bs_bs_banner Asian Journal of Social Psychology

Asian Journal of Social Psychology (2017), 20, 4553 DOI: 10.1111/ajsp.12165

Is STEM running out of steam for Asian Americans? College admissions

officers perceptions of applicants
Daniel Chai and Allyson J. Weseley
1
Roslyn High School, Roslyn, New York, USA

While many people view Asian Americans as model minorities who excel in math, science and music, they are
also negatively stereotyped as nerdy and unsociable. Research has shown that Asian Americans have to outperform
other races academically to receive equal consideration by colleges. This study is the first to test whether this bias is
directed towards all Asian Americans or only those who fit the model minority stereotype. The present experiment
investigates the effect of race and stereotypes on perceptions of students in the college admission process. College
admission officers (N = 79) were randomly assigned to view a shortened version of a college application. The
participants rated the student whose application they saw according to likelihood of being accepted into college,
social competence, academic competence and contribution to a colleges diversity. The stereotypical Asian
American student was perceived to be significantly less likely to be accepted into college and had a lower perceived
social competence than the other three students. Additionally, students who participated in counter-stereotypical
Asian activities were perceived as being more likely to be accepted, more socially competent and to contribute more
diversity than students who participated in stereotypical Asian activities. A multiple regression revealed that social
competence was the only significant predictor of likely acceptance. This study suggests that rather than all Asian
American students being disadvantaged in the college admissions process, it is only those who fit common
stereotypes who are affected.

Key words: Asian American, college admissions, discrimination, model minority, stereotypical, STEM.

Asian Americans have been labelled a model minority due
to their success economically and educationally in the United
States (Ho & Jackson, 2001; Wong, Lai, Nagasawa, & Lin,
1998; Yee, 1992; Zhang, 2010). The Pew Research Center
has reported that Asian Americans have 21% more college
degrees than the general public and make $16,200 more than
the general public in annual income (The Rise of Asian
Americans, 2012). In the mainstream media, Asian
Americans are portrayed as gifted in specific fields such as
mathematics and technology (Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2007)
and in certain instruments such as piano, violin and cello
(Paarlberg, 2012). In addition, the stereotypical Asian
American also seems to participate in certain sports. They
rarely participate in team sports such as football, volleyball
and field hockey (Fleming, 1991; National Collegiate
Athletic Association, 2015) but have become prevalent and
successful in some individual sports such as swimming and
fencing. While these are just stereotypes, they appear to be
rooted in truth; research has shown that Asian Americans
are more likely to belong to STEM extracurriculars (clubs
dealing with math or science) compared to other racial groups
Correspondence: Daniel Chai, Roslyn High School, Roslyn
Heights, NY, USA. Email: danielchai16@gmail.com
Received 27 March 2016; revision 20 October 2016; accepted 19
December 2016.
(Espenshade & Radford, 2009). Additionally, while Asian
Americans only comprise 5.6% of the population of the
United States (Chen, 2012), Asian Americans represent
20% of the members of top orchestras such as the New York
Philharmonic (Paarlberg, 2012) and make up 12.4% of all
college fencers and 22.2% of all college swimmers (National
Collegiate Athletic Association, 2015).
Currently, several Asian Americans who were rejected
from elite U.S. colleges are suing these institutions over
discriminatory admission policies (Lott, 2014). It is
commonly believed by Asian Americans that they face
negative action (The Rise of Asian Americans, 2012).
Negative action is a preference for White Americans over
other races (Kang, 1996; Kidder, 2005). Research has
suggested that negative action is prevalent in academia.
One study found that Asian Americans have a 67% lower
chance of being accepted into elite colleges when compared
to other races (Espenshade, Chung, & Walling, 2004).
Moreover, Espenshade and Radford (2009) found that Asian
Americans had to outperform Whites, Hispanics and African
Americans by 140 to 450 SAT points to receive equal
consideration by colleges. Given that people seem to require
better academic performance from Asian American students
than from students of other races, it is possible that an Asian
American student would be perceived as having an inferior
academic record to an equally performing White student.
Previous studies have yet to experimentally test whether

