Most colleges and universities are aggressively searching for minority applicants. They want diversity on their campuses. They want students who might have been excluded in the past to feel welcome.
All of which raises a question: Are students telling the truth about their race and ethnicity?
The website Intelligent recently asked white Americans whether they had been truthful about their race when applying to college. (Intelligent is a data-focused website that aims “to create content that helps you live better,” with a focus on students.) The survey was of 1,250 white adults who had applied to college.
The main finding: 34 percent of white Americans who applied to colleges or universities admit to lying about being a racial minority on their application. The most common lie (by 48 percent of those who lied) was to be a Native American.
Seventy-seven percent of people who claimed to be a racial minority on their applications were accepted by the colleges to which they lied.
While other factors may have played a role in their acceptance, the majority of applicants who lied and were accepted (85%) believe that falsifying their racial minority status helped them secure admission to college.
