Seniors pare back identity details in college essays amid Trump administration crackdown

High school seniors this admissions cycle are omitting or downplaying details about race, gender and immigration in their college essays as the Trump administration has intensified actions targeting diversity initiatives, according to interviews with students, parents and counselors.

The shift follows the 2023 Supreme Court decision limiting affirmative action and comments by Chief Justice John Roberts that race could be considered in essays only if tied to another characteristic, the reporting notes. The administration has cut federal research funding, pursued legal battles with universities and issued executive orders directing schools to stop supporting diversity efforts and to provide demographic data, moves that students said have created unease about sharing personal information.

Counselors reported students seeking to avoid politically sensitive topics: C. William Coakley warned students that “D.E.I., in this decade, is an I.E.D.,” and admissions consultants found more than a dozen colleges that changed essay prompts this year — for example, Colorado College and Harvard altered prompts away from explicit diversity framing, while Rice said it still welcomes essays about multiple identities.

Key Topics

Politics, Trump Administration, College Admissions, Affirmative Action, John Roberts, Harvard University