In addition to writing about their favorite songs and why they want to go to college, students applying to Emory University in Atlanta this fall will get new essay prompts aimed at teasing out details about their cultural backgrounds.
The revised questions are among the changes at Emory and other highly selective colleges after the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that race-conscious admissions policies were unlawful, upending a longstanding practice for increasing minority enrollment in higher education.
Universities must find new ways to create diverse student bodies and avoid the precipitous declines in admissions of Black and Latino students seen after prior bans on affirmative action in states including California and Michigan.