So, both my parents are from Australia and my dad is European-ish, but my mom is at least some part Maori. I think her grandfather was 100%. I know that’s only my great grandfather so maybe it doesn’t count because I’ve never met him but I know to my grandmother it was a big deal. Appearance wise, I look relatively white. My eyes are black and I have some maori features (tongue, head shape, etc) and I feel like personality wise I also really connect, but I know my appearance means I have some privilege of identifying as relatively “white”. In contrast, my grandmother has very dark skin (she does admittedly live in a very hot country, but still), dark eyes dark hair etc. She doesn’t look white whatsoever. My mother visually looks what I could best describe as polynesian. She has medium yellow olive skin, curly hair, black eyes etc but could still be considered white/mixed (her dad’s irish). But we live in the midwest now and thus I have pretty pale skin. HOWEVER, if you saw me even in the winter you could definitely say I look Maori. Just facial structure wise, etc. (and, I do have the normal skin “tone” when I go outside in the summer).
I don’t need scholarships or anything, because my dad’s job covers the cost of college, it’s more that I kind of want to be able to identify as Maori on any census because I feel like I’ve always been told I’m part maori and it’s a warrior culture and I guess I just identify as Maori on my own personal level. Like, I’m proud of my heritage and I’ve never really had much of a culture from any other of the countries i’m from (I’m also a mix of like practically every country in Europe, but that means I haven’t really ever identified with any one of them) But I think I must only be like 12% so I guess maybe it’s not something I can put down. This goes for censuses in general, not just college, but I’m filling out something and it came to mind.
Anyway, if ya’ll think I shouldn’t I won’t, I can identify mentally w/o putting it down.
actually never mind. I looked at some photos of myself and realized that w/my natural hair and eyebrows I look hella maori so I’m just going to put it down. I don’t think they’re going to do DNA testing to determine the exact percentage and I look enough that I think it’s fine.
Race and ethnicity are self reporting. You can check the boxes or not, entirely up to you.
Are you a US citizen? If not, your checking the box probably won’t be reported anywhere. Schools report race/ethnicity of US students but not foreign students.
This is not about appearance. It’s about cultural and ethnic ties and identity. If you check it, adcoms don’t swoon. They look for those active ties or influences in your app. More than a grandfather you never met. More than being intrigued by warrior culture, if you never went past that musing. (And no, that’s not just writing some essay about it.)
Previously, you had a thread asking if you could claim Hispanic.
@Mimimomoc I would self-report as Pacific Islander if there was any genetic justification at all for doing so. Any race is better than white or asian. Race is race, it’s not “culture”. If it were, then “trans-racial” would be a thing.
Uh oh. Per wikipedia: “Pacific Islanders originate from countries within the Oceanic regions of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia.
New Zealand is uniquely within Australasia as well as Polynesia and its majority European and native Māori populations are not considered Pacific Islanders.”
Really depends. I am fully Tahitian and I included my tribal papers when I submitted my applications. I would say that if you are going to identify yourself as a pacific islander, you should definitely figure out where exactly are you from and find out about your eligibility to become an official member of the tribe. In some cases, AOs have been known to question the validity of race claims so its best not to leave any possible red flags anywhere.
So you’re 1/5 hispanic? Not from Polynesia but are Maori by osmosis?
Do you have any viable academic qualities? Pinning your hopes on trying to be a URM may backfire if your records have identified you as white.
I agree with @lookingforward: the ethnic URM thing is not going to impact your admission. There are many, many students who are URM, attend URM schools, and have ethnic ties and tribal links to their communities.
This is another example of why race should be eliminated from admissions like it is currently in California. Hooks should be limited to first generation low income applicants.
I don’t agree. My daughter is Chinese, did check the box, but there is not one thing on her transcripts or clubs or activities that indicates she’s anything other than an all American girl.
The OP said very specifically that he was 1/8th Maori and that he wasn’t attempting to be considered “URM”. If schools are going to ask about “race”, then it is their problem in interpreting what the applicants put down. What do any of these categories really mean anyway? Besides, Maoris are pretty awesome.
Aside from the fact that this seems like a hit and run posting, like the OP’s " Am I “Hispanic” thread, IMO, she is simply looking to debate semantics, i.e. New Zealand is an island nation in the Pacific; therefore its original peoples are Pacific Islanders. Ummm, no.
The OP can certainly check off any box she chooses. Whether a college classifies her as such is a different question. That gets into how a college classifies (and for what purpose) versus, as an example, a census definition. A college may want to have a category comprised on descendants of the indigenous people of the US. The US includes the 50 states plus DC as well as several overseas territories. So the indigenous peoples would include Native Americans/Native Alaskans/Native Hawaiians, and also Chamorros and Samoans from American Samoa (but not the nation of Samoa). The broader census definition (which some colleges may or may not follow) would also include Fijians, Chuukese, etc.
Regarding the US Census, it looks like there is no category that Maori people fall into if not included in Pacific Islander. There is also no category that native Australian people fall into.
Ucb, also see “The Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population - Census Bureau” for 2010. At the end, there’s a map and NZ is not included.
(What we’re talking about here is that many colleges use the Census definitions. No sure why Maori isn’t included as some identity group, but it isn’t.)
In the thread about declaring Hispanic, OP wrote, “. I know that being Hispanic is considered a minority however and will greatly increase chances of getting admitted into a university.” This does lend the impression he/she is looking for the tip.
If he could show some relation to all this, sure, an adcom might be interested. But gettig a tip is more than just stating something. Or writing an essay about his musings. A number of groups have this challenge.