have a diverse range of interests, beliefs and experiences. Many college applicants quickly shy away from this option because they don't think they bring diversity to a campus. Not true. Even a white male from the suburbs has values and life experiences that are uniquely his own.

2. Understand Why Colleges Want "Diversity"

Option #5 is designed to give you an opportunity to explain what interesting qualities you'll bring to the campus community. There are check boxes on the application that address your race, so that isn't the point here. Most colleges believe that the best learning environment includes students who bring new ideas, new perspectives, new passions and new talents to the school. A bunch of like-minded clones have very little to teach each other, and they will grow little from their interactions. As you think about this question, ask yourself, "What will I add to the campus? Why will the college be a better place when I'm in attendance?"

3. Be Careful Describing Third-World Encounters

College admissions counselors sometimes call it "that Haiti essay" -- an essay about a visit to a third-world country. Invariably, the writer discusses shocking encounters with poverty, a new awareness of the privileges he or she has, and greater sensitivity to the inequality and diversity of the planet. This type of essay can too easily become generic and predictable. This doesn't mean you can't write about a Habitat for Humanity trip to a third-world country, but you want to be careful to avoid clichés. Also, make sure your statements reflect well upon you. A claim like "I never knew so many people lived with so little" can make you sound naive.

4. Be Careful Describing Racial Encounters

Racial difference is actually an excellent topic for an admissions essay, but you need to handle the topic carefully. As you describe that Japanese, Native American, African American or Caucasian friend or acquaintance, you want to make sure your language doesn't inadvertently create racial stereotypes. I've seen a lot of essays in which students simultaneously praise a friend's different perspective while using stereotyping or even racist language.

5. Keep Much of the Focus on You

As with all the personal essay options, #5 is asking about you -- what diversity you will bring to campus, or what ideas about diversity you will bring. Always keep in mind the primary purpose of the essay. Colleges want to get to know the students who will become part of the campus community. If your entire essay describes life in Indonesia, you've failed to do this. If your essay is all about your favorite friend from Korea, you have also failed. Whether you describe your own contribution to campus diversity, or if you talk about an encounter with diversity, the essay needs to reveal your character, values and personality. The college is enrolling you, not the diverse people you've encountered.