<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>I am native born Colombian. I moved to the U.S. when I was 11 years old, and have been living here for about 7 years. I have pulled off a somewhat successful high school career, and now it is time to apply to college. </p>
<p>When it comes to down to it, how beneficial will my foreign ethnicity be when schools review my application? I am really particularly curious about the benefit this might bring me when applying to the top Ivys. </p>
<p>Thanks =)</p>
<p>from what I’ve read (although I’m no expert on this at all), I don’t think it’ll matter significantly. It might give you a very slight edge when it comes to comparing you and a caucasian applicant with similar credentials, but definitely don’t base your acceptance off this. Top Ivys care more about the whole picture (being hispanic, band, track athlete, community service person etc.) vs. just getting more hispanic minorities in their institution. Now, if you apply to Cornell, I know that they are desirous of more minority applicants, so you might be substantially helped there.</p>
<p>from my understanding, at top schools…AA basically means that if there are 5 applicants with pretty much equal credentials and 4 are white and 1 is Hispanic, than the hispanic app will get in.</p>
<p>Its an enormous advantage, but it certainly doesn’t seal anything. </p>
<p>However, if you can effectively incorporate your ethnicity into your app so that the school believes you truly have something special to offer, then you are in great shape!</p>