These last weeks have been significant in the world of college admissions with the Supreme Court ruling in SFFA v. Harvard and UNC that ‘race-based admissions programs’ may no longer be used in colleges and universities. 

If you have been taking in the news on the affirmative action ruling and wondering, “what does this mean for me?,” read on for how colleges are responding so far and what we anticipate in the admissions process going forward– 

1. Which institutions are impacted by the Supreme Court ruling? 

All public colleges and universities are subject to comply with the court’s ruling, as are all private institutions that receive federal funds. This means just about every two and four year college or university in the country will need to reexamine and reshape their policies around race and admissions, effective immediately for the admissions cycle that begins this summer. The application process for the term beginning Fall of 2024 starts for most colleges and universities on August 1, 2023. Students applying this cycle will be applying under the terms of the ruling. The court did not rule on the admissions policies of the US Service Academies which include Westpoint Military Academy, The Air Force Academy, Naval Academy, Coast Guard Academy and Merchant Marine Academy. Their admissions policies will be unchanged by this ruling. 

2. What is changing? 

The ruling states that colleges can no longer evaluate applicants on the basis of race as a standalone factor. While applications such as the Common App may still provide questions that ask students to check a box to share race and ethnicity information for their own tracking purposes, student responses will be blocked from the colleges’ view of submitted applications.

3. What is not changing? 

The ruling does permit colleges to consider the ‘context’ of race in an applicant’s life through their writing in application essays. Specifically, Chief Justice Roberts indicated that an applicant can write about and colleges can consider “how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise.” This notion of context has long been important to the admissions process. Beyond the context of what applicants share in the essays and interviews, admissions officers can and will continue to evaluate each applicant in the context of their high school and their community. The high school profile, a document prepared by the school and sent with each student’s application to every college, will continue to share broad demographic and academic performance information about the student population of the high school, along with information about the curricular and extracurricular offerings at the school. Admissions officers will continue to closely consider this information when evaluating applicants’ transcripts, grades, and rigor of their coursework, among other factors. Furthermore, other factors such as an applicant’s geographic location, socioeconomic status, parent education level, gender, and legacy status can continue to be considered in admissions decisions.

4. How are colleges responding? 

Overwhelmingly, the response from colleges and universities that have made public statements in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling is resolute. Many colleges have issued statements that assert their commitment to following the law going forward in their policies and practices, along with their unwavering institutional commitment to diversity. Most colleges have named that they value diversity and consider building a diverse student body and academic community as central to their educational missions. While we cannot yet predict the implications for future state-level legislation and policy implications for public university systems, many colleges are thus far conveying that they will continue to value and prioritize diversity in many forms, and will work to recruit and admit the most diverse student body they can. 

5. What will this mean for students waiting for applications to open August 1st, and those applying in the future?  

For students applying to college right now, we anticipate that the August 1 update of the Common App will see many colleges building on an already growing trend of offering students opportunities through their supplemental written responses to share their identity, experiences, and how they have been shaped by these aspects of their lives. We anticipate more colleges will ask these questions directly in their supplemental or college-specific essays and written responses and will encourage students to share what they wish to about their identities. We anticipate that many colleges will also continue the growing trend of asking questions that give all students the opportunity to share the ways that they will contribute to healthy, respectful open-minded dialogue on campus, and how they will personally contribute to diverse and inclusive communities. 

As a practical matter, applicants should check colleges’ admissions websites for their statements and responses to the ruling and for updates on what questions to expect on this year’s application. In addition, we would advise all students to begin thinking about and planning what they might share through supplemental essays, but to sit tight on drafting responses to any specific supplemental questions until the Common App officially opens for this cycle on August 1st. 

Unfortunately, a likely outcome of this decision is to invite more subjectivity and opacity into the admissions process. The decision encourages colleges to be less transparent about their methods and more subjective in their approaches. We do not anticipate that any racial group will experience less intense selectivity in admissions as a result of this decision. 

TBU Advisors are experienced in supporting students to navigate their college choices and personal best fit, and TBU Essay & Application specialists are experts at supporting students to craft their most compelling, authentic work. If you’d like to explore working with a TBU Advisor, now is the time. Get in touch here and we will look forward to connecting with you. 

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