Mindy Kaling’s Brother becomes Black to get into Medical School

Mindy Kaling’s Brother Vijay transformed himself into an African American student to get into medical school whilst he never completed studying medicine, he uncovered the greatest racial ploy in the US

What was it like back in 1999 when Vijay Chokal Ingam had 3.1 GPA and 31 on his MCAT score and there was no chance that he was getting into medical school, not as an Indian American that is.

Vijay, a son of an Indian immigrant and the brother of the current Indian-American star Mindy Kaling, cracked a scheme of his own. He found out that the admission criteria for African American students at that time were ‘less stringent’. 

So Mindy Kaling’s brother shaved his head, he trimmed down his eyebrows and propagated his embarrassing childhood middleman Jojo to pass as an African American student. He even joined the Organization of Black Students and even his own fraternity brothers couldn’t recognize him. 

It worked for him. He was called on for interviews with his transformation as a strong contender at prestigious medical schools including Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Emory University School of Medicine and Columbia University.

Jojo chose to attend the Saint Louis University’s School of Medicine and claiming his right to use his ploy as an attack on affirmative action laws. He dropped out two years later and never finished med school. Mindy Kaling’s brother however had a few revelations to make before unraveling his little scheme, he admitted that as an African American student, he faced police harassment, being accused of shoplifting and being a grab toy or an offence to the women.

He said that he took it for two years until he couldn’t anymore. He said he was being discriminated against and it was high time he spoke up against people discriminating against him. He attended business school in University of California in L.A. where he identified himself as an Indian American.

He later came about his, what he calls his ‘twisted little social experiment’; saying his intentions orchestrating it was to openly criticize affirmative action and speak out against systems of “legalized racism.” Mindy Kaling’s brother hopes that his actions have played a role in social change and opposition to affirmative action racism.