Another thing about this article that caught my attention. As an Asian-American, it never ceases to amaze and sadden me so profoundly whenever I encounter stories of how Asian applicants had to “distort their identities to fit the profile they think the people reviewing their applications will find appealing” rather than being true to themselves. So the article starts with the case of a Korean-American student named Samantha who opted, at the advise of her white tutor and college counselors, not to “write about her violin-playing given the racial stereotypes about such instruments…” In fear of being “too Asian.” Liana Wang, a Chinese-American Yale student: “She and her Asian American peers assumed that 'if you’re interning in the medical center or doing research…you shouldn’t do that because people will just see you being just another stereotypical Asian.”
I don’t know what colleges out there that are “worth” trading your cultural and personal identities over. Although an Asian-American with nearly 5 decades of painful experience with racism, one thing that had never occurred in a single cell of my brain is to betray my own cultural heritage or pretend that I’m made of something other than what I’m. I didn’t raise my boys to shun their own cultural makeup in any way, shape or form. Quite to the contrary. You ARE what you ARE, and to pretend otherwise is one of the worst and the most pathetic type of self denigration. My violin-playing younger son, rather than worrying about how he’d appear as a stereotypical Asian kid to college AdComs, devoted his Common App essay on his violin playing as well as his desire to pursue a pre-med track while majoring in music. Can’t get any more stereotypical than those combinations as an Asian kid!! But so what? That’s HIM and those are HIS aspirations. Screw stereotypes AKA excuses. I’d much rather have my kids be rejected by all colleges simply for being themselves than have them resort to “distort their identities” in order to kiss the system’s arse and to find their seats in some loft. If any sorry-sounding students have to find themselves distorting their identities, you will not find me being sympathetic. THAT was your pathetic choice.