<p>On all of my college applications, legal documents, testing information, etc. I always put yes I am hispanic/latino because I've been told Brazilian counts, but I identify as white after that. Does it matter what I identify as, as long as I'm 50% Brazilian (my mother is first generation American, both parents were Brazilian)? Secondly, is there a way to start an application, before I have been nominated? I'm going to ask my guidance counselor to nominate me soon (school starts Wednesday here), but I was wondering if I could start. Thanks ahead for the help, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming year we'll all have together, haha.</p>