Man faked ethnicity for medical school

Story highlights Vijay Chokal-Ingam says he pretended to be black to get into medical school He says the experience showed him that affirmative action is a flawed system

The revelation comes as Vijay Chokal-Ingam, who is of Indian descent, is pitching a book about his experiences as a "hard-partying college frat boy who discovered the seriousness and complexity of America's racial problems while posing as a black man."

On his website, AlmostBlack.com, Chokal-Ingam says he hatched the plan in 1998 after realizing in college that his grades weren't going to be good enough to get into med school as an Indian-American.

"So, I shaved my head, trimmed my long Indian eyelashes, and applied to medical school as a black man," he wrote on the website. "My change in appearance was so startling that my own fraternity brothers didn't recognize me at first."

Actress Mindy Kaling's brother says his sister isn't happy with his plans for a book about affirmative action.

He says he joined an organization for black students and applied to schools using his middle name, JoJo.

The plan had some drawbacks, said Chokal-Ingam, who describes himself now as a "professional resume writer, interview coach, and graduate school application consultant."

"Cops harassed me. Store clerks accused me of shoplifting. Women were either scared of me or couldn't keep their hands off me," he wrote. "What started as a devious ploy to gain admission to medical school turned into a twisted social experiment."

But, he says, it worked. Despite a relatively mediocre 3.1 college grade-point average and a score of 31 on the Medical College Admission Test, he says, he was wooed by a number of top medical schools.

He eventually attended Saint Louis University Medical School, dropping out after two years.

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Man faked ethnicity for medical school

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