Previous research finds a positive relationship between whites’ trust in government and their attitudes toward affirmative action. However, it remains unknown whether trust in selective universities, which are responsible for designing and implementing college admissions policies, affects Chinese Americans’ policy preferences. This chapter addresses this under-researched question by examining what contributes to their institutional trust and its effect on policy preferences. Drawing on interviews with 35 Chinese Americans, it finds that their institutional trust was not only shaped by perceptions of the valence and fairness of admissions outcomes, but also by the perceptions of the extent to which institutions had lived up to their stated commitments, such as ensuring access, fostering diversity, and exercising oversight over the admissions process. Meanwhile, they cared about the admissions process as much as about institutional performance. Transparency and fairness in the admissions process as well as the quality of interpersonal treatment and communication were all factors influencing their institutional trust. Even though institutional trust is a somewhat less significant predictor of their attitudes toward affirmative action, it implies that admissions preferences for specific social groups, including legacies, recruited athletes, out-of-state and international students, and underrepresented minority groups, discouraged them from fully trusting selective universities.