By: Kirthana Iyer
Ah, yes, remember that time you filled out college apps before you came to BU? #commonapplife #nolife Am I right??? What a….fond…memory….okay, well, it was a memory that’s for sure.
But what I remember when applying to 22 DIFFERENT SCHOOLS is having to choose a race during all the general information questionnaires. Since I was in middle school, that was something that always bothered me. Why do I have to choose a race when applying for something that has “nothing to do with color” as they say? The more frustrating part, however, was how I was always subjected to choosing Asian.
Now, don’t get me wrong: I take a lot of pride in being a part of such a diverse continent, but saying I’m simply “Asian” isn’t exactly true. I’m South Asian, yes, but when you say the term “Asian” most people think of Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Thai, or Filipino. It’s sad but true. There is actually a lot of fascinating research as to how only in America are Indians categorized as Asians that I will link HERE.
My main issue is that it gets frustrating when people are like “Wait, but you’re so dark.” “You’re Asian? But you’re Indian.” Like, THANK YOU. I HAD NO IDEA. THANK YOU FOR CLARIFYING.
Before you continue reading this: I am not at all saying that I am not proud to be an Asian-American. I’m simply giving the statistics as they are and I still think there are way more factors that don’t account for race.
So naturally, I decided to write an article about it. If there really are so many different cultural and physical differences between most Asian ethnicities and Indians, why are they under the same category? I have a lot of questions. So, let’s just get into it.
My first issue: Culturally, it misrepresents us.
Looking at how different I was from all my wonderful and beautiful generalized Asian-American friends made it frustrating to apply to college under the same race. I look different, my rules are different, the way we act is different, and what we eat is different. Having to apply under the same race puts this generalization of who we are when there are so many more components that should be accounted for. It’s frustrating when you’re in one of the largest racial groups in America, but you know you are so different from the generalizations made about being from the Asian continent.
Applying to college made it even worse because when someone reads your application, they don’t see a picture of you. They don’t see what community made you. All they see are your race, your GPA, SAT scores, and sometimes essays when your ethnicity dictates a lot of who you are as a student.
Which is just great.
Yay.
Second: Socially, it takes away from who I identify as.
I remember applying my senior year of high school. I was so excited about getting to write about Kathak, North Indian dance, and Bollywood to tell colleges about my history. But after writing all these essays, I realized that they won’t even read this until I meet the grades. All they see until then is that I’m another Asian girl.
It’s frustrating because I wasn’t just another Asian girl. I was an Indian girl. I have a culture of my own, a different background. My dance style and culture are filled with little hints of colonization that you don’t see in a lot of ancient generalized Asian communities. So, taking that away from other Indian girls like me was hard and irritating.
Because all that work we put into our culture isn’t even shown to a university until we pass the “Asian” test of perfect SAT scores, GPA, and extracurriculars. So yeah…it’s kind of annoying.
*Take another look at the cover photo for further beautiful evidence*
Last but certainly not least, we are different. And every single Asian-American will tell you that.
In society, if people refer to you as your ethnicity of Chinese, Indian, Laotian, Thai, Filipino, and more, it makes sense that colleges should do the same thing. I know this seems like an article on a rant for Indians, but it can honestly be argued for any race.
Society accepts that you are different from other Asians, why can’t colleges? You shouldn’t be put in the same group of people who only share the commonality of being from the same origin continent. Each ethnicity should be looked at separately on college apps, and if colleges don’t want to do that, they should give them different races because, at the end of the day, that small piece of information changes your life.
I know how widely different my culture is from other Asian cultures, I know how there are differences in educational backgrounds, social backgrounds, and even political. So being on the same scale can be nerve-racking. It’s time to change that. Start getting angry and writing articles, tweets, or even small letters to your local Representative. Make the change you want.
And that’s your inspirational article of the day!
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