Affirmative Action Impact

Level 5: Ivy League

Welcome! In case you have missed it, the Supreme Court handed down a decision on the use of race in admissions. As expected, the majority ruled in favor of eliminating the use of race as a factor in college admissions.

Many legal scholars will be pouring over the decision over the coming months, and they do not have much time - the next round of college admissions is nearly right around the corner, and that does not leave colleges and universities long to adjust their admissions processes to include the race factor.

Make no mistake about it - this is a truly seismic shift in the way college admissions work. But this is probably the first domino of others to fall that will create a brave new world for college admissions.

In this post, we will provide you with the basic facts of what happened and initial thoughts on what it means for various future applicants.

Note: This is not intended to be a political piece - we are not in the business of making comments about the fairness of a decision or whether it was decided correctly. Remember, the purpose of understanding admissions and the changes is to better prepare yourself for what comes next.

You want the information so you can better prepare yourself for what is next, not to engage in philosophical discussions.

In subsequent pieces, we will go through some of our thoughts on what likely happens next - specifically how colleges will respond. We made some predictions at the end of last year on affirmative action, but we will review those predictions soon.

With all of that being said, let’s dive in:

What was decided?