<p>I was wondering if this was mandatory. Im an Indian, so I would be classified in the Asian category. However, I know that it is much harder for Asians to get into top colleges compared to the other groups. So I just wanted to know if I could withhold my ethnicity during college apps...</p>
<p>You have the right to not identify your race to the colleges. But I’m sure the admission officers can easily find out your ethnicity through your last name. </p>
<p>You don’t have to put it down, and they may or may not find out. And it may or may not matter. Unless you want to write your essays on some ethnic pride thing/club/event/how you want to do stuff for your community, etc. Then not marking your race may be a bit off-putting.</p>
<p>Say they couldn’t identify my race from my last name. Would i then get an advantage in college admissions?</p>
<p>In comparison to GPA, curricular rigor, rank, standardized test results, recommendations, ECs, essays, etc., the influence – if any – of ethnicity is minuscule. It’s not worth worrying about, in my opinion. </p>
<p>Really? I thought ethnicity was a big factor… One of my friends (asian) was the valedictorian of his class of 800+, a national merit scholar, got a 2330 on his SAT, was a 4x state finalist for computer science (Texas), won 1st and 2nd in the state competition his junior and senior yr respectively, and he and his team led my school to 1st place in the international HP code wars competition (im pretty sure he was one of the best high school comp sci students in the country). Also, he made it to state in many UIL competitions like Math, Number Sense, Physics, and History. He applied to stanford, caltech, mit but those schools didnt accept him. I still dont understand why…</p>
<p>It wasn’t because of his ethnicity. Those schools are extremely difficult to get into. Did you look up what percentage of students they admit? That’s probably closer to the reason than his ethnicity.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter as much as you think.</p>
<p>The thing is that one of my other white friends applied to stanford and caltech and got accepted in both. He had a 2090 on the SAT, only did Key Club and Science Olympiad (no major awards) as his extracurriculars, was in top 10% in his class, and did ok on his AP tests (but not better than the asian friend). How could he have gotten in when he has a less impressive application?</p>
<p>@ADA110 That’s why elite colleges’ admission process is so unpredictable. </p>
<p>. . . and, @ADA110, who is likely to write better, more articulate, more insightful essays (I don’t know, I am asking)? For the truly most selective institutions, all the superior numbers (GPA, standardized test results, etc.) are fundamentally only the “threshold” that makes one a fully competitive applicant. After that, many other factors (essays and recommendations are good examples) become quite important, however, these are application elements that are not subject to quantitative analysis. </p>
<p>My asian friend had a better essay. Also, the other friend was not on good terms with our counselor (poor counselor rec)</p>
<p>I would recommend that you do not report your ethnicity. Deducing youir ethnicity from your name or from the birthplace of your parents is illegal.</p>
<p>That would give me a better chance, right?</p>
<p>There is no upside to reporting your ethnicity, as you are not an URM. There is no downside to NOT reporting your ethnicity. So why would you report it? </p>
<p>@AndreiTarkovsky As per your post #11, who’s going to enforce it?</p>
<p>I would imagine colleges are not that keen to blatantly break the law. Even holistic admissions policy smokescreen wouldn’t cover deducing race.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, how do you know your asian friend had a better essay?</p>
<p>Caltech explicitly does not consider race when evaluating applicants (as can be seen from Asians forming the largest ethnic group in their student body, at 43%).</p>
<p>How are you judging that your Asian friend’s essay was better? I’m curious and would like to read both if you care to email them to me (with their permission, of course). Feel free to PM them.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t believe that counselor recommendations matter as much as effusive teacher recommendations.</p>
<p>In any case, feel free to not mark your race. It won’t give you an advantage (only being URM would give you an advantage at top privates besides Caltech), but it won’t hurt you either.</p>
<p>I read both of their essays and I felt my asian friend’s one was much stronger. Also, what does URM stand for?</p>
<p>It’s laughable the way Asians invent ways to post the same thing over and over.</p>