Indian Am lied to medical schools about being a Black applicant

Indian American Vijay Jojo Chokal-Ingam was admitted to the St. Louis University School of Medicine despite having a relatively low GPA and a 31 on the Medical College Admission Test, after pretending to be a Black student.

Chokal-Ingam shared on his personal website that he shaved his head, cut his eyelashes, joined a Black Student Association and went by his middle name.

He wrote in the New York Post that “I knew my odds of getting into medical school, as an Indian American, would be better if I were Black. So, being dark-skinned, I pretended I was Black — and got accepted, despite a mediocre 3.1 GPA.”

Although he dropped out of St. Louis University School of Medicine early on, he claims it allowed him to “realize that affirmative action really doesn’t really do anyone any favors. And it’s unfair to those who are excluded even though they were more deserving than those admitted on the basis of race.”

Now he is a supporter of Students for Fair Admissions, as stated on his Twitter account.

Thus, for Chokal-Ingam, the recent Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action can be considered a victory over “legalized racism”, as he calls it.

On June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Students for Fair Admissions by declaring that the affirmative action admission process of institutions such as Harvard University and the University of North Carolina is unlawful. From now on, colleges can no longer consider race as a factor in the admissions process as a way to maintain a diverse student body.

Chokal-Ingam expressed his concern in the New York Post that theoretically, universities could still continue to exercise affirmative action.

“These schools have collected tens of billions in taxpayer dollars and sent millions of rejection letters to applicants whose only fault may have been their race,” he stated.

He also believes that affirmative action encourages “negative stereotypes about the academic abilities and professional skills of African-American and Hispanic professionals,” who don’t need this advantage to compete with other minority groups.

As the self-proclaimed “affirmative action hacktivist” continues to fight for fair admissions, he is also fighting criticism along the way.

Saint Louis University has disputed Chokal-Ingam’s account, telling HuffPost that race never played a role in his admission.

Many others backed up the school by pointing out that Chokal-Ingam never applied to other schools as Indian American and therefore cannot know if his admissions were based on his act as a Black man.

Nevertheless, Chokal-Ingam continues to make his stance by helping Indian American students with unfair college admissions and promoting his book, Almost Black.

He states, “I am hopeful that this is the beginning of the end of affirmative action.”