Imagine that you had applied to Harvard, you sent your application and after working hard all your high school years just trying to keep your grade point average at a 4.0 and to make a fifteen hundred on your SAT. Then imagine a letter comes in the mail for you from Harvard. This letter says that you have not been accepted from the college only so that Harvard can fill your spot with someone who has a 3.8 grade point average and a fourteen- eighty on their SAT. How would you feel? Affirmative action is a way for schools to chose their students based on the applicants race, gender, or where the applicant comes from. Affirmative action is wrong and acceptance to schools should be based on academic grading and not race.
Affirmative action is said to be a tool used to make sure that universities stay diverse and no one actually feels like a minority. This may sound like a good idea but think about the minorities that receive this acceptance. Would you be offended if you received help because of your race? The color of your skin should not determine how smart you are of how rich or poor are you. However in “In California, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Texas, non-Hispanic whites are the minority. Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, and New York will soon join them” (http://www.asianam.org/statistics%20reverse.htm) So when colleges say that minorities are being given extra points on their admissions, what exactly do they mean? These schools are being unfair and racist to their applicants. When are people considered a minority?
Although, not all minorities are poor and live in unfortunate conditions, many minorities have good jobs that pay the bills. There are too many what-ifs to affirmative action for it to a effective way to accept applicants. Students that work hard for their grades and that deserve to get a acceptance letter should be accepted, instead of being turned down for someone who is a different race. How would you feel if you were turned down because there was someone that is a minority applied, but this person may have it better off than you but his or her grades could not compare.
There is another factor to consider, however. Dropouts. In 2007 alone, “dropout rates were twenty-eight percent of why students drop out of college was because of academic disqualification” (http://www.duck9.com/College-Student-Drop-Out-Rates.htm) Is it possible that this is because that the universities are accepting students that are not truly qualified for the school?
While some people may think that affirmative action is a good basis on accepting applicants and that this way keeps their campus diverse, they are wrong. This method is racist and sexists. The affirmative action is based on outward appearance and where the person came from rather than how hard the applicant worked to get where they are. The majority applicants are being denied the chance to go to school where they can learn and be challenged to do their best. Besides, the minorities that are accepted on the affirmative action method are having their achievements and qualifications over-looked in the application process, also while on campus, if they are accepted many of the students already accepted may think that the minority student was not accepted because of their intelligence but because of their race, and that’s wrong. If a minority worked hard and made the grade then they should be recognized for it and not for their race.

Schools should not be using affirmative action. Affirmative action is a method that has to many exceptions and what-if’s to help a community of students. The method is racist, sexist, and does not allow students to live up to their full potential. Affirmative action is wrong and acceptance to schools should be based on academic grading and not race.