After SCOTUS strikes down affirmative action, high school counselor shares advice for students

CATHY WURZER: It is summer vacation for students, but it's also a time when incoming high school seniors and their families are looking ahead to the next step. They may be checking out college campuses or planning for college applications. But that application process might be different at many colleges and universities after the US Supreme Court recently struck down affirmative action in admissions.

Now this ruling won't affect every institution. Schools in the Minnesota state system, for example, already were not considering race in admissions. But the University of Minnesota and some private colleges will have to change their processes to comply with the ruling.

Our next guest works at the very front of this issue as a high school counselor for the Lesueur Henderson Secondary School. Jessica Kirschner also just finished serving as a Vice President of the Minnesota School Counselors Association.

Jessica, welcome to the program.

JESSICA KIRSCHNER: Thank you so much, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Well, I'm curious about what was the buzz among your colleagues at the School Counselors Association when the Supreme Court ruling came down.

JESSICA KIRSCHNER: Yeah. You know, there was kind of a lot of conversation just about how it's going to change our jobs and how we counsel students into the college admissions process, applications, and all those things.

So some things are still kind of up in the air, because incoming seniors are just starting to work on that now. So trying to get ahead of it a little bit and see what might be changing and what might stay the same.

CATHY WURZER: A lot of things are changing. I mean, the admissions process has changed in recent years, with some schools relying less on standardized tests. So any idea of how this change could affect the students you're working with?

JESSICA KIRSCHNER: Sure. So hopefully, my hope is that we're not going to see a whole lot of change. I did have an opportunity to reach out to Brian Jones, who is the Director of Admissions at Minnesota State University Mankato, just to kind of see what he's been hearing, because he's also on the forefront, just on the other side. And the hope is the students themselves are not going to see a whole lot of changes.

But I think the biggest concern is, are students now going to be afraid to apply or they think that they're not going to be college material because of the perception that they might be judged, or their applications might be put in differently? The hope is that's not going to be the case.

And I think one of the good things with COVID was in college admissions, a lot of schools did go away from putting so much emphasis on the standardized tests and are moving away from that. And I think that helped level the playing field, in many aspects, for a lot of students. So one barrier is gone. Now we're still kind of working to see how this might impact.

The biggest thing, I think, is where we don't know is maybe some of those more highly selective schools and private schools, how this is going to make their admissions process different.

CATHY WURZER: I hear from some of my young friends who are getting ready to go to college that the essays make them really nervous, which would make anybody nervous, obviously. But the ruling that came down from the US Supreme Court says that students can still write about their racial identity as part of their essays, but the schools can't use the essays to reinstate affirmative action programs. So what are you telling students about these essays?

JESSICA KIRSCHNER: Yeah. That was a little kind of tricky to decipher, because there's so much gray in there. Because so many of the things that make students themselves are going to be some of those factors, where they might be a first generation student. They might have socioeconomic status that has prevented them from hiring tutors and getting the multiple things that they need to help them be successful.

I still plan on encouraging my students to use those things that make their situation unique into college essays, because that's part of them. It's part of their story and it's important. And the same thing for scholarships and those things. What sets you apart? What makes you different?

And I think that the biggest onus is going to fall on the admissions officers to see what they can use and what not they can't use, because I don't want any student to feel like there's some part of them that they can't use that would maybe help them in the college admissions process.

CATHY WURZER: So you mentioned that you talked to the Mankato-- I always still call it Mankato State, sorry about that.

JESSICA KIRSCHNER: That's OK.

CATHY WURZER: Kind of dates me, I guess. But when it comes to getting their processes together, the Minnesota State University system doesn't use affirmative action, right. So other schools do. Is there any timeline? Did he give you any idea of the timeline that some schools are looking to to make any changes?

JESSICA KIRSCHNER: Not really. I know on their end of things it's going to be a work in progress. Brian is also part of the Minnesota Association of College Admissions Counselors. And on their level of things statewide, I know that there's discussions happening.

But then there's also a National Association of College Admissions Counselors. And I did peek on their website last week and they did put out a statement. So I think the sense that I'm getting is they're still looking at students first and what's going to help students the best, because that's why we're all doing what we do. So I know that there's conversations happening, but still kind of trying to firm up what those admissions processes are going to look like for those schools and institutions who did use affirmative action.

CATHY WURZER: What is the biggest help to get students from underrepresented backgrounds into college, if they so choose to attend?

JESSICA KIRSCHNER: I think the biggest thing is just to make sure that they know what their options are. Sometimes that's the biggest hurdle, especially when maybe they didn't have parents who attended college or older siblings. I think the biggest hurdle is just knowing what's out there and then navigating the system and making those connections.

I know there was a student I was working with this year that we were able to make sure that language was not a barrier for him and is enrolling into college next year, because he's a very intelligent student but just didn't know what the options were. So just things like that, and kind of looking at each student individually and knowing what their needs might be, because you don't know what you don't know. And if you don't know it's an option for you, you're not even going to look in that direction past high school.

CATHY WURZER: And by the way, there's only one of you and there's a lot of kids. How is your workload?

JESSICA KIRSCHNER: You know, I am very fortunate. I work in a rural school and we just had a graduating class of about 80, and that's a pretty typical size. So I feel very lucky where my caseload is pretty manageable. But I do have a lot of peers and colleagues in other schools where their numbers are high and getting higher. And I know that at times they can be overwhelmed, especially those that have 400 seniors on their caseload that they're trying to get out the door. So some days are better than others and we just all do the best we can.

CATHY WURZER: Exactly. I appreciate your time, Jessica. Thank you so much.

JESSICA KIRSCHNER: Thank you. I'm so glad that we're having these conversations. And as school counselors, it's important to get these issues on the air and talked about. So we really appreciate it.

CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. That was Lesueur Henderson Secondary School counselor Jessica Kirschner.

By the way, I did ask Jessica about what are colleges doing in terms of timelines. Tomorrow on Angela's show, at 9:00 in the morning, you can hear from leaders of Minnesota's colleges about their plans after the ruling.