Northwestern University sophomore Caitlin Wu says she was regularly told to downplay her Asian heritage on college applications if she wanted to get into the nation’s top schools.
Wu excelled at an academically rigorous private high school in Pasadena, California. But she worried about impressing admissions officers that have come to expect “perfect” Asian American candidates. And even though she’s part of a minority group on campus, Wu recalls having mixed feelings about affirmative action — policies meant to open doors for students of color — because of a perceived cap on Asian students in elite schools.
