On the demographics section of the common app it asks you to “please indicate how you identify yourself” (racially)
I’m white, but my (also white) parents are both immigrants from South Africa which makes me think I can also put African American. I’m not sure if this matters but I’m quite culturally South African- we visit frequently and I speak with an accent at home. Obviously I would like to be able to put African american as it definitely helps my chances, but would this be racially insensitive or morally wrong?
I could also just specify in the text section below that I am white and am putting African american to indicate my African heritage.
And I’m really not trying to cheat and take advantage of a technicality I’m just seeing if this would be acceptable.
I swear there is at least one a year. Those adcoms must chortle. I would love to see how it plays out, let us know? And you have AP world history? US history?
More than once per year with some variation (usually Egyptian), and I’ll give my standard answer as I close the thread:
No AO is going to debate semantics with you, but African-American means black. The “African” part is generally meant to refer to sub-Saharan Africa (although white South Africans are also not black).
So no, you should not claim to be African-American.