<p>As the title suggests, I'm wondering if my bi-racial genetics will help me (even ever so slightly) with college admissions. I'll be aiming for Ivies and equivalents but also some less selective schools (USC, NYU, etc.). Let's not take grades and test scores into account, but I'm doing pretty well for myself academically. </p>
<p>Here's my background. My father is Dutch born and raised, my mother is Indian born and raised. Both studied in their respective countries (both have masters degrees). I grew up in the Netherlands and went to a public school there for about 9 years after which I moved to India to attend an American school there. I'm fluent in English and Dutch and speak fairly advanced conversational Hindi (I can read and write as well). I myself feel a lot more Dutch (mostly due to the fact that I have a Dutch passport) but I look more hispanic than anything else. </p>
<p>I'm guessing there are very few other halfies of my mix who decide to attend college in the United States so I was wondering if this is seen (even slightly) as a hook. </p>
<p>Can’t see why it would help. Loads of Asians and Whites in every application pool. Besides, you will be looked at in the int’l pool and even more race mixes/ diversity there.</p>
<p>Your Dutch and Hindi skills are noteworthy but not hooks.</p>
<p>I missed something that Jamcafe didn’t. Your biggest impediment is your International status. selective schools have int’l applicants in droves – it becomes the most competitive pool.</p>
<p>I have a similar background story-- my dad is from Pakistan, my mom from Ireland. But, I’ve been raised in the u.s. the fact that you’re bi-racial doesn’t really make a difference–like a previous poster, you are a combination of the two most common races in college admissions. What matters, hower, are the unique experiences that you’ve been subjected to because of your background–where you’ve lived, the mixing of cultures in your home, etc. In your essays, be sure to highlight and discuss those things. That is what will show how you are unique to the adcoms.</p>
<p>But the thing is, there’s a difference between being unique and being what they’re looking for. Writing an essay about your career as a teenage grifter would make you stand out in admissions officers’ minds, and being a cannibal would make you unique, but neither would necessarily make you what they’re looking for in New Haven or Ann Arbor.</p>
<p>With all of these “Does X give me an advantage?” questions, it boils down to whether the quality in question fulfills a college or university’s institutional needs or wants. Colleges have basketball teams, so they need power forwards. They want top scholars. They need generous donors. Many times, they want cultural and socioeconomic diversity. But I don’t know of any college or university that has a particular need or desire to enroll more biracial students.</p>