One of the questions in the UC app asks : Do you consider yourself Hispanic or Latino?
Includes persons of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American or other Spanish culture or origin
Both of my parents are Chinese but I was born and raised in Panama City, Panama. I know everything about the Panamanian culture and I know Spanish more than I do Chinese.
Do you identify as Latino?
If you identify as a Latino, then you can mark Latino. Just an FYI, the California UC’s do not consider race/ethnicity in their admission decisions, so if you are trying to use URM as a bump in your admissions, it will not matter.
Look up the President of Peru in 2000. His parents immigrated from Japan. Clearly he is Peruvian. So his race is Asian but his ethnicity is Hispanic. You were born in Panama. Aren’t you a citizen there? If you apply anywhere with the common app, I’d say check the box for Hispanic (Panama), and the next question about race put down Asian.
From an admissions perspective, it doesn’t matter one bit. UCs and CSUs are forbidden to consider race/ethnicity
Here in CA, at a little over 40% of the population, Latino is the largest largest ethnic group in the state. There is always a decline to state or ‘other’ box to check.