<p>Hello everyone. Recently a very arrogant girl at my school told a friend of mine that although my friend was the valedictorian and had a slightly more rigorous schedule/ better grades, she had a smaller chance of being admitted to Harvard. She said this on the basis of that fact that my friend is a citizen of a country in Europe (she has been living here for 8 years) while the other girl is Hispanic (from Peru.) </p>
<p>Who do you think would have a better chance E.Cs/ Essays/ Recs aside? </p>
<p>Genrally speaking, do you think Harvard (and other top schools) seek students from small European countries more because there are fewer of them than other minorities (i.e a person from a country with 3 million people.)</p>
<p>Hispanics will get a greater boost than European Caucasians, but the Hispanic boost is considerably less than that for Native Americans and African Americans. </p>
<p>Frankly, your friend can’t do anything about her race. It’s silly to worry about things out of her control. She’s clearly a qualified applicant…The adcoms will take it from there.</p>
<p>Yeah you’re right, thanks. We just always thought the boost for certain small countries, from which there were very few applicants, would get a larger boost. I definitely agree that it is out of their control at this point.</p>
<p>Whoever has the perm resident card has the upper hand. After that, then it’s just a matter of which one seems more unique to this year’s applicant pool.</p>
<p>Well I understand that when you check off a race, it will be “White:European” or something along those lines. However, saying that someone from Estonia (a country with less than 2 million people and its own culture and traditions) is not any different from any other country in Europe is not logical. A hispanic person or an African-American living in the US has a lot more in common with white Americans than an Estonian person does with people from, say, England, France or even Poland. I asked this question because it seemed absurd to me that my friend, who stressed the influence her heritage had on her, would have a lesser advantage than a ‘minority’ in the United States. Technically speaking, she is more of a minority in every aspect except her skin color.</p>
<p>No one would argue that Estonia, or any country, is identical to another. But within the scope of college admissions, your friend will not be consider Estonian; she will be considered European.</p>
<p>Perhaps, but when colleges report their demographics to boast about their diversity, the breakdown is usually white, black, asian, hispanic, native american not white, black, asian, hispanic, native american, Estonian</p>
<p>I see your points. Thank you for the input everyone. The ‘system’ does not seem fair. However, your reasoning seems sounds, so the debate is settled. :)</p>
<p>Actually, some colleges, i.e. Brown, will report specific countries on their website. I don’t think Harvard does this so perhaps it will be as jgraider said. However, I see your point in how someone from Estonia is more of a minority than most minorities here in the U.S. so when the admission committee looks at it, and when they try to see what influence she has on the incoming class, it is likely that they will take your friend seeing that your friend is more different than the other minorities. They will most likely also look at how many Estonians, assuming your friend is Estonian, are applying because if, let’s say, your friend is the only Estonian applying and there are 50 applicants from Peru, then it is likely that your friend will have a greater boost than the other applicant since she is the only one of her kind applying. I guess to sum up, though they do not report specifically by country, they will most likely give your friend a bigger boost if your friend is more different and has less of her own kind* applying. Even a white American born applicant who has overcome some obstacle in life is more appealing than someone immigrant with nothing special to them apart from the immigrant status.</p>
<p>Well, if she can somehow show (but not tell - sounds familiar?) that her Estonian origin and experience (she’s in the US only for 8 years, right?) helped significantly make her personality, characters and achievements to date, it may and will make a difference in her favor…</p>
<p>1) She can claim citizenship to Estonia and permanent residency to the US simulataneously.
2) Where they ask for her place of birth, it will say “Estonia.”
3) The application will ask her how long she has been living in the US, where she can put 8 years.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The precedent statements are logical. I would like to add, though:
If I’m not mistaken, because your friend has US residency, she will be considered a US applicant, not an interntational applicant. However, Harvard will see the above information, and this will make her stand out more than a racially European person who was born in America and lived there his/her whole life. Immigration and adaptation to a new country always has its challenges. Harvard will recognize that your friend had some obstacles to overcome that other people of the same race who lived here there whole life did not have to face.</p>