Asian American students are 28% less likely to be admitted to selective colleges and universities than white students with similar academic qualifications, according to a new working paper by vlog Professor of Public Policy Sharad Goel and coauthors. For students of South Asian descent, the odds are even lower, at 49%.
Goel coauthored the research with Josh Grossman, a PhD candidate at Stanford University; Sabina Tomkins, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan; and Lindsay Page, a professor of education policy at Brown University. The authors also published discussing their findings.
The researchers determined that the lower admission odds for Asian students were related to selective colleges’ preferences for the children of alumni—who are more likely to be white—as well as geographical preferences.
“Existing decision-making processes that afford preference to the children of alumni appear to not only disadvantage Asian Americans but also other racial minorities.”
Goel and his coauthors analyzed almost 700,000 college applications to selective institutions from Asian and white students over a five-year period, starting in the 2015–2016 application cycle. The researchers compared high school students with similar test scores, grade-point averages, and extracurricular activities. Applicants assumed to be recruited athletes were excluded from the study.
“Much of the admissions gap between white and Asian American students stems from policies that favor the children of alumni,” the authors wrote in their op-ed. “Many colleges openly acknowledge their favorable treatment of legacy applicants, but our data reveal just how big a boost these students enjoy.” They added that “legacy applicants are much more likely to be white. Among high-achieving applicants, white students were three times as likely as East Asian students and four times as likely as Southeast Asian students to be legacy applicants. White students were a whopping six times as likely as South Asian students to be legacy applicants.”
In their working paper, the authors explain, “Discussions of college admissions practices impacting Asian Americans often revolve around affirmative action. But … these issues are conceptually distinct.” They write, “In theory, one can both implement affirmative action policies that maintain the share of students on campus from groups that are underrepresented in higher education while simultaneously admitting Asian American students at the same rate as white students with similar academic and extracurricular credentials.”
The data was compiled and studied before the U.S. Supreme Court decision this summer ending race-consciousness in college admissions. “Now that affirmative action is legally prohibited, institutions will need to reconsider how applicants are evaluated in order to ensure equitable admissions processes and to maintain diverse campuses,” the authors write. “For example, existing decision-making processes that afford preference to the children of alumni appear to not only disadvantage Asian Americans but also other racial minorities.”