2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd and Asian Association of Social Psychology
46
Asians are discriminated against in the college admission
process. The present study seeks to fill that gap.
Although Asian Americans are generally thought to be
gifted in a number of fields, they are also stereotyped as
nerdy, passive and cunning (Cuddy et al., 2007). In a
questionnaire that included items examining positive and
negative stereotypes of Asian Americans, participants
described Asian Americans as all work, no play, nerds, not
interested in fun and social activities, and lacking social
skills (Maddux, Galinsky, Cuddy, & Polifroni, 2008).
Past research has demonstrated that elite colleges may be
looking for individuals who have a good cultural fit with their
institutions as opposed to a strong academic record (Golden,
2007; Karabel, 2005; Unz, 2012). In many ways, colleges
may be looking for outgoing team players as opposed to
bookish, intellectual students. As Golden (2007) writes, our
leading universities often weigh non-academic and financial
factors more heavily in admissions than academic
achievement. Similarly, Karabel (2005) argues that Americas
complex and subjective process for accepting students comes
from the need to shape characteristics of the student body as
desired. As an attempt to limit the number of Jewish students
on the campuses of top colleges in the 1920s, universities
changed from a system based on an objective test of academic
merit to a holistic process for admitting students that
emphasized the importance of character and other more
subjective and hard-to-define characteristics. As a result, the
current American college admissions system may give more
weight to applicants perceived social competence and
potential fit with the university than it does to their academic
records (Karabel, 2005).
Negative action may be caused by a blanket prejudice
against all Asian Americans. In an experimental study that
manipulated a students race and gender , Milkman, Akinola,
and Chugh (2014) explored the response rate of university
professors to hypothetical students of different ethnicities
who supposedly contacted them seeking a meeting. They
analyzed over 6,000 emails sent to potential university
mentors, which contained the race and gender of an individual
but did not reveal any other qualities about the individual.
They found that Asian Americans received fewer responses
from professors when seeking guidance than did White
American males. The finding suggests that the professors
may have had negative assumptions of Asian Americans
poor mastery of English, the reliability of their qualifications,
and their cultural fit (Milkman et al., 2012, p. 7). Moreover,
previous research has suggested that under situations with
limited information, assumptions about groups are often in
agreement with peoples own biases and stereotypes (Fiske
& Taylor, 1991; von Hippel, Jonides, Hilton, & Narayan,
1993). In effect, Asian American students may face
discrimination in educational settings for simply being Asian.
Alternatively, negative action may only affect Asian
American students who match the model minority stereotype.
2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd and Asian Association of Social Psychology
Daniel Chai and Allyson J. Weseley
Chang and Le (2005) suggest that the portrayal of Asian
Americans as a model minority causes them to be viewed
as a homogenous group hardworking and good students
but nerdy and unsocial. This perceived homogeneity may
ultimately harm stereotypical Asian Americans in the college
admission process because colleges purport to seek out a
diverse group of applicants (Rubin, 2014).
Because negative action may be caused by the similarities
amongst many Asian American applicants, counter-
stereotypical Asian applicants may be preferred over
stereotypical ones. Counter-stereotypical information has
been shown to increase the likability of negatively
stereotyped groups (Cohen, Hall, & Tuttle, 2009; Rubin,
Paolini, & Crisp, 2013). Blair (2002) theorized that counter-
stereotypical information gives the perceiver positive
associations about the negatively stereotyped group which,
in turn, may reduce prejudice. Alternatively, counter-
stereotypical individuals are, by definition, more unique,
and Westerners have been shown to exhibit a preference for
unique stimuli and have a desire to be distinct and unique
(Brewer, 1991; Kim & Markus, 1999; Lynn & Snyder,
2002; Rubin et al., 2013; Snyder & Fromkin, 1977).
Therefore, because counter-stereotypical individuals
symbolize the Western values of uniqueness and
nonconformity, Westerners may be more likely to perceive
counter-stereotypical individuals as more likable than
stereotypical individuals.
Research on the inclusion of counter-stereotypical
information has shown positive effects on discriminated
groups. Using an experimental design, Rubin et al. (2013)
found that women characterized with counter-stereotypical
adjectives such as aggressive were rated more likable than
women characterized with stereotypical adjectives such as
sensitive. Cohen et al. (2009) characterized gay men as
either masculine (counter-stereotypical) or feminine
(stereotypical) and found that participants who were straight
males rated the counter-stereotypical gay men (masculine)
more likable. Given that Asian Americans are negatively
stereotyped as nerdy and unsocial (Lee & Joo, 2005), Asian
Americans who seem outgoing and popular may fare better
in the current college admissions process.
