Affirmative Action Struck Down - Do I have a better chance at H/S?

No you idiot - colleges can’t check the box and ask your race but admissions officers will still find ways to identify the race of candidates. How do they do this? Easy - URMs often participate in student clubs that culturally focused, there are URM focused academic societies, URM focus social programs. URMs often also mention something about their culture in their background / personal statements (or at least they will now be advised to make that clear).

That doesn’t matter for admissions councils like UNC because they will ignore that anyway, but for elite universities like Harvard that have made this a core part of their admissions principles - it will still have the effect. These admissions officer can very easily read between the lines, or at the worst - google a kid’s name and school to find a photo of them online (that’s the reality of applying to college now vs. the 1970’s). If a kid is qualified to apply to Harvard, they will be present somewhere online for being stellar in their town.

What does this change for you, non-URM applicant? Nothing. At schools that have proclaimed this matters to them, they will find ways to admit URM students - they just can’t have an explicit numbers quota, which I actually support. Why? Because now rich, elite URMs who have actually struggled much less than the poor white farmer from Appalachia can’t just check the box and get in. URMs who get in have always needed to be stellar, but admissions will have to be more intentional to read where being URM has potentially significantly affected their potential, or truly defines their drive / intentions / values. This only shows in the essays.

I will admit that I was supportive of affirmative action, but interestingly enough I am fine with this decision. Simply enough because I believe there’s no actual scientific way to prove the only way someone was admitted to a university was based on race. Harvard could admit 10 classes of perfect SAT / GPA students, and it would be a boring school (Hi MIT and Caltech). Harvard admits Athletes (many URMs at these schools fall into this bucket mind you), Rich legacy kids (being rich does not mean you are special - most likely average, but hey gotta keep up the harvard brand right), children of faculty and staff, etc. School admissions were never about pure meritocracy, and in any objectively social setting - pure meritocracy does not exist.

Apply and hope for the best. If you don’t get in, sorry - you will live like the rest of us and be very successful if you are as hungry and special as you think you are!