<p>I don't mean to revive the AA debate, I just want an answer and then I can let this die.</p>
<p>A girl at my school was accepted to Stanford, and she marked herself as Hispanic on the application. She was 1/8 Spanish, from Spain, so she's technically correct, but it doesn't seem right.</p>
<p>I was deferred, but I hadn't marked that on my application, despite my also being 1/8 Spanish - I felt it would be much like cheating, since Spaniards has never faced the problems of Mexican-Americans, and my family is solidly in the middle class. Would it be honorable to mark down Hispanic as part of my ethnicity, on future applications?</p>
<p>Well do you consider yourself Hispanic at all? Like are you in tune with the culture, do you speak Spanish well, etc? If so, then yes, check it.</p>
<p>I think you should only mark it down if you identify with that culture. Like, I'm 1/4 Chinese, but I don't speak Chinese, nor do I know anything about the culture. The closest I get is eating Chinese take out. It'd be wrong for me to put down I'm Chinese.</p>
<p>I don't have any significant cultural ties to my Hispanic background, and I speak only enough to guide my grandmother around.</p>
<p>But "check all that apply" means "check all that apply." If they have any more questions about my ethnicity, I'll let them know in full what I am, but I think I'll check it off for now.</p>
<p>when I applied to georgetown I was asked to check one ethnicity. My grandfather is spain-ish and I speak spanish and catalan, eat spanish food at home, am catholic, and celebrate traditional spanish holidays. I identify strongly with this part of my heritage. However, I look as white as they come and Georgetown asked for just one. So I checked Caucasian (tech speaking Spaniards are Europeans, what separates Latinos is the presence of Native American linage, I am 0% Native American). Everyone thought I was crazy, but I was still accepted! :) I asked my regional rep after about how they deal with race and random box checking. They said it comes down to more how the app "feels" and less about which race the applicant might have somewhere on their family tree. The point is this. Mark what ever you want, but app readers can tell the difference between I raised in this culture and my grandma I rarely see speaks spanglish. It won't hurt you, but it won't be teh big push you hope for.</p>
<p>why do you think by her claiming that she is Hispanic was why she was accepted?? I'm always amazed by the assumption that ANY URM is admitted solely because of this fact. I have students who claimed they are Native American who look totally white, have had no connection with NA culture but can trace some very distant relative who was Native. So, there are a lot of bogus claims to the URM status. People are so convinced that this will provide them a hook that they will go to any lengths to claim this status. If there is an interview, the truth will come out.</p>
<p>.... The Spanish Civil War... that really wasn't too much of a hardship... Just mass executions, firing squads, and.... economic slavery... Spain has never had hardships.</p>
<p>Just check the goddamn box. Whatever race/ethnicity you are, that's what you are. If it says "pick the one you identify with most strongly" then be honest, if it asks for more than one there is no though process involved. You are what you are, check the corresponding box and move on with your life.</p>