While much research has established that people have
stereotypes of Asian Americans (e.g., nerdy and unsociable),
we suspected there were no analogous stereotypes of Whites.
Because Whites are the majority in the United States and
historically the overwhelming majority, most people are
familiar with them filling a wide variety of roles and having
a wide variety of traits. Therefore, rather than attempt to depict
a stereotypical and counter-stereotypical White student, we
chose to contrast a stereotypical and counter-stereotypical
Asian student with a White student who engaged in
stereotypical and counter-stereotypical Asian activities.
In order to examine experimentally if Asian American
applicants face discrimination in the college admission
Is STEM Running Out of Steam for Asians?
process and if discrimination is directed toward all Asian
American students or only stereotypical Asian American
applicants, the following hypotheses were tested: 1.
Compared to White American students, Asian American
students will be perceived as (a) having a lower level of
academic competence, (b) making a lesser contribution to
the diversity of selective colleges, (c) having a lower level
of social competence and (d) having a lower likelihood of
being accepted into selective colleges; 2. Compared to
students who participated in stereotypical Asian American
activities, students who participated in counter-stereotypical
Asian American activities will be perceived as (a) making a
greater contribution to the diversity of selective colleges,
(b) having a higher level of social competence and (c) a
higher likelihood to be accepted into selective colleges; 3.
Compared to a counter-stereotypical Asian American
student, a stereotypical Asian American student will be
perceived as (a) making a lesser contribution to the diversity
of selective colleges, (b) having a lower level of social
competence and (c) having a lower likelihood of being
accepted into selective colleges. In addition, we predicted
that perceptions of likely college acceptance would be best
predicted by judgements of social competence.
Method
Participants
The sample for this study consisted of 79 admission officers
from the 250 U.S. colleges classified as most selective,
highly selective, very selective or selective colleges by the
Barrons Profiles of American Colleges (2009). Previous
studies have based judgements of college selectivity on this
resource (Bowen, McPherson, & Chingos, 2009; Hoxby &
Avery, 2013).
Contact information for admission officers was obtained
through their institutions websites. In total, 711 emails were
collected. Selected participants were sent an email inviting
them to participate in the study via SurveyMonkey. The
final sample included 32 (40.5%) males and 42 (53.2%)
females; 5 participants did not indicate their gender. Most
participants self-identified as Caucasian (44, 55.7%),
followed by Latino (10, 12.7%), African American (8,
10%), Multiracial (5, 6.3%), Asian/Asian American (3,
3.8%) and Native American (1, 1.3%); 6 participants did
not provide their race. The participants were employed at a
range of colleges; 11 participants rated their college as Most
Selective (13.9%), 27 participants rated their college as
Highly Selective (34.2%), 20 participants rated their college
as Very Selective (25.3%) and 15 participants rated their
college as Selective (19%). Six participants did not report
the selectivity of their college.
2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd and Asian Association of Social Psychology
47
Design and Procedure
The experiment employed a 2 2 design, and each
participant was randomly assigned to one of the four
conditions. Participants either viewed an application package
depicting a stereotypical Asian American student, a counter-
stereotypical Asian American student, a White American
student who participated in stereotypical Asian American
activities or a White American student who participated in
counter-stereotypical Asian American activities.
Participants were told the study was examining the impact
of manipulating the amount of material on a college
application on the evaluation of an applicant. They were then
randomly assigned to one of the four conditions and, after
viewing the application materials, were asked to answer an
8-item survey.
Applications
Four versions of an application package containing
information about a student were created for this study. All
mimicked the Profile, Education, Testing and Activities
sections of the Common Application.
One independent variable was the race of the student. Half
of the participants saw an application package from a male
named Kevin Huang to indicate someone of Asian race.
The other half of the participants saw the same application
package attributed to Kevin Anderson to indicate a White
student. These names have been found to effectively signify
the desired races in previous research (Milkman et al., 2014).
The second independent variable was the inclusion of
stereotypical Asian American activities or counter-
stereotypical Asian American activities. The stereotypical
Asian American activities were: playing violin in a chamber
orchestra, participating in the school Science Olympiad club,
fencing and participating on the math team. The other group
saw the same application package but was presented with an
extracurricular list suggestive of activities that, based on
recommendations from high school counselling staff, would
be counter-stereotypical for an Asian American student to
