After the Supreme Court’s decision in June 2023, Cornell adjusted its application to include new, identity-based application questions. The questions were designed to provide applicants the opportunity to discuss any aspects of their identity they believe to be essential for conveying who they are as an individual and as a student.
The identity-focused essay asked students to “define community the way that is most meaningful to you.” The Sun surveyed six students of varying backgrounds to gather reactions to the new essay prompt and the prospect of declining diversity in Cornell’s student body.
Tiffany Alvarez ’28, a student in Industrial and Labor Relations, viewed the new question as restrictive and struggled in her ability to openly express herself. Alvarez felt that she needed to explain her racial background in the question to give admissions officers context about her background.
“I think [the questions] definitely limited [me] to what I could talk about on the application,” Alvarez said. “I felt that [for] other students who weren’t of color, they could mention other aspects of their application in their high school curriculum and all that, but I felt I definitely had to reflect on [the affirmative action] we didn’t have anymore — so I wanted the university to know that I was a student of color and came from a specific area or region.”
Alvarez explained that if she had applied two years ago — when affirmative action policies were still factored into admissions — her essay would have not been so focused on her ethnicity and minority background.
“I would have talked more about my achievements and things I’m interested in, rather than just about how my parents came here.” Alvarez said.
Buzmael Joanus ’28, a student in the Nolan School of Hotel Administration, had mixed emotions regarding the changes to the application.
“I wouldn’t say I really had any positive or negative reaction[s] because I hadn’t seen the questions prior, so I had no basis of comparison,” Joanus said. “But I feel like the questions I was asked were fair, and they did provide me with an adequate opportunity to express myself and to express my background and just who I am.”
Like Alvarez, Joanus did specifically address his racial and ethnic background in his questions. However, Joanus said he would have discussed his ethnicity even before affirmative action was overturned since he believes race helps best describe who he is.
“I think I would still have discussed race,” Joanus said. “It would have been integral [in] explaining who I am, explaining why I hold the perspectives that I do, and ultimately why my motivations are what they are.
Sana Khan ’28, a student in the College of Arts and Science, was unsure how she initially felt about the overturn of affirmative action.
“I think my reactions were mixed to it,” Khan said. “I know a lot of people around me [felt] that affirmative action affected them in a negative way, but [I] understand how it can be so impactful for some [other] people.”
To answer the application questions, Khan primarily focused on her cultural background, believing she could best describe who she was as an individual if she discussed her heritage.
“I did talk about my identity as being an Indian-Muslim, because that was something that impacted me,” Khan said. “I didn’t really consider affirmative action at the time of talking about it, because it was something that helped me answer the question [and] truly represent myself.”
Amanda Strocko ’28, a student in the College of Industrial and Labor Relations, does not believe she was particularly disadvantaged by the changes to Cornell’s application on account of her ethnicity.
“It felt like it didn’t really play that much of a role for me because I am White,” Strocko said.
Although Strocko believes that her racial identity did not influence her in the admissions process, she felt that her socioeconomic background might have.
“I never thought that I would get into a prestigious university anyway, because I’m from a very low-income area,” Strocko said. “It’s very rural, so my school didn’t have that much money.”
Rather than focusing on her identity, Strocko used the admission essay to highlight her personal academic achievements.
“I talked about a capstone project that I did in my community, which was about water safety within my school district,” Strocko said. “It kind of tied into the under-resourced high school that I was from, so in that way, it was kind of like a representation of how I came from that background that wasn’t prioritized in college admissions.”
Emilio Carroll ’28, also in the College of Industrial and Labor Relations, discussed how he was a minority from New York City and raised by a single mother. Carroll, like Strocko, does not believe that he was particularly disadvantaged in the admissions process.
“I’d like to think it had no impact, at least in my case,” Carroll said. “I mean there’s definitely people affected — the people that didn’t get in — but people who got in, they’re not going to see the effect that it had on them.”
Pennie Lu ’28, a student in the College of Arts and Science, says she has not personally observed a decline in diversity on campus.
“Overall, I haven’t really noticed a difference in diversity,” Lu said. “In my classes, I feel like I’m still seeing a lot of people of color.”
However, given Cornell’s recently released enrollment data, Lu is wary of what future classes admitted to the University will look like if such a trend continues.
“The diversity on campus could definitely be lowered,” Lu said. “And if that happens, then the sort of experiences and the worldviews that we see here — that we’re interacting with all the time — would definitely be different. And that would change the graduates that we’re putting out into the world.”
Khan believes Cornell should ensure that all students, irrespective of their background, find community on campus. She expressed concern about the prospect that declining diversity would also mean that it would be harder for the people of color on campus to find community.
“[Declining diversity] could be a problem, as a lot of groups won’t be represented at Cornell on campus and it [can] be hard for the students to find community, because I’ve known what it’s like to be a minority, and sometimes it’s hard.”
As colleges across the nation continue to grapple with the spiraling effects of non-race-conscious admissions policies, Joanus emphasized the importance of using a holistic approach in the admissions process.
“Obviously, [race] cannot be the end all be all, because that would be unfair to groups of students who are not marginalized,” Joanus said. “At the end of the day, we all deserve a fair shot at getting a higher education.”
Though the representation of minority groups in the class of 2028 declined, Joanus remains hopeful that Cornell will continue to admit individuals who are both personally and academically diverse.
“Ultimately, I think diversity is key to see and to hear different backgrounds, especially in a setting like this, where we’ll never have another opportunity to be with nearly 15,000 people who come from different backgrounds, different experiences,” Joanus said. “I think that diversity is key to maximizing our time here, and so that’s what I just hope continues to happen.”