Thanks for taking the time for reading this… so please answer : I am indian and ::
my maternal grandfather immigrated to peru and married a hispanic woman , making my mom 50% hispanic and my dad is 100% indian, making me 1/4th hispanic… so do i qualify for hispanic in commonapp??
Are you a US Citizen?
Under Represented Minority (URM) status is a college admissions term that applies to US Citizens who are African Americans, Mexican-Americans, Native Americans (American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians), Pacific Islanders, and mainland Puerto Ricans.
International students, no matter what ethnicity, do not qualify as URM’s for the purposes of college admissions.
Hispanic is a cultural identification. If you consider yourself Hispanic, you are.
And, given that this is your maternal grandmother, and the strong tendency for cultural traditions to be transmitted through the grandmothers and mothers, my guess is that there is plenty of Peruvian stuff going on in your home. So, lay claim to that ceviche, and check the box.
@happymomof1 another question… in the common app it asks how you identify yourself , i.e. after stating that i am hispanic/latino, so what should i mark in it, along with asian?
The demographic questions on the Common Application are
So, while you could certainly answer yes for the first question. What is your answer to the second question?
@gibby im planning to chose ‘‘india’’ in asian , what do you suggest me to select for my peruvian heritage?
If you have to ask this question, you are not considered a URM.
Some of what you’d check depends on your Peruvian grandmother. Pure Aymara? Then you could check the Native American box if you want to. Pure Spanish? That would be White. Pure Chinese? Then you could check China. Lots of different countries and regions all mixed together? Check whatever boxes you feel like.
If grandma is still around, this could be a good opportunity for you to learn more about who she thinks she is, and how she thinks that has influenced her life so far. If she isn’t, this is a good opportunity for you to learn more about her side of the family from your mom and other relatives who know some of the stories.
I think you DO fit the definition of Hispanic, if you are a US citizen.
NHRP’s Definition of Hispanic/Latino
To qualify for this program, students must be at least one-quarter Hispanic/Latino. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnic category, not a racial category; students may be of any race. For purposes of the NHRP, students must be from a family whose ancestors came from at least one of these countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, or Venezuela.
You don’t. You check the box for Hispanic (URM), but will check the box for Asian (ORM - Over Represented Minority), so it’s basically going to be a wash.
just asking others opinions : is half urm (half hispanic) and half orm (half asian + white) not a hook?
@viking2015 - Hispanic for the Nat Hispanic scholarship does have a specific definition. But Hispanic for other purposes (such as checking the boxes for ethnicity and/or race on a college application) refers to ethnicity which is self-defined. Those stats are basically to please the US Dept of Education by showing that the college/university isn’t discriminating against any one particular group in their admission policies.
@gibby - Re-read the instruction for the second set of boxes that you posted above. Hispanic/Not Hispanic is a separate issue from the other background question. People of any of the categories listed can also identify as Hispanic, (Fujimori, O’Toole, and Bundchen are well-recognized names associated with different time periods in South America). So much as a non-Hispanic person with a mixed background can check as many boxes as they feel should be checked to identify themselves, a person who identifies as Hispanic can also check as many of the other boxes as they see fit.
@10thgrader - A “hook” is when a big-deal professor or coach has enough influence to tell the head of admissions that a student must be admitted provided that student meets the bare minimum standard for admissions. Your background may be interesting to admissions offices that care about that kind of stuff (most don’t), but it will not get you in or keep you out.
@happymom1: Thank you for the correction, but I still think checking Hispanic (URM) and Asian (ORM) will be neutral factor for the OP, who seems to be thinking that their URM status will be a leg-up in the process.
@happymom1 @gibby can i just leave that section blank and enter hispanic?
The Common Application has check boxes for these questions.
You can opt not to check any box, thereby leaving it blank. But you can’t enter Hispanic, or another ethnicity, as the software currently doesn’t allow for that option.
My associate’s 1/8 african american daughter who is blonde/blue-eyed, whiter looking than Lindsay Lohan, is a National Achievement Finalist. The mom actually bragged about it on FB. My jaw dropped.
So at 1/4, I guess you’re definitely hispanic.
@gibby thank you very much for your help, but one more question, since i have immigrated during my sophomore year, i have studied my freshman and half of sophomore years at india, and if i leave that section blank, will they doubt my credibility ,even if would I mention my south asian ethnicity in the additional informations box?
Most selective colleges have interviews, and I’m guessing that the moment you walk into your interview they are going to see that you’re Indian (with maybe 1/4 hispanic). And, your interviewer might ask how long you’ve been in the US. Your answers will go into the interview report, which will be read by the Admissions staff.
In addition, I’m sure your guidance counselor in their Secondary School Report (SSR) will mention your recent immigration to the US, and your teachers might do the same in their recommendation letters.
Plus, you may want to write your essay about transitioning between India and the states, or write about some sort of cultural background that only you could write about.
For all of those reasons, I suggest you DO NOT leave the section blank. If you do, your credibility will not be an issue, but you might be seen as trying to game the system (which you are). In any case, Admissions will easily see through that, so check the boxes for Asian and Indian, and let the chips fall where they may.
@gibby sure, thanks 