participate in. They were: playing drums in a rock band,
participating in the school government, playing baseball
and being the photographer for the school yearbook.
These lists of activities were meant to parallel each other
(see Table 1), in the sense that each student listed the same
number of activities, described investing the same amount
of time in the set of activities, had the same number and level
of positions and had accrued similar honours.
Dependent Measures
To measure contribution to the diversity of selective colleges,
a single item was created for this study to measure the extent
to which the applicant would contribute to the diversity of
highly selective colleges in general. The item was presented
48
Table 1 Manipulation of extracurricular activities
Stereotypical
Activity 1 Violinist in Chamber Orchestra10hw 40wy
Activity 2 Fencing15hw 12wy
Activity 3 Vice President of Science Olympiad1hw 40wy
Activity 4 Math Team1hw 40wy
on a 7-point bipolar scale anchored by Minimally and
Greatly.
Academic competence was measured with 3 items
examining how 1) good the students performance was, 2)
intelligent the student was and 3) academically competent
the student was. These items were created for this study. This
measure employed a 7-point bipolar scale where an answer of
1 indicated Extremely Weak/Unintelligent/Incompetent
and 7 indicated Extremely Strong/Intelligent/Competent.
This scale showed strong reliability on the present sample;
the Cronbachs alpha value was .82.
Social competence was measured with 3 items created to
assess how well the student would 1) thrive socially at a
highly selective college, 2) fit into a highly selective college
and 3) be involved in campus life at a highly selective
college. These items were created for this study. Similar to
the Academic Competence scale, a 7-point bipolar scale
was used for the Social Competence Scale anchored by
Extremely Uninvolved/Poorly and Extremely
Involved/Well. This scale was also rated as reliable; the
Cronbachs alpha value was .91.
Participants were then asked about the likelihood of the
student being accepted into a highly selective college. This
item was loosely based on an item from Moss-Racusin,
Dovidio, Brescoll, Graham, and Handelsmans scale
(2012). Following these dependent measures, participants
were asked basic demographic questions about themselves
as well as a question about how selective their institution
was. Additionally, a manipulation check was included that
asked about the activities the student participated in as well
as the race of the student.
Data Analysis
A value of p.05 was used as the criterion for statistical
significance, although p values between .05 and .1 were
regarded as trends worth reporting given the small sample
size. To examine the impact and interaction of race and
activity type on perceived likelihood of being accepted into
selective colleges, perceived academic competence,
perceived social competence and perceived contribution of
diversity to selective colleges, four two-way analyses of
variance (ANOVA) were used. Follow-up one-way
ANOVAs were used to facilitate follow-up comparisons of
counter-stereotypical Asian American students to all other
2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd and Asian Association of Social Psychology
Daniel Chai and Allyson J. Weseley
Counter-stereotypical
Drummer in Rock Band10hw 40wy
Baseball15hw 12wy
Vice President of School Government1hw 40wy
Yearbook Club1hw 40wy
groups. In addition, a linear regression was used to see how
much of the variance in likelihood of being accepted could
be explained by the other three variables.
Results
Likelihood of being Accepted into Selective
Colleges
There was no main effect found for applicant race on
perceived likelihood of being accepted into selective
colleges, F(1, 75) = 1.18, p = .28, p2 = .02. The Asian
American students were perceived to be equally likely to be
accepted into selective colleges as White American students
(M = 4.35, SD = 1.12 v. M = 4.54, SD = .92, respectively).
On the other hand, students who participated in counter-
stereotypical Asian activities were perceived to be marginally
more likely to be accepted into colleges, F(1, 75) = 3.31,
p = .07, p2 = .04, than the students who participated in
stereotypical Asian activities (M = 4.63, SD = 1.07 v.
M = 4.22, SD = .93, respectively).
An interaction between race and activity type was found
on the likelihood of being accepted into selective colleges,
F(1, 75) = 5.90, p = .02, p2 = .07. As depicted by Figure 1
, post hoc tests revealed that the stereotypical Asian
American student was perceived to be less likely to be
accepted into colleges than the counter-stereotypical Asian
American student, p .02, the White American student
who participated in stereotypical Asian activities, p .03
and the White American student who participated in
counter-stereotypical Asian activities p < .05.
Social Competence
Overall, the students who participated in counter-
stereotypical Asian activities were perceived to be more
socially competent, F(1, 75) = 4.72, p = .03, p2 = .06, than
the students who participated in stereotypical Asian activities
(M = 4.67, SD = .74 and M = 4.26, SD = .93, respectively).
However, contrary to the hypothesis, applicant race did not
have a main effect on perceptions of social competence,
F(1, 75) = 0.63, p = .43, p2 = .00 (M = 4.43, SD = .91 and
M = 4.54, SD = .80).
The interaction between race and activity type on social
competence approached significance, F(1, 75) = 3.20,
Is STEM Running Out of Steam for Asians? 49

