<p>I particularly want to know if there's a certain percentage of minority blood you have to have to be considered a URM, if it simply declines in value the less you are, or if only full minorities are really considered as URMs.
I also want to know if you have to validate it in any way. Specifically I'm part hispanic, but I neither look hispanic nor is my surname hispanic. However, my parents are divorced and my mom's maiden name is hispanic (she gets documents under both names but most of her ID is under her maiden name).
And lastly does anyone care to speculate on the advantage URM gives. When I looked over the decisions thread URM seemed to make a huge difference. Some URMs were admitted with under 700 on SAT Math.</p>
<p>You have to come to campus in person for a blood test, it’s sent to the lab for testing and you’ll get something in the mail in 4-6 weeks if you are indeed a minority.</p>
<p>haha very funny. but seriously, I’m curious because as is usual with college advice, I’ve heard conflicting stories. I don’t know how I expect to get anything but conflicting stories out of this, but I figure I’ll try</p>
<p>You are what you say you are; they have no real way to validate it, though if they find out that you deliberately lied there may be consequences.</p>
<p>From anecdotal evidence and from what I have observed, being an URM helps quite a bit, though it isn’t an automatic admission.</p>
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Some non-URMs were admitted with under 700 on SAT math, also.</p>
<p>You should identify yourself on the MIT application with the same ethnicity you use to identify yourself to other people.</p>
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<p>That’s okay. You can be any race and be Hispanic, so there’s not actually any such thing as “looking Hispanic” (what you are probably thinking of is the mixed White/Amerindian look that is common among many Mexicans and South Americans). And adcoms are used to people with mixed ancestry (many of whom do not have Hispanic surnames).</p>
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<p>This. </p>
<p>MIT tries to recruit and admit qualified URMs, but there’s not, for example, some point system where you get a point boost for being a URM, or lower standards of qualification for URMs.</p>
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<p><em>waves</em> My last name is Hunt. You can’t get whiter than that. (Physically, I’m lighter than my dad - who is the white half.)</p>
<p>Though, for the record, I had over 700 on SAT math.</p>
<p>And really, at a school like MIT where it’s ridiculously hard to get in, even being a very qualified URM is no guarantee. </p>
<p>I know this is just one anecdote, but: my one friend is a Hispanic female (bilingual and all that jazz), #1 in her class of ~200, extremely talented varsity athlete (turned down recruiting offers, though), good ECs, above average SATs, obviously very very good at math/ science. And on top of that, she’s a very friendly, very down-to-earth girl!</p>
<p>She seems like the “perfect” applicant, yet she was still deferred EA… and then accepted RD, but still :)</p>
<p>At MIT it generally means you’re admitted.</p>
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<p>I know quite a few cases in which this hasn’t been true. </p>
<p>And, gasp, I even know some white males at MIT!</p>
<p>lol I know it’s not a guarentee, but I think I’d have a solid chance even without being a URM. It seems to me like URM mostly takes a lot of the chance out of it. If they find you should be in that class and you’re URM, it seems you’ll probably get in at that point rather than having the crapshoot chance many other excellent applicants have</p>
<p>Living in a 98% white town and then coming to MIT for CPW was quite interesting…haha. It is certainly diverse at MIT</p>
<p>A classic example of the logical fallacy of “proof by example.” 24.241 Logic I.</p>
<p>@mia305 - Are you pulling from actual statistics in your general statement?</p>