Julia is a smart girl, Latinx, and of limited means. These are factors that could work in her favor in the college application process. Is that fair? Should she not take advantage of that to get an education while satisfying a “diversity” statistic for an

Julia is subjected to her seven-year-old cousin’s birthday party. The highlight is seeing her cousins’ cousin Freddy, who graduated from the University of Illinois and is an engineer. He asks about college, and Julia tells him she’s working on her GPA. “Well, listen, if you ever need help with your applications or have any questions, please let us know. We need more people like you in college,” Freddy says. Julia thinks, “I don’t know what Freddy means by people like me…What am I like? Why would anyone care if I go to college or not?” (p. 81).