Admissions brochures at colleges across the country often present unique members of their student bodies to attract diverse applicants — including UNC’s.
Elena Hunt, a Native American sophomore, was featured in a UNC admissions brochure sent to high school seniors last summer. She said when she was an applicant, she was inspired by Facebook pictures of Native American students at UNC.
“Speaking from my perspective as a minority student, there weren’t many examples of people going to college who are Native American,” she said. “It wasn’t like I had to have diversity, but I was able to see people who are Native Americans at Carolina making it, so it was kind of like I can do it too.”
But according to a sociology study performed by researchers at Augsburg College and Rice University, on average, black and Asian people are overrepresented in college admissions brochures, while Hispanic and other non-white minorities are underrepresented.
Ashley Memory, UNC senior assistant director of undergraduate admissions, said the admissions office selects students recommended by faculty and staff — they do not try to make the brochures match student body demographics.
“We don’t try to do, ‘Here’s everybody at Carolina,’” she said. “We try to present pictures of students are appealing and friendly.
“(It’s) because Carolina has great students, and we have such rich diversity here that I’m able to get the diversity you see just from asking for recommendations.”
When looking at two brochures UNC mailed to high school juniors and seniors last summer, a The Daily Tar Heel analysis estimated that 71.4 percent of photographed students were white, 13.1 percent were black, 10.7 percent were Asian and 4.8 percent were other nonwhite minorities.
In fall 2013, UNC’s student body was 65.9 percent white, 8.5 percent black, 8.8 percent Asian and 16.7 percent other nonwhite minorities.