In reading up on Richard Feynman's education, I found some references that he was discriminated against in admissions because he was Jewish:
. There was also the "problem" that he was a Jew, which really was a problem in the United States at this time with universities having quotas on the number of Jews they admitted. He sat an entrance examination for Columbia University and they turned him down.
The head of the physics department there, Henry D. Smyth, had another concern, writing to Philip M. Morse to ask: "Is Feynman Jewish? We have no definite rule against Jews but have to keep their proportion in our department reasonably small because of the difficulty of placing them. Morse conceded that Feynman was indeed Jewish, but reassured Smyth that Feynman's "physiognomy and manner, however, show no trace of this characteristic"
Copied from Wikipedia. The source is "Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-40836-3. OCLC 243743850".
What were the reasons those Universities had to discriminate Jewish Students? What problematic characteristics were they speaking of?
I missed this when you posted initially but I hope this helps!