Figure 1 Interaction between Race and Activity Type on Likely Acceptance Activity Type: Blue = Counter-stereotypical
Orange = Stereotypical. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

p = .08, p2 = .04. As depicted in Figure 2, post hoc tests
revealed that the stereotypical Asian American student was
perceived to have a marginally lower level of social
competence than the counter-stereotypical Asian American
student, p .03, the White American student who
participated in stereotypical Asian activities, p .04 and the
White American student who participated in counter-
stereotypical Asian activities, p .04.
Contribution of Diversity
In line with the hypothesis, the students who participated in
counter-stereotypical Asian activities were perceived to
contribute more diversity to selective colleges, F(1,
75) = 4.94, p = .03, p2 = .06, than the students who
participated in stereotypical Asian activities (M = 3.88,
SD = 1.18 v. M = 3.28, SD = 1.30), as depicted in Figure 3.
Contrary to the hypothesis, the Asian American students
were seen to contribute greater diversity to selective colleges
than the White American students (M = 3.95, SD = 1.34 v.
M = 3.26, SD = 1.10, respectively), F(1, 75) = 5.91,
p = .02, p2 = .07. Although no interaction was found
between race and type of activity on contribution of diversity,
F(1, 75) = 2.15, p = .15, p2 = .03, a t-test that compared just
the two Asian American applicants revealed that the counter-
stereotypical Asian American student was found to be
perceived to significantly contribute greater diversity than
the stereotypical Asian American student (M = 4.41,
SD = 1.14 v. M = 3.39, SD = 1.38), p = .04.
Academic Competence
As hypothesized, White American students were perceived
to be marginally more academically competent than Asian
American students (M = 5.23, SD = .84 v. M = 4.82,
SD = 1.15, respectively), F(1, 75) = 3.80, p = .06, p2 = .05.

