After a ban on affirmative action, they rewrote college essays with the main theme: race

Astrid Delgado first wrote her college essay about a death in her family. She then reshaped it around a Spanish book she read as a way to connect with her Dominican heritage.

Deshayne Curley wanted to keep his indigenous background out of his essay. But he reworked it, focusing on an heirloom necklace that reminded him of his home on the Navajo reservation.

The first draft of Jyel Hollingsworth's essay explored her love of chess. The finale focused on the prejudices between her Korean and Black American families and the financial hardships she overcame.

All three students said they decided to rethink their essays to emphasize one key element: their racial identity. And they did so after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions last year, leaving essays as the only place where applicants could directly indicate their racial and ethnic background.

High school students graduating this year were working on their college applications, due this month, in one of the most turbulent years in American education. Not only did they have to prepare against the backdrop of the war between Israel and Hamas — which sparked debates over free speech and anti-Semitism on college campuses, leading to the resignations of two Ivy League presidents — but they also had to navigate the wading through the new ban. on race-conscious confessions.

“It was a lot to take in,” said Keteyian Cade, a 17-year-old from St. Louis. “There's so much going on in the world right now.”

The court's ruling was intended to make college admissions race-blind; answers to the race and ethnicity question on job applications are now hidden from admissions committees. a recent Gallup poll found that nearly two-thirds of Americans showed support for banning affirmative action. Some are convinced that race should not be considered during the admissions process.

“I think it's wrong,” said Edward J. Blum, president of Students for Fair Admissions, the group that brought the case to the Supreme Court.

But the ruling also allowed admissions officers to consider race in personal essays, as long as decisions were not based on race, but on the personal qualities that emerged from an applicant's experience with their race, such as perseverance or courage.

This led many students of color to reframe their essays around their identities, following the advice of college counselors and parents. And several found that the experience of rewriting helped them discover who they are.

Sophie Desmoulins, a Guatemalan living in Sedona, Arizona, wrote her college essay with the court's ruling in mind. Her personal statement explored, among other things, how her indigenous characteristics influenced her sense of self-worth and how her experience as a volunteer with the Kaqchikel Mayan people helped her build self-confidence and embrace her heritage.

For Julia Nguyen, a child of Vietnamese immigrants from Biloxi, Miss., rewriting her essay has made her more aware of how her family's upbringing has shaped her. Julia, 18, said she was “more proud of this personal statement because of the affirmative action case.”

In Keteyian's case, he said he felt “much more passionate” about his essay after changing his approach. As a black student interested in engineering – a field that has struggled to diversify its ranks — Keteyian concluded his personal statement with a mix of fear and hope.

“Coming to terms with the possibility that I may be one of the few Black individuals in my workplace is intimidating,” he wrote, “but something to prepare for if the ruling stands, and an opportunity for me to to rewrite reality.'

While some parents said they were happy their children could reflect on their identities in their essays, others feared the court ruling would make it harder for their child to find community while in college.

“Even when positive action is taken, it is always a struggle for people in our community to go to college and succeed in college,” said Deshayne's mother, Guila Curley, a college counselor on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico .

Not all students valued the rewriting experience equally. Some felt that the statement made them feel like they were writing not for themselves, but for someone else.

In her first essay, Triniti Parker, a 16-year-old who wants to become the first doctor in her family, recalled her late grandmother, who was one of the first black female bus drivers for the Chicago Transit Authority.

But after the Supreme Court's decision, a university adviser told her to make clear references to her race, saying it shouldn't be “lost in translation.” Therefore, Triniti adjusted the description of her and her grandmother's physical features to refer to the color of their skin.

The new details gave her pause. “I felt like I was following someone else's rules,” she said. Triniti added: “Now it feels like people of color need to speak up, but if we don't, we're going to be watched.”

Some decided to omit their race entirely. Karelys Andrade, an Ecuadorian living in Brooklyn, kept her essay focused on her family who faced eviction and were forced to live in a shelter during the pandemic. “That experience was a story that needed to be told,” says Karelys, 17.

In recent years, some Asian American students avoided writing about their heritage because they believed affirmative action was largely unfavorable to them, said Mandi Morales, a consultant at Bottom Line, a nonprofit organization for first-generation college students that focuses primarily on targets students of color. But the end of affirmative action at colleges led some to reconsider their position, advisers said.

Ms. Morales cited a student who cited his “conservative” Chinese family as an example. “The explicit disclosure of his ethnicity would not have been included in the final draft before the ruling,” she said.

Some experts say the court ruling encourages students to write about racial conflict, trauma and adversity. Natasha Warikoo, a professor of humanities and social sciences at Tufts University, said the Supreme Court justices “expect a narrative of adversity to play the role that race played when we got race-conscious confessions.”

But Joe Latimer, director of college counseling at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, said he believes there is no need for students to “sell their trauma.” Instead, he advises his students to present their identity as “based on strength,” showcasing the positive qualities they have built from their experiences as a person of color.

Critics of affirmative action say they worry that essays will become a loophole for colleges to consider an applicant's race. “My concern is that the system is being manipulated,” said William A. Jacobson, a law professor at Cornell University and founder of the nonprofit Equal projection project.

Since the court ruling, colleges and universities have reaffirmed their commitment to diversity, and some officials said their institutions will continue to promote it through outreach and tools such as Landscape, a database of information about an applicant's school and neighborhood. And officials have said race can still influence decisions, as long as they are based on the applicant's character and connection to the university's mission.

But some students, including Delphi Lyra, a senior at Northfield who is half Brazilian, have reservations about the new admissions environment.

“The idea behind the statement is not to check a box,” said Delphi, 18, referring to the issue of race and ethnicity in job applications. “But I think in some ways it has even created a need to check a box.”