For almost all of us getting into a good university is very difficult and nothing angers a person more than feeling that he or she was deserving of getting into the school of their dreams and end up getting rejected. The definition of affirmative action according to dictionary.com is "the encouragement of increased representation of women and minority group members." The author of the comic strip is promoting the idea that when we do not get get into a school that we want to go to, it is easy to shift the blame on what is an easy target. To white people this would be affirmative action. There are many factors that go into an admissions decision, but when we don't get the result we intended to get we point to what is different from us instead of swallowing our pride and putting the blame on ourselves.

The title of the comic strip is called Admissions and is just one panel. The author does this to show that this is a very straightforward comic that you do not have to look very deep into. Everything that is there is there. There are six characters in the comic and they are labeled as, the daughter of the alum, the son of the big donor, the soccer player, raised in a different state, minority, and didn't get in. The comic is in black and white, so everyone looks white, but you can tell the minority is black because the label given to him. The character who did not get in points to the minority and whines, "It's his fault!" indicating that the minority is the sole reason he did not get in to the school. The didn't get in character is wrong with his claim for a number of reasons.

There are many factors that go into an admissions process so putting all blame on the minority is false and isn't fair. The comic indicates that the son of the big donor probably paid his way to get into school. The girl that was raised out of state probably got in because she has to pay out of state tuition. The soccer player got into the school because he plays soccer which generates money for the school. The daughter of the alum got in because her parents paid to go there, therefore she has a legacy of subscribers in her family to the school. All of these these people except the minority have one thing in common: how they generate money for the school. The minority represents diversity to the school so there is no incentive to give extra money to the school because he helps polish the image of it. The comic never shows someone who got in that was labeled as a genius because even a brilliant student does not generate money for the school, at least not in the short term. Maybe the student didn't get in because he had nothing to offer the school that was not out of the ordinary. Nonetheless the student who did not get in can't see firsthand that someone is a big donor to the school, or that someone has a legacy, or even from out of state. The only thing he can see is the color of the skin on the minority making it easiest for him to complain about affirmative action.

Another is an interesting takeaway from this comic. Everyone except the soccer player and the guy who did not get is wearing a backpack or carrying a book. This is interesting because those items represent those kids are intelligent so even though those students had certain advantages to getting into the school, they still had to earn acceptance. It may have been slightly easier for them, but by no means was it a given thing that they would get in to the school. 

The soccer player is a very intriguing figure. He has no books with him which indicates that he probably is not as smart as the other students and most likely got in on his talent as a soccer player. The author is taking a shot at all universities and how they value athletics over education. Sports is a big industry for colleges and for some schools it generates more money than anything else in the university so when it comes to admissions, schools tend to be more lenient on athlete than any other applicant. If there's a character that didn't get in should blame it should be the soccer player more than anyone. Neither of them have books in their hands which shows that both characters are probably below average students for the school, but the didn't get in character has nothing to offer for the school and the soccer player does. 

All of these characters have something to offer to the school except the student who didn't get in, which is sad in a sense. The only thing we should be offering the school is our hard work and dedication over the next four years, not how we can generate more money for it. It should be the school that offers us opportunity, and it does, but it comes at a price that should not be part of the equation. It should not be what we can do for the school, but rather what the school can for us.

The most logical reason that the character did not get in to the school is the most obvious reason: he was simply not smart. By blaming the minority that he got rejected proves that he was not smart enough to go to that school. It can be so difficult for people to put the blame on themselves, that we lose sight of prideful we become. I don't if the character who didn't get in is a racist, but I do know that when he doesn't get what he wants, he evolves into a racist. To avoid becoming like that people need to learn how to take responsibility and admit that they simply did not work hard enough to get what they wanted. That guy has no one to blame but himself for his failure. It's perfectly normal to be frustrated, but when people started pointing to everyone but themselves it shows a lack of character and humility. The admissions process is not perfect by any means, but like it or not applicants must prove their worth to the school and that is didn't get in failed because he is worthless. The moral of the comic is to take responsibility for your actions and if you work hard the right way, you will eventually succeed.     

