A Nov. 11 Wall Street Journal article by Daniel Golden—a 2004 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his series of articles exposing the huge admissions advantages afforded to privileged white students—exposed what might appear to be another disturbing college admissions trend. Some analyses of standardized test scores show that Asian-American applicants, on average, must attain higher scores to snag admission to some of the nation’s most desirable schools. But these statistics, while initially disturbing, are the result of a just and well intentioned system of affirmative action in college admissions. That system should not be abandoned in the face of harsh numbers.

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Yet the numbers are startling. A study by the Center for Equal Opportunity found that Asian-American applicants to selective colleges have significantly higher test scores than applicants of other races. For example, in 2005, the median test score for Asian students offered admission to the University of Michigan was 50 points higher than the median score for white students, 140 points higher than Hispanic students, and 240 points higher than black students. (The SAT used a 1600-point scale at the time.)

This comparison yields figures worthy of pause. It suggests the existence of an implicit quota on the numbers of Asian-American students at some schools. (Asian-Americans make up about 4.5 percent of the nation’s population, but only 10 percent to 30 percent of students at elite U.S. universities.) But there are two reasons why the score gap is not as startling as it should seem. First, the nature of affirmative action exaggerates the differences in measures of academic success for which it is trying to correct. For instance, students of color, who tend to be poorer, average lower SAT scores than wealthier students. Their lower SAT scores perhaps indicate a lack of opportunity to succeed academically, because of their financial circumstances, more than they suggest an academic deficiency.

Second, quantifiable academic criteria, especially SAT scores, are not the sole criteria for college admissions. Colleges are first and foremost academic institutions, but when a college chooses each new class, it does so with the knowledge that not everybody who graduates will be launched into an academic career. A college such as Harvard is searching for students who will be leaders in all spheres of the world, and that search requires picking applicants from all walks of life. Moreover, colleges seek to balance their classes with students of all backgrounds, which is difficult to do if some minorities are not sufficiently represented.

Colleges, then, are right to forgive some students’ lower scores. Leadership qualities, extracurricular involvement, achievement outside of the classroom, and raw demographics are factors that are key in evaluating every applicant. When the numbers are tabulated, a few snapshots of the data will look extreme, but this is no reason to flee from a worthy process.