Mindy Kaling's brother claims he pretended to be black to get into medical school

Vijay Chokal-Ingam, the older brother of sitcom star Mindy Kaling, claims that he pretended to be black in order to get into medical school. The 38-year-old plans on releasing a book and says that his famous sister doesn’t approve of him coming forward.

Last week, Chokal-Ingam came forward on Twitter. He set up a site called AlmostBlack.com, where he posted documentation to prove his claim, showing that he was accepted to St. Louis University.

Chokal-Ingam wrote that he didn’t have the best test scores to get into medical school after his junior year in college. He had a 3.1 GPA and believed that, as an Indian American, he would not get into a medical school. So, he shaved his head and even trimmed his “long Indian eyelashes” and applied to schools as an African American. He then joined the Organization of Black Students and started using his middle name, Jojo.

When he applied to medical schools as an African American affirmative action student, he suddenly got interest from Harvard, Columbia and other schools. He had interviews at 11 schools in nine cities.

While he got accepted to St. Louis University Medical School, he dropped out after two years, since he got in with false documentation. He was later accepted into UCLA Anderson’s MBA program and graduated as an Indian American.

During an interview with The New York Post, Chokal-Ingam said he got the idea when he saw other Indian Americans struggle to get into medical school, even though they had better grades than him.

He insisted that the only part that he lied about was his race. Everything else - even the fact that he came from wealthy parents and didn’t get financial aid while at the University of Chicago - was true and he was still considered an affirmative action student.

Chokal-Ingam said that he’s coming forward now because he heard that UCLA is thinking about strengthening affirmative action policies, which he is clearly against.

“I love my sister to death,” Chokal-Ingam told the Post of his sister. “She says this will bring shame on the family.”

image of Mindy Kaling courtesy of INFphoto.com