So, as I was walking around campus today I noticed a meeting of one of the Asian student groups and I remembered something an acquaintance of mine said.
I had asked which of the schools her daughter was applying to and she mentioned a few and expressed her worry that her daughter would not be able to get in because “there were so many Asians being admitted.” It stunned me at the time, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to start a fight. What I should have said is that maybe fewer Asians would apply because there were so many white people.
Our school is some 30% Asian. That statistic is not broken up into Japanese/Korean/Pan-Asian and so on - just a bucket of “Asian”. There are about 10% Hispanic, less than 1% Native American and somewhere in the neighborhood of 2% African American. So lets add that up, shall we? If you count 4% for “other” and mixed race students, we still have caucasian as the dominant race on campus.
If you look at the admissions statistics 100% of all admissions had a GPA of 3.0 and higher. 100% of all admissions scored 1130 or higher on the SAT. The biggest factor in admissions were the essay, the test scores and the GPA. Following that were volunteer work and extracurricular activities.
So how could my friend think her daughter wasn’t going to get in just because there were “so many” Asians applying? Because she is holding on to the stereotypical views of the 70s and 80s? Shouldn’t she be looking at the admissions statistics and seeing that her daughter was competitive? Or was she worried that her daughter would be at an institution that catered to an Asian population - sushi and anime only? 
She should be happy that her daughter could possibly get some diversity in the people she knows - it will help her in the workforce if she doesn’t come in with all sorts of preconceived notions.
I picked my college based on the ethnic diversity. When I saw large groups of Black, Hispanic, White and Asian students all over campus, intermingling and getting along, I knew it was the place for me.
Prejudice just makes me so angry. Why do people say such stupid things? Why is someone “Asian” when they are viewed as competition and “American” when they pay taxes, or vote or give to charity?
I have to learn to be more vocal when these comments are mentioned. I’m usually just so stunned I can’t think of anything to say. But I can’t just sit idly by any longer. I must be part of the solution.