The potential overturning of affirmative action by the Supreme Court could have significant implications for college admissions, particularly for students in the Monmouth County area of New Jersey. Affirmative action policies were designed to promote diversity and provide equal opportunities for underrepresented groups, in areas including education and employment. If the Supreme Court overturns affirmative action, it could result in fewer opportunities for these groups, making it more difficult for them to gain admission to colleges and universities.
This blow to diversity is a deficit to the global education of all college students and to society at large as higher education leaves more underrepresented communities behind. And it doesn’t mean there will be a host of newly available seats for middle class white applicants. Many universities themselves will aggressively fight the overturning of affirmative action by transferring their policies to socio-economic factors; this backlash could result in even fewer seats for the middle class white students who will need increasingly competitive SAT scores and grades.
A main criticism of affirmative action has been that it can lead to the use of quotas, which limit the number of students from certain racial or ethnic groups that can be admitted to a college or university. This has historically had negative consequences for Asian American students, who are often held to higher standards in the college admissions process. In fact, some studies have found that Asian American applicants need to score higher on standardized tests and have higher grades than other groups to be admitted to selective colleges and universities. In contrast, the overturning of affirmative action create opportunity for Asian American students. Without affirmative action policies in place, Asian American students may have a better chance of gaining admission based on their academic qualifications.
So, when affirmative action is overturned here’s how things will look:
Progressive universities will create a backlash and actually expand old affirmative action policies under the new label of socio-economic leveling. With the limits of racial quotas removed, above-average qualified Asian American students will flood the freshman classes of selective colleges. And the past three years of Test-Optional torpor will hit the proverbial fan for middle-class white students who have been all too happy to lap up the fantasy that they don’t need to take the SAT/ACT anymore to get into college.
There is hope. Color blind admissions will rely more on standardized test scores and grades. So middle class white students with both average and above average grades must get back to test prep and focus on maximizing their SAT and ACT scores to stay relevant, or be left behind by the current of the post-affirmative action college admission process.
