A Question of Ethnicity

<p>Hello people of the internet.</p>

<p>I have a question (it may be completely stupid, mind you) about ethnicity.</p>

<p>On my mother's side, I am Indonesian, Dutch, and Chinese. Indonesian is the most prominent, however.</p>

<p>On my father's side, I am Spanish, German, Scottish, and Canadian. German is the most prominent.</p>

<p>I have strawberry blonde hair and fair skin. I also always choose "Other" or "Prefer not to answer" when standardized tests/surveys ask me for my ethnicity. (I honestly feel that ethnicity shouldn't matter for college applications and such, but that's life.)</p>

<p>My parents and HS guidance counselor have recently tried to convince me to put Spanish or Indonesian on my college applications, as they feel it may help to give me a bit of an edge and is technically correct. However, based on my looks, I don't know if this would be acceptable.</p>

<p>So, my question is: what should I put down as my ethnicity for my college applications?</p>

<p>Thanks for your help! :)</p>

<p>I don’t think Indonesian helps that much, given that it’s technically East Asian, an overrepresented minority, if anything. And you mean European Spanish, I’m guessing? Again, not that much help.</p>

<p>What is wonderful is the rich mixed background you represent. I would go ahead and check everything you think would apply and if there is a chance/need to explain talk about how such a rich background informs your view of our world. I don’t think such an approach can hurt in the least.</p>

<p>Yes, I did mean European Spanish. So, I should just put Caucasian/white on my application? Thank you!</p>

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</p>

<p>Please go to post #1 on this thread:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/641650-hispanic-latino-defined-aka-am-i-hispanic.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/641650-hispanic-latino-defined-aka-am-i-hispanic.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There you will better understand the difference between ethnicity and race, and the definition of Hispanic used by college admissions.</p>

<p>You might also want to read the two threads linked to in post #2 here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/1311583-high-income-hispanics.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/1311583-high-income-hispanics.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>For some comments about different factors of importance within the Hispanic cohort.</p>

<p>You could put all of them.</p>

<p>Put all of them and write your essay about who am I?</p>

<p>Before the OP checks any boxes or writes any essays, they need to first understand the definitions of ethnicity and race, which they clearly do not at this point.</p>

<p>essay about who i am… not a really good idea honestly, unless you have a solid anecdote that shows your favorable personality</p>

<p>Depends on the writing style and abilities. One can write a humorous essay exploring relatives from all those countries. Imagine a family get together with representation from each country.</p>

<p>Unless you are black, latino, or native American, I don’t think race really plays that much of a role in admissions.</p>

<p>OP, IMHO you should classify yourself as other or white.</p>

<p>Billy, GA and others,</p>

<p>The reason I have advised the OP to read the definitions of ethnicity, race, and Hispanic as they are used (from the US Census) for college admissions is that many of the assumptions and definitions being used on this thread are incorrect.</p>

<p>For example: </p>

<p>Latino/Hispanic is not a race, it’s an ethnicity.</p>

<p>Hispanics can be, and are, of any race(s).</p>

<p>For college admissions purposes (not necessarily for scholarships and other programs), appearance, percentage of an ethnicity or race, surname, etc. are not factors in what race or ethnicity you are.</p>

<p>My understanding is that colleges feel that which boxes you check are a matter of how you “self identify”, regardless of race, ethnicity, skin color, last name, hair color, percentages in your background, etc.
And yes, there is a certain amount of “the honor system” involved in this, as no one is asked to submit family trees or generic testing results.</p>

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</p>

<p>Yes, except that race and/or ethnicity are the qualities one is self-identifying about and so should not be on your list of extraneous attributes.</p>

<p>many people game the system, if it does not bother you morally then do it! if it helps is another question, because when you show up for an interview(and see you) they will see you as dishonest.
google elizabeth warren, she is running for senate in MA and she has run into a lot of embarassement for a similar thing (although she was actually kind of lying to put it nicely) although before that it helped her ride the express train at harvard.</p>

<p>the essay idea is probably lame IMO, because it is super played out, and the reviewer may roll their eyes and say , another attempt at p.c. diversity spin (number 15 for the day)</p>

<p>Hello everyone! Thank you for your input. Just for clarification, I am influenced by each of the cultures that are part of my family tree, especially Indonesian. From my understanding of the definition, that makes my ethnicity a mixture of several cultures. (I am under the assumption that “race” refers to physical appearance and “ethnicity” refers to culture/ancestry.) However, I think it would just be easiest (and probably most accurate) for me to put “Other” or “White” on my application. Sorry for any confusion!</p>

<p>Actually, the Common App says nothing about “race” or “ethnicity” in this question, but only refers to “how you identify yourself” and “your background.”</p>

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</p>

<p><a href=“I%20am%20under%20the%20assumption%20that%20%22race%22%20refers%20to%20physical%20appearance%20and%20%22ethnicity%22%20refers%20to%20culture/ancestry.”>quote</a>

[/quote]
</p>

<p>You didn’t listen to or follow the input and your assumption is wrong as I stated earlier and which you would understand if you’d read the thread I referred you to in post #2.</p>

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</p>

<p>testobsessed,</p>

<p>You have the self-identify part right. But what the CA asks you to self-identify (if you choose to), are race and Hispanic ethnicity. While they many not use the words race and ethnicity, the categories you are asked for are Hispanic which is an ethnicity and AI/AN, Asian, AA/black, NH/PI and white which are races.</p>

<p>@ entomom: I must apologize to you. I admit, I didn’t read your thread. It also may have been more accurate for me to state that I assumed the definitions I learned for race vs. ethnicity without regards to college applications (as specified in this link: [Ethnicity</a> vs Race - Difference and Comparison | Diffen](<a href=“http://www.diffen.com/difference/Ethnicity_vs_Race]Ethnicity”>Ethnicity vs Race - Difference and Comparison | Diffen)) would be the same for the application process. Apparently it is not, and I again apologize - lesson learned.</p>

<p>However, I do feel that I took the replies that applied to my situation into consideration. (Many were in regards to essays - I already have a topic in mind that does not relate to race or ethnicity.) Others also said/implied that it might be better for me to classify myself as “white” and “non-Hispanic,” (like GAmom2012 and zobroward) which is what I have ultimately decided to do. What I meant by “Thank you for your input” was that I appreciate the fact that people are trying to help me.</p>

<p>Anyways, I spoke with a family friend (who also happens to be a college admissions officer) after I created this thread, and he helped me clear everything up and decide that this would be the best option for me.</p>