I have always identified as Chinese and caucasian on my tests and at school. My parents do this too (on taxes, etc). But when I was filling out my common app a few months back my parents told me that I’m of hispanic ancestry because a whole bunch of my white ancestors were from Spain and came here—naturally, on the common app I marked that I was asian, white from Europe, and Spanish.
I was just accepted early into an ivy league school through one of their “diversity” visits where they notify you of the decision in advance so you have time to decide whether to attend or not. I also was just admitted to three top-tier selective schools, one of which gave me a diversity-based scholarship for “underrepresented” students—meaning hispanic/latinx, african american, pacific islander, native american students.
The problem is that I’m not sure whether I legitimately am able to identify this way, as an underrepresented student in the community. My community is predominantly white and Asian, and I come from a well-off neighborhood (also, my classmates don’t know that I did this). Plus, I just learned that being hispanic doesn’t just mean being descended from Spanish people—it means being from a hispanic culture.
Should I write to the colleges I’ve already been accepted to and the ones that still have to send out decisions, telling them that I don’t identify as Spanish because I’m not a part of Spanish culture—and potentially losing my scholarship and/or admission offers? Or should I say nothing?
If I do nothing, wouldn’t the counselors at my school get called too because I didn’t identify as hispanic on any tests or official forms? My classmates and my school’s counselors don’t know either and I feel like they would see me marking hispanic as just some way for me trying to get ahead of my classmates .
I’d be really grateful for any advice! Thanks for reading.
Hispanic is an ethnic identity. You can be any race and consider yourself hispanic. You do not have to look a particular way, or eat a particular food, or speak a particular language.
You have Asian ancestry. You have Spanish ancestry. Yup looks plenty diverse to me! Don’t worry about this. Go to the diversity weekend. See what you think about that place.
I would encourage you not to check that box. Distant ethnic heritage is not the same as ethnic identity. While happymomof1 is accurate that Latinos can be of any “racial” background, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund is very clear: you must have at least 1/4 heritage from particular Latino countries to qualify (my daughter just went through an application process with them). Likewise, having distant Native American ancestry is not equivalent to being an enrolled member. There are numerous, complex reasons for taking into account a person’s ethnic identity and it is not a game- they are called “underrepresented” groups for a reason and providing a more accurate response about who you represent in terms of your lived experience and/or recent heritage (mainstream/White + Chinese) is what they are seeking.
Definitely check the box. If you appear to qualify as “Hispanic” under NHRP that should be good enough for anyone (one of those countries qualifying is Spain). In any event, your parents are clearly aware of the Hispanic ancestry on at least one side of your family, and so even in the absence of NHRP I’d just ask myself if I had any Hispanic ethnicity. This is not some test in which you are obligated to measure yourself against some amorphous description of “lived experience” or other undefined construct.
Congratulations on your acceptances and your scholarships! Regardless of ethnicity or race, you must be a highly qualified student to be accepted into an Ivy!
In my opinion, use the NHRP guidelines…if one of your grandparents is Hispanic, then you can apply to NHRP. But, I think you should identify as Hispanic. My DD is 25% Hispanic, but when she did internatinoal day in elementary school she always chose the PuertoRican heritage, not the English heritage.
Of Hispanic ancestry means something different to me than one grandparent was Hispanic. Certainly if you qualify for NHRP then it may be OK to self identify. Reaching through your ancestors? Not so much
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