Figure 2 Interaction between Race and Activity Type on Social Competence Activity Type: Blue = Counter-stereotypical
Orange = Stereotypical. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd and Asian Association of Social Psychology
50 Daniel Chai and Allyson J. Weseley

Figure 3 Interaction between Race and Activity Type on Contribution of Diversity Activity Type: Blue = Counter-
stereotypical Orange = Stereotypical. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Contrary to the hypothesis, students who participated in Discussion

stereotypical Asian American activities did not differ
significantly in terms of perceived academic competence Predictors of Acceptance
from students who participated in counter-stereotypical
It was found that social competence was, by far, the best
Asian American activities, F(1, 75) = 0.03, p = .86, p2 = .00;
predictor of acceptance into selective colleges in the United
these students were viewed as having equivalent levels of
States. This result was somewhat unexpected because ones
academic competence (M = 5.00, SD = 1.23 v. M = 5.04,
ability to be social is not typically seen as an achievement
SD = .82). Additionally, there was no interaction found
and a pathway to college acceptance. However, this finding
between race and stereotype on academic competence, F(1,
is in line with some recent books that have argued that the
75) = 2.15, p = .15, p2 = .03.
American system of college admissions may underweigh
scholastic achievement and intellectual ability in favour of
Predictors of Perceptions of Acceptance selecting applicants thought likely to have a good cultural
fit with their institution (Karabel, 2005; Golden, 2007; Unz,
A multiple regression was run to predict perceived likelihood 2012).
to be accepted into selective colleges based on academic
competence, contribution of diversity and social competence.
The model accounted for 45% of the variance in likelihood of Likely Acceptance
acceptance. As depicted in Table 2, the only significant
In general, Asian American students were found to be equally
predictor for the perceived likelihood to be accepted into
likely to be accepted into college when compared with White
selective colleges was social competence.
American students. However, when compared with all other
students, the stereotypical Asian American student was
perceived as less likely to be perceived to be accepted into
Table 2 Model Summary selective colleges. Because the stereotypical Asian American
Variables Unstandardized t p
student was perceived to be less likely to be accepted into
Coefficients selective colleges than any of the other students including
the counter stereotypical Asian student this finding supports
B Std. Error the theory that negative action mainly disadvantages those
Asian American students who match the model minority
Academic Competence .108 .097 1.117 .268
Social Competence .684 .122 5.632 .001
stereotype (Chang & Le, 2005). In effect, the majority of
Contributionof Diversity .086 .073 1.183 .241
Asian American students who excel in stereotypical Asian
activities such as STEM activities, playing string instruments

