Playing badminton, being a member of the Asian Club and stating that one wants to study biology or become a doctor are apparently all turn-offs to elite colleges because of their association with Asian stereotypes.
Ivy Coach, a company that offers advise on how to get into elite colleges, does not turn to political correctness when describing its strategy for Asian-American applicants, according to The Boston Globe.
“We will make them appear less Asian when they apply,” said director Brian Taylor.
But the personality change starts early and comes with a hefty price tag. Ivy Coach offers its “unlimited package” to students for $100,000, a price that includes counseling throughout high school.
Asian Advantage is a similar organization that takes a different approach. It blames the politically liberal label admissions directors at elite schools put on themselves to answer the question why they discriminate against Asian Americans.
”Since almost all College Admissions Directors are politically liberal, they have a desire for their student bodies to racially mirror the population as a whole. But the large number of qualified and outstanding Asian-American applicants to schools like Stanford, Harvard and Cal threaten to overwhelm their schools’ student demographics–to the point where the student bodies would no longer have a plurality of white students,” the organization states on its website.
James Chen, founder of Asian Advantage, advised that students steer away from traditional stereotypes of playing badminton or the piano, while also sharing a big no-no in any college essay. “Don’t talk about your family coming from Vietnam with $2 in a rickety boat and swimming away from sharks,” he told The Boston Globe.
A coalition of 64 organizations filed a lawsuit against Harvard University last month for discriminating against Asian-American undergraduate applicants. Research has also shown Asian Americans receive a “penalty” of about 50 points on their SAT scores, while African Americans get a “bonus” of 230 points. (RELATED: 15 Charged In Plot To Illegally Enter US Via SAT Cheating)
According to the complaint, Asians are far more likely to be rejected than students of other racial groups achieving similar academic results.
One of the reasons, the coalition argues, is that Asians are overrepresented on college campuses. At Harvard, students with Asian backgrounds make up about 20 percent of the acceptance rate, while just under 5 percent of the American population. (RELATED: Massive Numbers Of Chinese Students Expelled From US Schools)