Indian American Vijay Ingam opens up on how he pretended to be Black to get admission in medical college

Recently, Mindy Kaling's brother Vijay Jojo Chokal Ingam opened up about why he had to scam his way through a medical college by checking ‘BLACK’ on the race identity section.

A BA in Economics student at the University of Chicago, Vijay Jojo Chokal Ingam used to earn a 3.1 GPA and his chances to get to an American medical college were really low.

However, Vijay, who was determined to get admission into one of the famous colleges, eventually scammed his way in.

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He checked in as ‘BLACK’ on the race identity section in his medical school applications.

"I got into Saint Louis University School of Medicine despite the fact that my 3.1 GPA was dramatically lower than the average 3.7 at the time. I got waitlisted at Washington University and the University of Pennsylvania School, the third and fourth best medical schools in America at the time,” Vikay said, according to The Quint website.

“I shaved my head. I trimmed my long Indian eyelashes. I joined the organisation of Black students and I applied to medical schools as a Black man,” he said.

Later, he found it very difficult coping up with his studies and dropped out.

Then he went on to write a book, Almost Black, describing the fraud he committed during his college days.

Vijay then described how his sister Mindy was unhappy with him sharing the story of the scam he made.

“Of course, my sister Mindy Kaling jokingly said that I would bring shame on the family by telling my story,” Vijay said.

Of dropping out of the school, Vijay wrote in an article for New York Post, “That made me realise that affirmative action really doesn’t really do anyone any favours. And it’s unfair to those who are excluded even though they were more deserving than those admitted on the basis of race.”

Later in the month of June, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action programmes at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. The court ruled that the universities breached the 14th Amendment and federal civil rights law.

The decision made by the court further ended the practice of undisguised racial consideration in higher education admissions, making it mandatory for the colleges to not consider race as a factor in the admissions process in an attempt to ensure there is a diverse student body.

“After the decision, colleges and universities displayed a range of reactions — from reluctant acceptance to outright defiance,” Vijay said. “More than a 100 colleges and universities, including the entire Ivy League, had filed amicus briefs backing Harvard and University of North Carolina’s admission practices, which the court now deemed discriminatory.”

“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 added.

“The sad reality is that discrimination in the form of affirmative action hurts Asian Americans specifically including South Asians the worst. For example, someone who applied to medical school with a very mediocre 3.1 GPA and 31 MCAT score had an 18 percent chance as Asian, 28 percent as white, 46 percent as Hispanic and 76 percent as African American,” he said.

"Believe it or not, Asian Americans are the hardest hurt by affirmative action racism,” he added. “Not just the top-ranked Universities discriminate against Asian Americans but also the lower ranked universities.”

“What do you call it when you segregate applicants based on race?’’ Vijay previously said, according to New York Post. “It’s a form of legalised racism. It’s the ultimate form of discrimination to assume that one is disadvantaged just because he’s black, Hispanic or Native American."

Vijay then said that he is hopeful that affirmative action will finally come to an end.

“I’m encouraged not only by the Supreme Court’s ruling, but by the successful 2020 effort (in which I participated) to defeat California’s Prop. 16, which sought to allow affirmative action at California state institutions, including my beloved alma mater, UCLA,” he said.

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