<p>Hi everyone. I know this is a little extreme but I am being totally serious. Is it possible to change my last name from an obviously Asian name to a more "white" one? </p>
<p>THIS IS NOT me trying to escape my cultural heritage or anything. This is a student who is applying to many many top colleges that have set an implicit quota on Asian-Americans. I think that if college admission officers see my application belonging to a white applicant and not an Asian one, it would be much easier for me to get admitted.</p>
<p>It’s not that top universities will be against asians. There’s something about asians that makes it hard for asians to get admitted. Asians DO get admitted. It’s not like NO asians get admitted to the school. Maybe if the asian popular start failing and show that as a asian population group all have low test scores, maybe things will be abit different. Asians tends to achieve high grades etc but that doesn’t show that you fit at the school. You gotta show your character and special skills that no other asians have done.</p>
<p>Why Not change it to an indigenous one, that might boost your chances considerably. </p>
<p>No, seriously, I understand where your concern is coming from, however I think changing your name would be extremely unfair and untrue to yourself.
College admission is a very important decision in your life, and one that you can influence significantly.
A name change might or might not ameliorate your chances - however I would not fight with unfair means.
This might just be my cultural upbringing, as in German culture honesty and directness are encouraged. </p>
<p>But it would not be worth it, IMO, changing a name is a lifelong, fundamental decision and makes a statement about who you are and what you value. If you value a brand name more than your family, your dignity, your culture, your honesty, YOURSELF, I think you should overthink whether you are prepared for college. </p>
<p>You should give colleges the most accurate portrait of yourself do that the Adcoms may decide whether you fit in with the class or not. </p>
<p>The name itself will not play a major role in that. </p>
<p>So I would strongly advise you to ovethink your idea and abandon it.</p>
<p>ivy schools do discriminate against asians but you do not want to go with a “white” name white people second to asians get screwed as a % .
try a latin last name or check off native american. (pull an elizabeth warren)</p>
<p>but joking aside your idea is a little over the top and being white is not a help .</p>
<p>The difference is usually not as large as some imagine. Studies generally show that Asians have around a 100 SAT point penalty to Whites and 400 to Blacks.</p>
<p>That said, if college is really that important, it will help somewhat. An obviously Asian name like Li might as well just be changed to Lee which is more ambiguous.</p>
<p>bubbles,at an ivy the numbers curve is much greater then what you state…which of course is wrong but legal.
the OP says they are not interested in the snob schools like HYP.
a good school that bucks the liberal adm. systems and judges students on who they are is of course hillsdale college. I would check it out if I was OP!</p>
<p>applying to many many top colleges that have set an implicit quota on Asian-Americans</p>
<p>We’ve been through this on several threads. In fact, many top colleges have percentages of white kids below white representation in the population- and Asian American kids at a higher percentage. </p>
<p>One of the things elite adcoms look for is a kid’s judgment and perspective. I hope you aren’t just believing there is “implicit” discrimnation, but have researched and thought this through.</p>
<p>You have to go through a court process, you would have to have every record changed (eg,transcripts and SAT/ACT score records) and generally need to be at least 18 and have a defensible reason. Your parents names will also appear on the CA.</p>
<p>Don’t you think they’d figure it out during an interview or when they see your parents’ names? Or do you plan on them changing their identities too?</p>
<p>Seriously…life isn’t always fair, but there is much more to it than going to one of a select handful of colleges.</p>
<p>LOL! I always laugh when i see these threads. “there’s an implicit quota against Asians, because that’s what all my friends and family say.”</p>
<p>What makes me wonder the most is, what percentage of Asian representation would be sufficient to imply that there is no such quota? 30%? 40%?</p>
<p>I’ve researched Asian discrimination in higher education quite a bit. Every account of so-called ‘discrimination’ can be reduced to competitiveness or some other race-neutral factor. And the fact that Asian students tend to represent 15% to 20% at top universities is still significant to note. Why? They make up only 5% of the U.S. population, thus showing that they’re significantly overrepresented at top universities in the first place.</p>
<p>Instead of changing your name, maybe you can claim to be transracial (a famous celebrity preceded you in that effort). If people can be transgender, why not? You can say that you have always felt white, in spite of your outward appearance and family ancestry, and that you know that you are really white deep down because your thoughts, emotions, and behavior most resemble those of white people. Also, you can say that you eventually plan on dyeing your hair to a lighter color, getting cosmetic treatments to make your skin lighter, and changing your name to something white-sounding, like maybe Zhirinovsky. Maybe someone will fall for it.</p>
