<p>When you are applying to a university, especially a selective one, what do you check on the ethnicity/race box? Would you check "Other/Declined to state?"</p>
<p>You put whatever you want, you can check white and <strong><em>, just white, just _</em></strong>, other, mixed, it's your choice.</p>
<p>If you are say a black asian, you are truly a URM! Just spell it out.</p>
<p>my cousin and good friend is both...White and BLack...but he has a very interesting story behind him..he grew up in a ALL White family he doesnt know his father...and he is poor he goes to A very good art school in NYC...its public..I guess he would check both and im sure a Essay about being Black in a all white family would make a interesting essay( he is going into senior year) And oh yeah were paying for some of his college education so my parents have the joy of taking on 2 kids at college at the same time</p>
<p>Yeah that might be interesting.</p>
<p>suze, the OP said 1/2 ORM. aka 1/2 over represented minority. asian is not over-represented, even though they're technically not considered URM, they're not over-represented. whites are over-represented.</p>
<p>sarorah, actually you're wrong. Asians are overrepresented because they reflect a greater proportion of the pool than of the American population. This makes sense as generally Asians are relatively high achieving. Whites may be over-represented, but if so they are to a lesser extent than Asians.</p>
<p>I am half black half white and I put down both in my applications.</p>
<p>I know, a lot of Asians apply to top schools, but statistically, I'm not wrong, thank you. </p>
<p>whites still make up between 65-70% of the admitted class in most selective colleges.</p>
<p>% wise, whites are over represented.</p>
<p>sarorah, yes you are wrong. When Asians make up 20% of the student population at some schools while only making up 3% of the national population than they are OVER REPRESENTED. How is it anything but? </p>
<p>Whites are simply represented, since they have the same presence, percentage-wise, on college campuses as they do in terms of national population. They are neither over nor under represented.</p>
<p>Yes, you are wrong, they are overrepresented.</p>
<p>Yes, Although Whites make up the majority of most selective colleges, they also make up the majority of the general population. The Asian population in the US is relatively tiny, yet they make up nearly 20 % of some of the top schools. This is a HUGE overrepresentation of one race even if it isn't the largest race in one school since, in the general population, they are much smaller in size.</p>
<p>^ agreed. well said.. although they are URM's, in the college process, they are ORM's especially for the HYPPS and other top notch schools. They dominate admissons. At one time, 2/3 of Harvard's applicant were asains</p>
<p>The "% in the general population" figures are irrelevant. It should be "% of recent high school graduates." In other words, Asians may be 3% of the general population, but they're probably something like 5% of high school graduates each year. Colleges shouldn't be tasked with mirroring percentages that include people who don't even graduate from high school, or who are 70 years old.</p>
<p>put the URM.... my buddy is 1/4 mexican... put it, and got into his first choice... barely making the 25th percentile for SAT and with a 3.3ish GPA...affirmative action :)</p>
<p>oh okay sorry, yeah I thought, well I thought URM was based on different things, not entire USA population.</p>