Conservatives hailed the Supreme Court’s decision in early June to overturn affirmative action as a win for meritocracy and high schoolers knee-deep in college admissions. But over a month after the ruling, most education experts say it was a “rhetorical” victory rather than a substantive one.

Top college prep instructors like Andy Lockwood think that elite schools will continue to implement affirmative action practices — just at a private, decentralized level. …

“It’s anyone’s guess just ‘how’ diverse colleges will be in 2024-25,” Lockwood writes on his blog. “My gut feeling is that admissions officers will come up with creative ways to continue to recruit underrepresented minorities and ethnicities, and things won’t look that much different.”