The book, titled Almost Black, will describe how, between 1998 and 1999, its author, an Indian American, "shaved my head, trimmed my long Indian eyelashes, and applied to medical school as a black man".

Chokalingam was motivated to commit the fraud by the fact that he had a relatively low Grade Point Average of 3.1. Suspecting that certain US universities were employing affirmative action and positively discriminating in favour of candidates with an African American background, he decided to "test" his theory by rebranding himself as a black man.

As well as shaving his head and trimming his lashes, Chokalingam also applied to colleges using his middle name, Jojo (his parents were inspired by the African American basketball player Jo Jo White) and emphasised the fact that he had spent time in Nigeria as a child in interviews.

According to his website, as a "black" candidate with a 3.1 GPA, Chokalingam was considered by medical schools including Harvard, Pennsylvania and Columbia, and was eventually accepted by St Louis University in Missouri. He later dropped out, after changing his mind about pursuing a career in medicine, and now works (in a somewhat ironic twist) as a resume writer and graduate school application consultant. He has made it clear that he lied only about his race: all other details on his application were correct.

The website Buzzfeed has pointed out that Chokalingam has not clarified whether or not he first applied to colleges using his real racial identity, or whether all his applications were made as an African American. Therefore, while Chokalingam asserts that he most likely would have been rejected had he applied as an Indian American, there is no direct evidence for this.

Another website, Reappropriate, has also indicated that the writer may well have been accepted by St Louis regardless of his ethnicity. While his GPA was lower than the average score achieved by those with a place at the university, other factors – Chokalingam's academic record showed that his low GPA was improving, for instance – may have been taken into account.