The College Board emailed families yesterday notifying them of three National Recognition Awards, which students could be eligible for starting in 2025.
Two of the awards have been around for several years: Rural/Small Town Recognition Award and First-Generation Recognition Award. The third award is new: School Recognition Award. Noticeably absent are the three racial/ethnic awards that have been available for years: National Recognition Award for Black Students, Hispanic Students, and Native American/Indigenous Students.
A new FAQ was added, presumably yesterday, to the College Board website: "Why did College Board make changes to the program in 2025?" They explain that the racial/ethnic awards were eliminated because of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2023 ending affirmative action and the "complex and evolving legal and regulatory environment" which has "reduced the value of these awards."
While the ruling on affirmative action occurred nearly two years ago, the Department of Education warned colleges in February 2025 to stop all diversity efforts. More recently, though, federal judges in two states ruled that the Department of Education cannot enforce its warning. Colleges are not out of the woods yet. Few, if any, colleges have addressed how race will be evaluated moving forward in the admissions process since the latest attack.
RELATED READING: Mind Your P's and Diversity "Cues"
Students in the Class of 2026 are still unclear whether they should write about their race in their essays, list activities/awards that relate to their racial/ethnic backgrounds, or provide any indication of their backgrounds in their application. It is revealing, but not surprising, that colleges have not made a public statement about race and admissions. Yet, the College Board, arguably the most influential entity impacting college admissions, has made a significant statement by eliminating all of its racial/ethnic awards.
As the school year ends, many rising seniors will start writing essays and filling out applications. Students need to know from colleges how race will be evaluated in the admissions process. Will colleges redact racial references from a student's essay before an admissions officer reads it? Will racially-based activities and honors be redacted as well? These questions demand answers as students need to know how to present themselves in applications.
Without guidance from colleges, I am recommending to my students to avoid writing essays about their racial or ethnic backgrounds unless we get clearer policies from colleges. It's one thing for a college to block or ignore a student's activity or award that references race; it's an entirely different thing if a college dismisses or decimates a student's essay by removing any reference that could reveal their background.
READ MORE: 5 Things I'm Ranting, Ahem, Thinking About in College Admissions Right Now
Let me be clear, though, admissions officers make assumptions about a student's race or culture by the student's name, parents' names, parents' educational backgrounds, zip code, high school, and other identifiers. That's the thing about race and culture. They are hard to erase. That might be the only "recognition" we can all agree on.
