Minority Students

Affirmative action is a blanket term that refers to any policy that aims to balance and improve racial inequities. The Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities may use race as admission factor (thus use affirmative action) for the purpose of achieving diversity (an educationally beneficial and desirable quality). Race may be used as a "plus factor" when conducting a holistic review of candidates.

Affirmative Action is the practice of taking race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. into consideration in order to benefit the underrepresented group. Ideally, in the admissions process, the minority students' status as a minority/ underrepresented group will be taken into consideration when the admission officer is reviewing your application. It is not a shoe- in that you will be admitted some place just because you are black or gay or latino but rather it simply means that its OK for the admissions committee to take that into consideration when they are reviewing your application. Some states have outlawed Affirmative Action and in other places the law is in full effect :)

There are a lot of issues that face minority communities! For starters there is a deficit in the colleges and universities across the nation in terms of African American and Latino young men enrolling in school. This is said to be two of the hardest populations to get to college ( I specialize in both areas). In addition, there is a dramatic increase in undocumented students across our nation that want to go to college. There are many conversations being held at the national level around financial aid for undocumented students versus international populations. There is a number of reverse Affirmative Action cases in which white students feel as if they are not getting the a fair reviewal in the admissions process due to race based biases... and the list goes on and on and on.

YES! It depends on the school and the institution that you are applying to. Some colleges offer diversity awards. In addition, there are a number of scholarship organizations that specifically look for minority students to award money to.

Most minority students should not be afraid to embrace your ethnicity and your cultural background. Going to a majority white school can be intimidating if you have never learned in an environment in which students are different from you. If being from a particular cultural background provides a context for your achievement then talk about that. You should work to let the admission committee know who you are. If your cultural background and experience is an important aspect of your identity then you should talk about that in the process. I can show you exactly how to do that.

There are scholarships for almost everything, so minorities are not excluded. Search any number of organizations (fastweb, cappex, etc.) and include your ethnicity and you will find that there are scholarships that target members of different minority groups. Another good place to look is within certain community organizations that work to support minority students.

Being picked for the least popular jobs in the Federal Work-Study Program. This also applies to internships and jobs in the real world. Unfortunately, prejudice exists in many forms and in all areas of life.

Affirmative Action is when a less qualified minority individual gets picked before a more qualified individual. This also applies to students, but not as much now as it did in the 60's.

Yes. Do a Google search, and you'll find an endless amount, and maybe you'll qualify for one or more.

By all means explain your family's history, but only your your race is unusual, such as Afro-Asian or Indo-Hispanic. A culture mix is appealing to admissions officers as it broadens the makeup of their student body.