December 17, 2012

Asian-American Students Wonder: Is the Bar Higher for Us?

Asian Applicants Wonder About Higher Admissions Bar 1

Matt Roth for The Chronicle

Michael Chang, a senior at a competitive public high school in Maryland, worries that Asian-Americans are held to a higher standard by colleges.

By Beckie Supiano

Rockville, Md.

Michael Chang studied hard for the SAT. He went through 30 weeks of tutoring and took dozens of practice tests. It paid off: Mr. Chang, a senior at Thomas S. Wootton High School here, got a 1430. But he had read that Asian-American applicants had to score 140 points more than their white peers to have the same chance of getting into an elite college. That hard-earned 1430 would look no better than a white student's 1290.

The idea that Asian-American applicants are held to a higher