Hillary Amofa engages with fellow members of the Lincoln Park High School step team in Chicago after school on Friday, March 8, 2024. Initially, when crafting her college essay, Amofa chose to narrate a tale she believed would resonate with admissions committees. She detailed her background as the offspring of Ghanaian immigrants, recounting her upbringing in a modest Chicago apartment, emphasizing the challenges and adversities she faced. However, she eventually decided to discard this narrative. “I would just find myself kind of trauma-dumping,” remarked the 18-year-old senior, “And I’m just like, this doesn’t really say anything about me as a person.” (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
CHICAGO — Upon commencing her college essay, Hillary Amofa initially embarked on recounting a story she felt would align with the expectations of admissions offices. She delved into her experiences as the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants, depicting her childhood in a small Chicago residence, highlighting the struggles and hardships she encountered.
Subsequently, she opted to erase it all.
“I would just find myself kind of trauma-dumping,” shared the 18-year-old senior from Lincoln Park High School in Chicago. “And I’m just like, this doesn’t really say anything about me as a person.”
Following the termination of affirmative action in higher education by the Supreme Court, the college essay emerged as one of the limited avenues where race could potentially influence admissions decisions. For numerous students of color, the pressure intensified regarding the already high-stakes writing task. Many felt compelled to exploit their adversities in a bid to secure a spot on campus.
Amofa had just initiated her essay contemplation when the court’s ruling was issued, leaving her grappling with a plethora of uncertainties. Could she still incorporate her racial background in her writing? Was there a possibility of facing repercussions for doing so? She aimed to convey her heritage to colleges while evading being solely defined by it.
During English class, Amofa and her peers analyzed sample essays that predominantly revolved around trauma or hardship. This trend led her to believe that she needed to narrate her most challenging life experiences to illustrate her personal growth. However, she and some classmates questioned whether their life stories had endured adequate hardships to capture the attention of admissions committees.
“For a lot of students, there’s a feeling of, like, having to go through something so horrible to feel worthy of going to school, which is kind of sad,” expressed Amofa, the daughter of a hospital technician and an Uber driver.
ADVERTISEMENT
The current senior cohort is the first in several decades to navigate the college admissions process without the presence of affirmative action. While the Supreme Court had previously upheld the practice in rulings dating back to the 1970s, the current conservative supermajority deemed it unconstitutional for colleges to grant preferential treatment based solely on race.
Nevertheless, the ruling left room for race to indirectly influence admissions decisions: Chief Justice John Roberts articulated that universities could still consider how an applicant’s life was molded by their race, “so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability.”
Numerous colleges responded by introducing fresh essay prompts that delved into students’ backgrounds. Brown University prompted applicants to reflect on how “an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you.” Similarly, Rice University inquired about how students’ perspectives were influenced by their “background, experiences, upbringing, and/or racial identity.”
CONTEMPLATING WHETHER INSTITUTIONS ‘EXPECT A SOB STORY’
Upon embarking on his essay composition, Darrian Merritt was acutely aware of the heightened stakes following the Supreme Court ruling. Initially, he contemplated narrating events that led to his relocation to live with his grandmother during childhood.
While these memories were poignant, Merritt speculated that they might resonate well with esteemed institutions like Yale, Stanford, and Vanderbilt.
“I feel like the admissions committee might expect a sob story or a tragic story,” reflected Merritt, a senior hailing from Cleveland. “And if you don’t provide that, then maybe they’re not going to feel like you went through enough to deserve having a spot at the university. I wrestled with that a lot.”
He drafted versions focusing on his formative years, yet these accounts failed to coalesce into a cohesive narrative. Eventually, he abandoned this trajectory and aimed to craft an essay distinguished by its positivity.
Merritt chose to narrate his experiences at a summer camp where he began embracing his authentic self. He chronicled his journey of self-acceptance, shedding light on his inclination to prioritize personal growth over external validation. The essay incorporated humor, recounting a water gun skirmish where victory seemed within reach until, in a comedic twist, he slipped and fell. Concurrently, the narrative delved into his struggles with his racial identity and the societal pressures he encountered.
“I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to write this for me, and we’re just going to see how it goes,’” he remarked. “It just felt real, and it felt like an honest story.”
The essay delineated a breakthrough moment where he realized “to take ownership of myself and my future by sharing my true personality with the people I encounter. … I realized that the first chapter of my own story had just been written.”
A SHIFT IN ESSAY THEMES FOLLOWING THE RULING
Similar to many peers, Max Decker from Portland, Oregon, initially commenced his college essay on one subject only to pivot post the Supreme Court ruling in June.
Initially, Decker delved into his passion for video games. Amidst a childhood marked by constant upheaval due to his parents’ divorce, he found solace in the games he carried with him on his Nintendo DS.
