So I’m Asian, and a couple of days ago I read an article where this one family paid someone $100,000 for college advising. She subsequently buried everything that was “stereotypically Asian” at the bottom of her activities list and app in general and got into Harvard.
I was planning on writing my Brown community supplement on being Asian, but after that I am worried I shouldn’t. My only other option is writing about my art class (or sexuality, but I doubt anyone, including me, wants to read about me saying “I don’t know!” for 100 words), which obviously isn’t as substantial. Usually minorities have an advantage in the college admissions when they talk about race issues, but Asians usually don’t, even though I do believe I have quite a lot to say about it.
Does anyone have any advice for how I should go about this?
I can’t really weigh in on whether or not you have the right topic, because my experiences in life are not the same as yours. I think whatever you choose to write about, you should think about your limit of just 100 words. The analogy has often been given to me about a death in the family. If you’re going to write about (for example) your father dying, you need to make sure that a) it’s about you, b) it’s not just about grieving, c) it is apparent that you are not still drowning in a pit of despair, and d) that you have grown from it/gotten a new outlook on life. Basically, if you’re going to write about being Asian, make sure you don’t just discuss the struggles you’ve faced, but how you have grown or learned from your experiences. The issue with doing something that you “have quite a lot to say about” is that you only have 100 words, so keep that in mind! As for that article, that person may be Asian, but she is not you. You are your own person with your own experiences. Hope this was helpful.
Try not to second guess or game the process. You certainly shouldn’t guide your application based on one anecdote about one person. As far as we know. this person could have emphasized their Asian background and still gotten into Harvard.
If the strongest essay you will write, the one that reveals the most about you as a person, is about your connection to the Asian community, then write about that. Your goal here is to do the best job you can to sell yourself, and if that’s the best subject for you, then use it.
Brown accepts a lot of Asians. Maybe you’ll be one of them.
Consider not restraining yourself to one community (many Brown students are anti-establishment ). If you cannot pick just one community to explain yourself, then voice your qualm with the prompt and write what you want. Your identity encapsulates race, sexuality, self-expression (e.g., art), etc. A few sentences about each of these communities and your overarching takeaway could be interesting.
"So I’m Asian, and a couple of days ago I read an article where this one family paid someone $100,000 for college advising. "
Do you think this is typical? It’s mercenary in the extreme. Be you – be the anime-loving, piano and violin playing, tennis team, quiz bowl you – if that’s who you really are. Who confers your degree in 4 years ain’t all dat. Been there, done it.
Not only Asians do the $100,000 college counseling. In my community, its mainly rich white people bribing admissions officers and getting internships for their kids. My advice is to not write about being Asian. Write about Art, especially for brown. They love quirky artists.
). If you cannot pick just one community to explain yourself, then voice your qualm with the prompt and write what you want. Your identity encapsulates race, sexuality, self-expression (e.g., art), etc. A few sentences about each of these communities and your overarching takeaway could be interesting.