<p>I am a US born citizen and my parents are naturalized US citizens from Pakistan. What is the best ethnicity i should put for my applications, Pakistani or white.</p>
<p>i don’t know that they differentiate on the app, since it is based on race and not nationality, but you can put whatever you identify as. colleges will know you’re american when you apply.</p>
<p>Is there really an option called Pakistani ? I think you go under Asian.</p>
<p>You aren’t white… it should be clear that you are Asian.</p>
<p>Being American doesn’t make you White. Nationality =/= Race.</p>
<p>K, but does my ethnicity have an effect on my admission. Plus, I’m considering putting white since it includes middle eastern.</p>
<p>Pakistan is in South Asia. </p>
<p>The question is optional. If you do not feel comfortable answering, don’t answer.</p>
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<p>Pakistan isn’t in the middle east…</p>
<p>What do you consider yourself?</p>
<p>I would put white because:
-Asians are not a minority
-You are a 2nd generation US citizen
-You have probably grown up in the US</p>
<p>Ethnic identification is optional.</p>
<p>OP, this isn’t necessarily for you, but-
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone would choose not to answer?
What happened to MLK’s dream, where children could be judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin…
I know that colleges don’t abide by this, and I know that some applicants will want the extra consideration, but really, wouldn’t you rather stand on your own merit?</p>
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As I posted earlier Nationality =/= Race.
Being American does NOT make someone White.</p>
<p>If he put his race down as White when he is not that would of course be lying.</p>
<p>Technically, people from Pakistan and India are Caucasian. People from Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan are Asian. Caucasian doesn’t equal what people typically think of as white, because it includes people who aren’t light-skinned.</p>
<p>In reality, people like to claim a minority status only if it will give them an advantage. I’ve known students who are Anglo-Saxon in appearance and who have a common last name like Johnson or Smith put down Native American or Hispanic because they had a grandparent who was in that category. I’ve heard of Asian children adopted by Caucasian families who dropped their Asian-sounding middle name and did not check a race at all because they were worried that identifying as Asian would put them in an overrepresented category.</p>
<p>I agree that if people can just pick and choose what they are, it’s all pretty silly. However, I can understand the temptation to use race to get an advantage.</p>
<p>Asian. Ethnicity isn’t supposed to have any effect in admissions.</p>
<p>"“Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as “Asian” or reported entries such as “Asian Indian,” “Chinese,” “Filipino,” “Korean,” “Japanese,” “Vietnamese,” and “Other Asian” or provided other detailed Asian responses."</p>
<p>Leave it blank. I would not check Asian.</p>
<p>Well, here it is, compiled from several online sources:</p>
<p>For years, there were considered to be three (or four, depending on how native Australians were classified) “races” of humans. Most of the terms are considered offensive now, but suffice it to say that people of the Indian subcontinent were considered Caucasoid, now Caucasian. Currently, people in that area who share that formerly “Caucasoid” heritage are considered Caucasian under some definitions and Asian under others. Some of those people are offended at being called Caucasian. Others are offended at being called Asian. No doubt there are people who find both offensive.</p>
<p>This reminds me of how we use the label African-American to describe people who are “black”. I know “white” people who immigrated to the U.S. after generations of their family lived in Africa. They consider themselves African-American.</p>
<p>“Black” and “white” aren’t even accurate. Some Indians have darker skin than some Africans, and some Africans have lighter skin than some Europeans.</p>
<p>I believe strongly in having ethnic diversity in schools, universities, and jobs. However, I wish there were some way to come at it besides having to put meaningless labels on people. How can labels make sense when there’s not even agreement as to what the labels mean? Maybe socio-economic status is the best way to do that, but that’s another discussion.</p>
<p>OP, I think you could legitimately call yourself Pakistani-American, white, Caucasian, or Asian, whichever you feel most comfortable with – or whichever would be more advantageous.</p>
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<p>Not all people from the Indian subcontinent are Caucasian; people living in the Indian subcontinent are comprised of a no. of races.</p>
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<p>And yet, Ivy League adcoms have defended the high no./overrepresentation of blacks who are children of immigrants from Africa as adding “diversity” while the overwhelming no. of Asian-American students are of Chinese, Korean, Indian and Pakistani descent (and Japanese to a lesser extent).</p>
<p>Don’t really see them pushing to get more, say Hmong-American students for you know, “diversity.”</p>
<p>Furthermore, even while artificially limiting the no. of Asian-Am students, these same schools, nonetheless ■■■■■ China, Korea and India for foreign applicants since they it’s not only a good way to inflate application nos., but gives them a chance at landing the sons/daughters of the elite/wealthy in Asia.</p>
<p>k&s – I realize that the Indian subcontinent includes a number of racial/ethnic groups. I should have clarified that I was talking about the ethnicity people usually associate with that area of the world. Here again racial labels and categories are so inadequate.</p>
<p>Here’s a fairly clear guidline posted on one school’s site:
<a href=“https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/ira/fed_race_ethnic/[/url]”>https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/ira/fed_race_ethnic/</a></p>
<p>Pakistani Americans would check “Asian” (or, if you prefer, leave it blank).</p>
<p>Leave it blank!</p>
<p>Re: “Caucasian”</p>
<p>Note that Caucasian does not necessarily mean white to all people. There was a court case in 1924 where it was disputed whether a person of Armenian descent was white.</p>
<p>Ethnicity =/= Race.</p>