Nonetheless, the essay he ultimately submitted to colleges centered on the community he found through Word is Bond, a leadership program catering to young Black men in Portland.
As the sole biracial, Jewish individual with divorced parents in a predominantly white, Christian milieu, Decker elucidated how he perpetually felt like the odd one out. During a visit to Capitol Hill with Word is Bond, he interacted with lawmakers alongside friends who shared his background, an experience that profoundly impacted his self-perception.
“It’s because I’m different that I provide something precious to the world, not the other way around,” he articulated.
As a first-generation college aspirant, Decker contemplated the subtle disparities in knowledge among his peers concerning the intricacies of the admissions process. They adeptly maneuvered into advanced classes early in high school and secured glowing letters of recommendation with ease.
Acknowledging that incorporating his racial identity in his essay might afford him a slight advantage and offer admissions officers a comprehensive view of his accomplishments, Decker opted to leverage this opportunity.
His earliest recollection of racial consciousness stemmed from a visit to the barbershop during elementary school, where disparaging comments about his curly hair lingered in his memory. Until recently, this incident fueled his preference for keeping his hair cropped short.
Through his involvement in Word is Bond, Decker found a platform to explore his identity as a Black man. It marked one of the initial instances where he was enveloped by Black peers and encountered Black role models, fostering a sense of pride in his heritage. Consequently, he abandoned his customary buzzcut.
The pressure to intertwine discussions of race with other pivotal facets of his life posed a dilemma for Decker. This tension prompted him to briefly touch upon his ardor for journalism, encapsulated in an article he penned on revitalizing a once-vibrant Black neighborhood in Portland. Ultimately, he managed to include a succinct reference to his journalistic pursuits within the application’s activities section.
“My final essay, it felt true to myself. But the difference between that and my other essay was the fact that it wasn’t the truth that I necessarily wanted to share,” reflected Decker, whose preferred collegiate destination is Tulane University in New Orleans due to the region’s diverse milieu. “It felt like I just had to limit the truth I was sharing to what I feel like the world is expecting of me.”
ILLUMINATING THE INFLUENCE OF RACE
Prior to the Supreme Court ruling, Imani Laird assumed that colleges would inherently acknowledge the impact of race on her life. However, post the ruling, she felt compelled to explicitly articulate this aspect.
As she embarked on her essay, she reflected on instances where she encountered bias or felt marginalized as a Black student in predominantly white settings.
From being repeatedly misidentified by her math teacher to enduring insinuations that her race facilitated an easier path to college admission, Laird confronted these challenges head-on.
“I didn’t have it easier because of my race,” asserted Laird, a senior at Newton South High School in the Boston suburbs who received acceptance offers from Wellesley and Howard University, awaiting responses from several Ivy League institutions. “I had stuff I had to overcome.”
In her final essays, she delved into her grandfather’s experiences as a military veteran denied GI Bill benefits due to his race.
She elucidated how these instances of discrimination fueled her ambition to excel and pursue a career in public policy.
“So, I never settled for mediocrity,” she penned. “Regardless of the subject, my goal in class was not just to participate but to excel. Beyond academics, I wanted to excel while remembering what started this motivation in the first place.”
PONDERING THE EROSION OF RACIAL DIVERSITY IN INSTITUTIONS
Amofa initially perceived affirmative action as a factor exclusive to prestigious institutions like Harvard and Yale. However, following the court’s ruling, she was surprised to discover that race continued to influence admissions decisions even at public universities on her application list.
Now, in the absence of affirmative action, she speculated whether predominantly white institutions would witness a further decline in racial diversity.
This concern loomed large as she weighed her options between Indiana University and the University of Dayton, both of which boasted limited Black student representation. Recalling her days as one of the few Black students in her grade school, she found solace in the presence of her family and Ghanaian community at church. However, the prospect of navigating college life bereft of a similar support network left her apprehensive.
“That’s what I’m nervous about,” she confided. “Going and just feeling so isolated, even though I’m constantly around people.”
Initially, her essay drafts centered on her upbringing in a low-income household, sharing a room with her brother and grandmother. However, she felt this narrative failed to encapsulate her present identity.
Her final essay chronicled her journey towards embracing her natural hair. She recounted her experiences attending a predominantly white grade school where classmates ridiculed her afro. Despite facing taunts for sporting braids or cornrows, she gradually learned to disregard their jibes and found beauty in the hairstyles donned by the women in her life. Presently, she operates a hairstyling business specializing in braids and other traditional styles within her community.
“I stopped seeing myself through the lens of the European traditional beauty standards and started seeing myself through the lens that I created,” articulated Amofa.
“Criticism will persist, but it loses its power when you know there’s a crown on your head!”
\_\_\_
Ma reported from Portland, Oregon.