<p>Hi guys, first post here on this particular board. Anyway, my question is whether being Hispanic/Latino(a) really has any significant impact in college admissions. I've been going through the stressful process of applying to colleges. I got a decent score on the ACT (33) and have okay but not great GPA (3.7). I was born in Bolivia and have spent half of my life there. My dad is an uneducated, unemployed Bolivian-Native American (Quechua). My mom is just a typical white American, but our family income is very very low. I've had people at school and family members and such tell me my unique background the Hispanic factor should give me a leg up when I'm applying to colleges, but I don't know what to think about that. In many states it is illegal for colleges to use race as a factor in admissions, like in my home state of Michigan. I applied EA to UM and am confident I can get in. I'm going to be applying to more selective schools regular decision, and am wondering if my background and being hispanic will make them look at my app any different than if I were 100% white. I've been treating it as if it will make no difference, but I still would like some clarification.
Thanks! :)</p>
<p>Hello and welcome to the Hispanic Students forum!</p>
<p>Yes, Hispanic designation generally has a positive impact in college admissions. However, the amount varies widely depending on other factors including:</p>
<ol>
<li>The context of the applicant’s Hispanic background. For instance: SES, first gen, country of origin, overcoming adversity, and association with the Hispanic community. See this thread for some discussion:</li>
</ol>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/931488-ivy-league-admissions-nhrps.html?highlight=ivy[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/931488-ivy-league-admissions-nhrps.html?highlight=ivy</a></p>
<ol>
<li><p>The college. As you stated, by law, some public colleges cannot consider ethnicity and race as admissions factors. Private colleges, however, can determine what factors they want to include and what weight to give them. And within privates, the quality and quantity of the URM applicant pool varies. Many of the highly selective colleges get many, highly qualified URM candidates. Some colleges, while very highly respected institutions, have a more difficult time recruiting and retaining URM students. These are often in rural locations and/or less desirable regions of the country. </p></li>
<li><p>The rest of the application. Ethnicity/race is just one factor in college admissions and is taken into consideration with the rest of the academic and EC qualities of the applicant.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>About your situation specifically: </p>
<p>Has your mother ever attended college?<br>
Did you apply via Questbridge?<br>
How demanding was your courseload relative to what your HS offers?
Will you mark AI/AN along with white for race on your applications?<br>
Have you applied to any privates EA?</p>
<p>Yes, my mom has a BA in Business from the University of Texas, which she has never used. She went on a mission trip to Bolivia and met my dad, and stayed there until I was 4. Since then we have moved back and forth about every two years, with my mom working as a nurse in the hospital (got a nursing degree at a comm coll i think) and my dad has worked maintenance jobs at local businesses but is currently unemployed. Our income is about $30,000 /yr and we are a family of 10.</p>
<p>What is Questbridge? I got stuff from them in the mail but didn’t look into it much.</p>
<p>I go to a small school that only offers 1 AP course, I took that (AP E L&C) plus I attend a local math & science center for advanced students, and i am taking 3 AP classes there this year. Im also taking classes at the local community college.</p>
<p>Yes, I am marking AI as it said “All Original Peoples of the Americas” and my dad would be classified as that, but obviously marked no on the “enrolled” question of the commonapp. Also I marked Hispanic and South American. I did mark White because I thought it’d be dishonest not to, would it make them question my URM status?</p>
<p>nope, just UM. My reach schools are Yale, UChicago, Penn and Cornell. I have the Yale supplement essentially completed and was considering applying SCEA but figured my GPA was too low and decided to try to bump it up with first semester grades and apply RD.</p>
<p>Just asking about your mom to see if you were first gen.</p>
<p>Questbridge is a program for college admissions for low income students. Unfortunately the application period is over for your class.</p>
<p>It’s great that you’re taking a demanding courseload and are reaching beyond what your HS offers. I asked because your gpa is what I’d consider at the lower end for the highly selective colleges, but since you have a strong class schedule, that will help.</p>
<p>I was going to suggest that you mark AI/AN if you hadn’t already. Yes, you should mark white as well, doing so will not take away from your Hispanic status. The AI/NA category is aimed mainly at applicants with North American tribal affiliations, but since their definition includes ‘the Americas’, you are correct to mark it, we just don’t know how much impact being descended from South American original peoples has in admissions.</p>
<p>You might want to reconsider EA to Y. I agree about your gpa, it is at the lower end, but the fact that you are low income and have a difficult courseload may compensate for it. Also, Y defers a large percentage of EA applicants to the RD round:</p>
<p>[Early</a> admit rate rises slightly | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/dec/15/early-admit-rate-rises-slightly/]Early”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/dec/15/early-admit-rate-rises-slightly/)</p>
<p>If you were considering EA to Stanford, I would definitely suggest going RD, since they have a different approach and tend to defer relatively few applicants:</p>
<p>[Restrictive</a> Early Action : Stanford University](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/decision_process/restrictive.html]Restrictive”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/decision_process/restrictive.html)</p>
<p>I agree with Entomom. I think you should also apply EA to Yale if you think you can get it done in time. The fact that you are from a family of 10 and have an income of 30K and you’ve managed to get a great ACT score and a good GPA and you’re attending a special math/science school is amazing to me. I haven’t a clue how a family of 10 could possibly live on that income in this country but it would make for some very compelling essays.</p>
<p>Also, I’m curious. Since your mom works but your dad doesn’t, I assume he cares for all of the children. Do you help with that, as well? Schools also want to know about special circumstances that might account for lower grades and certainly, your situation might be one of those special circumstances.</p>
<p>What kind of ECs do you have? Have you done any math competitions?</p>
<p>Again, agreeing with entomom that you should definitely check all that apply. My son is 1/2 Puerto Rican and 1/2 white and he checks all that apply.</p>
<p>I wish you well, OP!</p>