2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd and Asian Association of Social Psychology
Is STEM Running Out of Steam for Asians?
and individual sports may be disadvantaged in the admission
process for being stereotypical.
Social Competence
Although White American students were perceived to be no
more socially competent than Asian American students in
general, the stereotypical Asian American students paid a
price in terms of perceptions of social competence. While
the ratings of the three other groups hovered around 4.6 out
of 7, the stereotypical Asian American student was rated near
4.0. These findings indicate that the inclusion of counter-
stereotypical details about an Asian American applicant can
overcome negative stereotypes people may have about the
ability of Asian Americans to be sociable.
Interestingly, the ratings of the White American student
who engaged in the same activities were not similarly
affected. The negative reaction toward the stereotypical
Asian American student is likely triggered by priming the
model minority stereotype (Cuddy et al., 2007; Maddux
et al., 2008), which does not apply to White American
students. Because White American students are the majority
and likely viewed as the norm, people are probably less likely
to stereotype them and more likely to recognize the diverse
interests and personalities amongst the group.
Students who participated in counter-stereotypical Asian
American activities were perceived as more socially
competent than students who participated in stereotypical
Asian American activities. While the interaction between
student race and activity type did not reach significance, the
rating of the counter-stereotypical Asian American student
appears to be the reason for this finding. The students who
participated in counter-stereotypical Asian American
activities (e.g. student government, rock band, yearbook
photographer) are likely people who are comfortable and
effective in social situations.
Contribution of Diversity
It was found that Asian American students and students
involved in counter-stereotypical Asian activities were
perceived to contribute more diversity than White
American students and students who participated in
stereotypical Asian American activities. While the White
American students and the stereotypical Asian American
students all received similar diversity ratings (3.173.39),
the counter-stereotypical Asian American student was rated
4.41. Thus, counter-stereotypical Asian American students
may enjoy a boost in terms of the perception of the
diversity they bring to colleges. If colleges are getting large
numbers of STEM-focused Asian American applicants,
they may be drawn to Asian American students pursuing
a different path. Colleges may value students who pursue
less common pursuits because those students may be
perceived to be more genuinely interested in their activities.
2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd and Asian Association of Social Psychology
51
When large numbers of students have similar
extracurricular profiles, one may begin to suspect that they
are motivated to do these extracurricular activities because
they want to follow a path they believe leads to success
rather than pursue their true interests.
The findings contradicted the hypothesis that White
American students would be rated as bringing more
diversity to selective colleges. The hypothesis was based
on the fact that Asian Americans are over-represented in
terms of percentages at many top colleges. For instance,
while Asians only make up 5.6% of the United States
population (Asia Matters for America by the East-West
Center, n.d.), they make up 20% to 25% of the population
at Columbia, MIT and Duke (CollegeData College Profile,
n.d.). Even though Asian Americans may be
overrepresented in terms of percentage, their absolute
numbers in top colleges are still generally far below those
of White Americans. When thinking about diversity, the
admission officers may have focused on these raw numbers
rather than percentages. In addition, while Asian Americans
may be overrepresented at many colleges, they are a small
presence at many other selective schools. We had originally
wanted to factor in the percentage of Asian Americans
enrolled at an admissions officers home institution into
the analysis, but unfortunately were unable to do so because
so many of the respondents did not report the racial
breakdown of their student bodies.
Academic Competence
As predicted, White American students were perceived to be
better than Asian American students in terms of academic
competence although only marginally so. Although this
finding did not reach statistical significance, it might with a
larger sample. The direction of this finding aligns with
previous literature (Espenshade & Radford, 2009;
Espenshade et al., 2004) and suggests that there may be a
higher standard for Asian Americans academically in the
college admission process.
Contrary to the hypothesis, there was no difference in
academic competence found between students who
participated in counter-stereotypical Asian activities and
students who participated in stereotypical Asian activities.
Additionally, there was no interaction found between race
and activity type. Thus, the hypothesis that the
counter-stereotypical Asian American student would be
perceived to have a higher level of academic competence
was not supported. This finding suggests that college
admission officers do not connect the activities a student
participates in with academic competence and that
participating in intellectual clubs such as math and science
clubs may not enhance perceptions of intelligence and
academic competence.
52
Conclusion
Unlike most research in this field, this study shows a
causeeffect relationship due to the use of an experimental
design. In particular, it is the first in the field to provide
experimental evidence that admission officers have
negative perceptions against a certain type of Asian
American student in the college admission process.
Additionally, it is also the first to examine the impact of
counter-stereotypical information on the perceptions of
Asian Americans.
However, because there are many more aspects to the
college application process than were included in the
materials sent to the admissions officers, the external
generalizability of the study is limited. Another limitation
of this study is the low response rate; it could be that the
admissions officers who agreed to participate in the
experiment do not represent the larger pool of people
working in admissions.
The present study focused on the role of the model
minority stereotype on perceptions of Asian American
college applicants. One possible extension of the work would
be to see whether having counter-stereotypical interests
similarly disadvantages Asian Americans in other arenas
such as the workplace. Another fertile area for expansion lies
in the finding that Asian Americans in general were
perceived as having performed worse academically than
identical White Americans due to a higher standard for Asian
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occur in non-academic domains such as the job market.
Additionally, this design did not include a female applicant
and exploring any biases that may exist against female Asian
American applicants would be valuable to study. It would
also be interesting to examine whether counter-stereotypes
may benefit Asian Americans in other domains such as
graduate school admissions or the job market. Lastly, it
would be beneficial to explore how counter-stereotypes
may affect other minority groups. As previous research has
suggested that counter-stereotypes benefit perceptions of
negatively stereotyped groups, it would be interesting to
examine how counter-stereotypes may affect the likability
of groups such as African Americans and Latinos.
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