Race: A Social Construct?

A few weeks ago, the grade took the PSAT. Before starting the test, we were instructed to fill out information and answer questions about ourselves. In one box, the test asked you to fill in a bubble if you were African American and wanted to be considered for the National Achievement Scholarship Program. I thought that was ludicrous; if the PSAT has replaced the phrase African American with "Caucasian", chaos would ensue. People would label that racist, and claim that Caucasians are given more rights than African Americans. But when they write this, no one says a word.

The Scholarship mentioned above (CollegeBoard)

The other day in class we were talking about the parallels of slavery from the past to the present. But when I think of slavery over time, parallels don't come to my mind, rather contrasts. Back then whites were given far more opportunities than the enslaved, as they had a better chance at education and jobs. It seems to me that the opposite may go for today. Colleges are looking for diversity, and asking for African Americans to be considered for a scholarship program only for African Americans.

In an interview I read, Pilar Ossorio, a professor at Wisconsin-Madison, states that race is a social construct. "Race, as we understand it as a social construct, has a lot to do with where somebody will live, what schools they will go to, what jobs they will get, whether or not they will have health insurance" (pbs). Is it true, that race affects our lives so much that it ultimately controls almost every factor of our life? Also on pbs, I read this today about the disadvantages of being an African American, and this man states that they may be given more opportunities in education today because whites inherit more wealth from their elders and therefore have a head start in life. But is that a good enough excuse to give them more opportunities for scholarships and advantages in education? An African American teen could be just as wealthy as a Caucasian one, but could be accepted instead merely because of his race. Should race even be considered when colleges look at applicants?