At the beginning of the college application season last fall, Natasha Scott, a high school senior of mixed racial heritage in Beltsville, Md., vented about a personal dilemma on College Confidential, the go-to electronic bulletin board for anonymous conversation about admissions, reports the New York Times.
βI just realized that my race is something I have to think about,β she wrote, describing herself as having an Asian mother and a black father. βIt pains me to say this, but putting down black might help my admissions chances and putting down Asian might hurt it.β