<p>By the way, anyone who thinks I was being serious with the preposterous generalizations and suggestions, I have a bridge to sell you…</p>
<p>yeah only one problem…they ask about any other names youve had and if you dont put anything, and they find out the truth…gulp there goes any chances.</p>
<p>How clever you must be, to be so entitled to college admission that you get to play by a different set of rules than everybody else. I’m sure all the deserving black, white, Hispanic and Asian students whose spots you’ll be taking will understand how very important this is.</p>
<p>mmmgirl, I think the OP was afraid they are being forced to play by a different set of rules because of their background. (while I personally feel very strongly that IVY leagues schools are not the proper setting for most students and the OP says they do not want to go IVY.) there is no doubt there are different rules for different folks at IVY league schools as well as some other schools ! and if you look at the bar set for Asians compared to “URM” it is discimination! what these schools do may be legal but, it is surely immoral at best.</p>
<p>austinareadad and others:: I’ve noticed that the apps ask you to self-identify your race. I live in a neighborhood that is predominantly white. What if I self-identify as white because all my peers, neighbors, community members, etc. are all white? Or how about that 1/8 of me that is white (that college adcoms can’t possibly trace)? They can’t argue that I cannot self-identify as a white individual!</p>
<p>I know several Asians that check off the box for “Caucasian.” Just talk to your school or something and see if you can have it changed in the school database (if it’s listed on your transcript), and change your race on the ACT site if you want to play that game. Don’t, however, get a name change expecting that it’ll help because it absolutely won’t. There’s a section where you have to list “former last names (if any),” so it would hypothetically look much more suspicious to purposely change your name to something other than your parents’.</p>
<p>I can’t really say much on this issue, as I’ve already been accepted to the college of my choice (Virginia Polytechnic Institute), but In my honest opinion, I’m very sure credentials will always outweigh racial influence.<br>
I’m Chinese myself, but I still kept my name. Maybe my acceptance was based on my credentials that I had a solid SAT, ACT, First Gen. to college, VTCC, that sort. But I know I also got accepted into UVA, which as many would know, is pretty populated with Asians, and I sent in mine pretty late in the Early action time.<br>
You seriously should reconsider doing something that drastic. Be unique, and you better have a good argument. As a previous poster commented, show that you are unique, above the other applicants, as they say, “you are selling yourself to college admissions”. Make yourself presentable. </p>
<p>If you’re shooting for the straight, legal, “I want to change my name”. It’s going to take some time, mate. You have legal papers, passport, etc. By all means, I won’t stop you, no one can, but if you want to try to move around some legality issues, you’re going to have to deal with a lot of paperwork. You also do know that by changing your name, without the proper paperwork, your family might be a in a bit of trouble with the government.
That is why you put down you SSN on your application, because tracking you and your family and such when they have submit tax forms and such, they do factor in the fact you go to college.
SSN will also be checked on your app. to see if it matches the actual person. I know it sounds silly, but trust me, you’re going to have to swim in a whole lot of paperwork. If you’re serious about this, well, check back on us then if you change your name.</p>
<p>@zobroward: How is the OP not trying to play by a different set of rules? And the argument that he would be treated unfairly because of his background is ridiculous. All applicants are handled in the context of their personal situation. To paraphrase the website of a prestigious scholarship, it’s not about where you finish, but how far you run.</p>
<p>A student who is, say, the child of immigrant migrant workers, who lives in a trailer and attends a failing high school with no grade inflation, few APs, and a poorly qualified of overworked guidance counselor, with parents who didn’t go to college themselves and can’t afford SAT prep or fancy extracurriculars, might not look as good “on paper” as a high-achieving white or Asian student. But with all the obstacles they had to face, they might have worked much harder for, say, a 2010 and a 3.6 than the other student did for their 4.0 and 2350. Okay, this might be an extreme example, but these differences do exist. In a perfect world, AA wouldn’t even be necessary, but it is and it gives opportunities to students who wouldn’t otherwise have had them.</p>
<p>But saying it’s fair for an applicant to change their name to gain an advantage in the admissions process? Please. That is unfair to the hardworking AA kid, and to the Asian kid with the same stats who had the integrity to let adcoms judge him on his own merits rather than cheating.</p>