The paper provides an overview of research on Asian and Pacific American (APA) undergraduates at U.S. institutions, focusing on the origins, assumptions, and fallacies of the "model minority" image. In addition, it offers highlights from a recent campus survey that suggests that APA students perceive their university experience differently from majority students. The first section of the paper reviews the literature on the model minority, looking at the origins of the term, problems inherent in the image, and empirical evidence that challenges the myth. The second section of the paper presents the results of a survey of graduating seniors (n=1,300) at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor conducted in l996. The study asked undergraduates about their university experience, whether they perceived they had made progress in various educational and personal development areas, how they perceived the campus climate, and what their level of satisfaction with the academic experience was. The results suggested that APA students reported a different academic undergraduate experience; they reported a lesser gain in important skills and abilities, were less satisfied with key facets of the academic experience, and perceived the academic climate to be less favorable. Four data tables present results of the student survey. (Contains 22 references.) (CH)