“Click the link! Click the link!” My best friend’s mother urged, breathing down her neck. Her pounding heartbeat echoed in her ears and her eyes were glued on to the home page of her dream college. Her left index finger tapped anxiously as her other hand glided the smooth device across the wooden surface, moving the cursor on the screen. She clicked on the Yale Admission Status Portal, thinking about the worst that could happen. Once the screen loaded, she eagerly scanned the screen and to her dismay, she spotted the dreadful word. She was rejected, and a disappointed sigh escaped from her mother’s mouth.

Every year, more and more Asian-Americans are facing rejection from colleges, despite their exceptional grades and participation in activities. This is because of affirmative action, which defined by the dictionary means “the practice of favoring a few minority groups in an effort to improve their educational opportunities.” But let me tell you, affirmative action really is just colleges discriminating against Asian-Americans. Is it fair? Uh, no.

When applying to colleges, Asian-Americans are already at an unfair disadvantage because schools want to give other minority groups more opportunities. For instance, Asian-American students have to score a much higher SAT score in order to have an equal chance at admission as someone of another race. A recent Princeton study showed that Asian-Americans have to score 140 points higher than white people, 270 points more than Hispanics, and 450 points higher than African-Americans. Asian-Americans have a considerably lower chance at being accepted to colleges because their overall expectation is much higher than those of other races. Colleges are unfairly penalizing Asian-Americans just because of their race while favoring other preferred racial minorities such as African-Americans and Hispanics. The whole idea of discriminating against Asians in order to help other races get into colleges just isn’t right. Race should not give someone a disadvantage or an advantage, and overall, Asian-Americans really should not be denied educational opportunities just because of their race.

Some people argue that affirmative action is necessary because not only does it help the disadvantaged minority groups, it also helps create diversity in colleges. In fact, studies have proven that students learn better in diverse environments, but discriminating against Asian-Americans is not the way to create diversity. According to Yukong Zhao, the president of the Asian American Coalition for Education, which is a non-profit organization fighting for Asian-American educational rights, the real solution to this issue is to find a way to improve the K through 12 education for African-American and Hispanic communities. Discriminating against Asians is definitely not the solution to this controversial issue. If we want diversity in our colleges, the solution is not discrimination; the solution is to improve the level of education for all races.

Vijay Chokal-Ingam decided to test the system by pretending to be an African-American applicant who was seeking admission into St. Louis University School of Medicine. Vijay took this very seriously. He shaved his head, trimmed his eyelashes, joined the University of Chicago’s Organization of Black Students, and even changed his name to Jojo. According to research by the Association of American Medical Colleges, “An Indian-American with Vijay’s grades (3.1 GPA) and test scores (31 MCAT) was unlikely to gain admission to medical school, but an African-American with the same grades and test scores had a high probability of admission.” In the end, Vijay was rejected, but Jojo was accepted into medical school. It is not a coincidence that when he applied as an Indian-American, he was rejected, but when he applied as an African-American, he was accepted. This obviously shows the unfair discrimination Asian-Americans have to face when it comes to college enrollment.

Many anti-affirmative action activists are taking this issue into their own hands by bringing attention to this issue. In 2014, a group called Students for Fair Admissions sued Harvard for discriminating against Asian-American students by holding them to a higher standard than other racial groups. According to data presented in court as part of the Harvard admissions trial, “Asian-American candidates on average saw an admission rate of 8.1 percent. By comparison, white applicants saw an average acceptance rate of 11.1 percent in that time period, African-American applicants saw an average acceptance rate of 13.2 percent, and Hispanic-American applicants saw an average acceptance rate of 10.6 percent.” How is it that on average, Asian-American students have a higher SAT score but their admission rate is lower than any other racial group? Eventually, top schools like Stanford and Brown admitted that there was an unfair bias against Asians. This lawsuit even received support from the Trump Administration. This lawsuit is far from over, but more and more people are taking a stand against this unfair college enrollment system.

As an Asian-American female, my parents have always been hard on me, and the reality is truly heartbreaking. Growing up, I was forced to accept the brutal truth that I will most definitely be discriminated against in college admissions simply because of my race. There’s a constant pressure and feeling of never being good enough that all Asian-Americans have to carry around. And honestly, just think about all of the exceptional Asian-Americans that have been rejected from Ivy League colleges just because of their race. I mean, maybe if we accepted just a few of those remarkable Asian-Americans, we would have already found the cure to cancer.