The notion that race-conscious admissions are systematically biased against some applicants—particularly white ones—has been the rallying cry for critics for decades. And even as those critics have shifted their focus to Asian-American applicants, the perception persists that race-conscious policies perpetuate a rigged system for gaining access to higher education.

Data show, however, that even with race-conscious admission policies in place, minority students constitute only a small fraction of the student populations at some highly-selective public institutions. 

Nearly 300,000 students attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in 2015, according to Pew Research. The students at those 101 schools make up about 9 percent of black college students in the U.S. Yet past research shows that HBCUs are not always included on job recruiters’ must-visit lists, sometimes due to budgetary reasons.