Students Undeterred by Affirmative Action Ruling, Application Trends Show

Students of color appear undeterred from applying to prominent colleges despite last year’s Supreme Court ruling that bars institutions from using race as a factor in admissions, an analysis of college applications shows. In a report released Wednesday, Common Application, an online platform that many colleges and universities use, said during the first admissions season after the landmark ruling, not much changed as far as application trends. Slightly fewer White and Asian students applied to selective schools, and students of color mentioned their race in essays slightly more often than their peers. Still, researchers at the organization caution against reading too much into one year of application trends, especially since it doesn’t take into account admissions or enrollment data.