Meerabelle Jesuthasan | What Kind of Diversity?

There is a daily flight from Qatar to Philadelphia that, on a particular weekend in January, is brimming with Penn students. Apparently, a fair number of Penn’s international diversity quota flies Qatar Airways, and it’s not the cheapest flight either. This just goes to show that no matter how many nationalities we collectively represent, there are similarities in many of our stories reveal an odd discrepancy. The contemporary tropes of International Baccalaureate scores and Radian apartments, of Western-tinted accents and Castle rushees, point to some kind of unspoken acceptance of the fact that nowadays, international Penn students just tend to be wealthier.

Unlike for American applicants, admission for internationals is needs-aware, meaning that applying for financial aid is a hindrance. So if we look at it socioeconomically, Penn’s international “diversity” isn’t as great as it claims. And as economic inequalities grow worldwide, the effect that this has isn’t just internal — it contributes to fostering advantages for children from privileged, “worldly” families without offering much for others. If trying to smooth out class differences in Ivy League admissions is already hard enough with American students, the effort is practically nonexistent with international students. Likewise, the values of diversity and equal opportunity that Penn claims in its admissions process are also lost.

I know that there is a lot to untangle here — issues of national duty, resources, outreach. But what I’m arguing about is the lack of discussion in the first place. We are currently seeing a rise of economic disparity, and a globalized expatriate culture that is decidedly Western-centric in nature. The financial barrier, among others, means that the pool of applicants is significantly diminished, and within that pool, the diversity of class and education is close to nonexistent.

Think international school, third culture kid or growing up in an expat community. These are relatively new identity markers, yet they are quickly becoming the distinguishing features of an international elite that is aided not least by their significant advantage when it comes to applying to university in the United States. A lot of expats have similar stories and if they aren’t expats, then they are at least in the upper social rungs of their society, which provides a similar experience.

It isn’t as if every aspect of application for international students has to be determined by finance. The SAT is a major player — if SAT scores are almost totally correlative with income in the US, this is probably even more true abroad where spending money to become familiar with this strange American learning system is even more necessary. Making the SAT mandatory for international students is a huge barrier to those who don’t have the resources to take it, who don’t go to schools where preparing yourself to go abroad after high school is a given. This is just one example of an instance where those in systems familiar to the US admissions process (usually international) have a clear advantage.

This is definitely not every international student, but there’s a reason it resonates with so many of us. This is something we should be questioning when the issue of diversity is more pressing than ever, while simultaneously, globalism and top international schools mean that the internationals best poised to apply to top universities are from similar backgrounds. The meaning of “diversity” is shifting. People are arguing for criteria that looks beyond race and gender, that consider income or political affiliation. At every level, there seems to be some level of discussion about how to cultivate fruitful differences.

And yet, the same kind of conversation has not yet erupted in the same way when it comes to international admissions.. If Penn is being honest about valuing international students not only as future investments but also as contributors to a varied student body, something needs to change. As the Huntsman program and its half foreign class proves, it’s not as if the University doesn’t understand the value of internationalism. This probably isn’t what the overall campus should reflect, but it shows that there is a benefit to true diversity that Penn recognizes.

By pursuing this policy as if there are no alternatives, Penn is contributing to the construction of a privileged international elite, and also passing by the opportunity to create a real type of diversity that is possible with international applicants. These issues in admission always lead to difficult questions. But it’s time we start asking those questions about international applicants, too.

Meerabelle Jesuthasan is a College freshman essentially from Singapore, studying English and Cognitive Science. Her email address is jesum@sas.upenn.edu. “You Speak English?” usually appears every Monday.

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