Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision declared that race-conscious admissions programs are unconstitutional. However, colleges are still allowed to consider how race has affected an applicant’s life when mentioned in their admissions essay. This ruling has sparked speculation about the potential value of personal essays in expressing one’s racial background. The end of affirmative action will not only impact how colleges select students but also how teenagers present themselves to colleges.
To navigate this new landscape, applicants must portray themselves as diverse and authentic. Admissions directors and consultants recognize the need to educate students on writing about their true selves in a different way. Without the ability to use race as a criterion, students may feel compelled to write plainly about how their race and experiences of racism have shaped them as applicants.
This emphasis on race in college essays can lead to a reduction of personal narratives into generic formulas, simplifying a person’s life into easily understood types. This trend coincides with the increasing use of generative AI, such as ChatGPT, to assist in writing college application essays. However, relying on AI for these essays can result in robotic and clichéd narratives that fail to showcase individual creativity.
Essays that focus on struggles and trauma narratives have become popular among Black and minority applicants who believe this showcases their diversity. Research has shown that essay content and style can predict income better than SAT scores, with lower-income students more likely to discuss abuse, economic insecurity, and immigration. Similarly, female applicants to engineering programs tend to foreground their gender. These predictable scripts align with the capabilities of AI language models, which excel at generating banal and unoriginal content.
While it is important to explore and express one’s identity, molding one’s race to fulfill an admissions officer’s expectations hinders genuine self-discovery. It parallels the limitations of using AI language models that reproduce existing narratives. Both approaches restrict individuals, preventing them from creating meaningful and unique stories about their identities. Language models merely regurgitate statistical probabilities without reinventing language.
A potential future for college essays is one where race is packaged into canned archetypes reminiscent of chatbot responses. This reductive approach echoes certain Supreme Court opinions that detach race from real-life circumstances. To avoid this, colleges, educators, and students should ensure that the language used to discuss race remains authentic and human. Maintaining the true essence of individual experiences is crucial in promoting diversity and combating historical discrimination.
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