Throughout my middle school and high school career, I had teachers, administration, and classmates doubt my abilities on a daily basis. Thanks to my parents, I learned to fight for what I wanted, whether it was taking a non-conventional high school course or being heard in the classroom. Having to fight for things that most European-Americans are enabled to do easily made me angry. I remember one time, I broke down crying in a history class because the ignorance and attacks I would receive from students were too intense. At some point, it became common ground -- I just became numb to it. I figured that I would prove all of them wrong when I got into a top school. And I did just that. I received 10 full rides from top schools in the country, one of them being Princeton University. I thought that I had finally proved all of those teachers and counselors who doubted me wrong; that my classmates would see the work I put in to get here and appreciate and respect me as just another hard-working student.
While some did value my accomplishments, the next day at school, I slowly began to hear the hatred:
“She doesn’t deserve it."
“How did she get in...?”
“Nicole only got into Princeton because she’s black.”
Before I get into the implications of the last comment, I will say that I understand the jealousy that many may have towards anyone who got into an 'Ivy league' school because the truth of the matters is that a lot of students work hard to be competitive on an Ivy league level. I completely sympathize with the pain of being rejected after years of sacrifice. The envy and anger was directed towards African-Americans and Europeans alike for those of us who got into top schools over our peers.
However, to say that a minority student only got into a top school to “fulfill a quota” is completely and utterly ignorant. I do not only speak for myself when I say that every minority student who gets into a top school is there because they worked hard and that school saw something in them that was valuable to their campus.
When I first heard this from a European-American student in my grade, I couldn’t believe it, but at the same time, I wasn’t at all surprised because I have had to deal with the ignorance of my peers for many years now. What was more hurtful than the comment itself was who the comment came from. The students who attacked me the most were those who were (ironically) extremely friendly with me when we started applying to colleges. Specifically, one student would come up to me and discuss the excitement of the impending decisions and how excited we should be to be applying to such universities. But as soon as I got in and they didn’t, they were the first to talk behind my back. The ingenuity of that student is hurtful and blatantly disrespectful -- especially when they didn't even have the guts to say it to my face. For them to stoop so low as to reference my “race” (race doesn’t really exist, in my opinion) as a reason for admission speaks volumes to their true character, for it is in times of distress that we see who people really are.
At the end of the day, you don’t know my story -- you have no idea why Princeton accepted me, and quite frankly, it’s none of your business.
Saying I “only got in because I’m black” is in itself a microaggression, which I have, no doubt, experienced on many occasions.
To say I only got accepted because of the color of my skin completely negates all of the hard work I put into getting where I am and does not provide any reason for why many other African-Americans were denied admission.
So please, just accept it and move on.
