<p>Hi guys! So for my common app, I'm not sure what I should put down for my race. My dad is black and native american and my mom is basically different variations of white European. I hate to say it but I'm worried that if I add white it will hurt my chances of getting into schools and according to US law, if you are 1/32 black then your ethnicity is black. Comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thank you!</p>
<p>No you are URM.</p>
<p>That’s interesting. What law is that? I thought the “one drop rules” were recognized as being unconstitutional a long time ago. I know from my work with the US Census Bureau that people are allowed to self identify; I don’t understand how that would be possible if they were violating federal law by doing so. </p>
<p>I also don’t understand why you’re considering denying your mother and her entire ancestry just because it “might” get you a boost in admissions. I wonder how that would make her feel? It wasn’t so long ago in this country that people tried to hide black ancestry, Native American ancestry, and Irish ancestry. Trying to hide others (white, Asian…) may be newer but it doesn’t make it any less distasteful. I’d mark black, Native American, and white. If you’re accepted, at least you’ll know you’re being accepted for who you are. </p>
<p>Most places do not care at all about an applicant’s racial or ethnic background. They only collect that data in case the US Dept. of Education asks for it, and then the data is only used to determine whether or not there is a pattern of discrimination against a particular group. If you choose to check one, some, or all of the boxes that is your business. The college/university can’t require that you even answer that question.</p>
<p>Thanks for you’re input!</p>
<p>Please cite a US law that indicates 1/32nd black = black. My kids should get their rightful minority status (but not their kids).</p>
<p>The question is what is the truth, not whether you would benefit from it or not. We know my husband has black ancestors, but we don’t have photos or other proof like that. We therefore don’t list that our children are black.</p>
<p>List what you know yourself to be. There is no limit to how many races or ethnicities you can list. My son has to list “other” because one of his ethnicity/race categories is not present on the common app, so he is “white European” and “other”.</p>
<p>If you were black and adopted by a white family, are you black or white? I think you are still black.</p>
<p>(which really points to how silly affirmative action is, but that’s another story)</p>
<p>OP, you decide what you want to do. It’s the only legitimate response unless you want to let others define for you your race.</p>
<p>My friend was friend with someone whose mom’s black and dad is Swedish. I don’t know how he listed in his application but got into everywhere Stanford and Harvard but was rejected from UCLA. So I think under admission eyes he is URM.</p>
<p>Oops *my friend was friend should be *my daughter was friend</p>
<p>Have you read the race in college admission FAQ?</p>
<p><a href=“"Race" in College Admission FAQ & Discussion 11 - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums”>"Race" in College Admission FAQ & Discussion 11 - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums;
<p>The first few pages usually includes the essential facts; the rest is an endless debate. Thatswhy this is the 11th version.</p>
<p>My ethnicity is really similar to yours. My mom is Irish and German and my dad is Seminole and AA. To answer your question it’s up to you. It wouldn’t be a lie to say you’re black but I think honesty is the best policy. It would be more rewarding to attend a college where you got accepted for being you rather than telling the partial truth.</p>
<p>If that 1/32 thing were true, pretty much everyone who has been in America for generations would be considered black lol.</p>
<p>OP, are you registered as a Native American?</p>
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<p>That’s not even near true. </p>
<p>However, good point about needing to be registered with a Native American tribe. I believe that is required for students who check the NA box.</p>
<p>You can select any or all which you identify with. Some schools care about tribal enrollment for Native Americans, while others do not or have less restrictive rules (e.g. <a href=“http://www.morris.umn.edu/financialaid/scholarshipswaivers/americanindiantuition/”>http://www.morris.umn.edu/financialaid/scholarshipswaivers/americanindiantuition/</a> ).</p>
<p>You list if you are Native American. If they ask you to prove it, you prove it. If you are not registered, that doesn’t make you less Native American.</p>
<p>Is Obama a URM? Should he get benefits intended for descendants of slaves when his father was likely the first in his family to enter the US? Is he black?</p>
<p>He’s just as white as he is black, unless you believe his white side of the family is part Native American which has been postulated. But he clearly would list “black” as one of his races. The problem for us multi-racial people is when there is only one choice to list.</p>
<p>And of course, Obama was raised by his mom, who then married an Indonesian guy, has a white/Asian half-sister, and then ended up raised by his white grandparents. He probably had less contact with blacks than presidents who had household servants who were black and helped raise them.</p>
<p>This has happened to me based on skin color, because only one of my children looks like me at all:
<a href=“No, I'm not the nanny: When you don't look like your kids”>http://www.today.com/parents/no-im-not-nanny-when-you-dont-look-your-kids-850845</a></p>
<p>My oldest looks like me and embraces being multi-racial. My others don’t look like me and easily “pass for 100% white”. They all can list what they want on their college applications (the others are young to worry about it, they know that in general they have many many ethnicities).</p>
<p>If you know the truth, you list it. If you don’t know, list as much as you know.</p>
<p>On the common app there is a place to check if you are a registered native american or not. You can still check the NA box as long as you know what tribe your ancestors were from. After you check the NA box a question comes up asking what tribe you’re from and the most common tribes are available to chech off (Navajo, Sioux etc) but most likely you’ll have to type in your tribe name manually.</p>
<p>Easiest (and least stressful) is to simply claim what you are. Black, NA, White. Any adcoms looking for the various influences on you and your family will see that. The fact your mother is White does not cancel out the other influences. </p>
<p>You do not have to be registered or enrolled to be considered NA. Period. Spoken from various experiences, including my kids’. There are some colleges that prefer an enrollment id (in areas with large NA populations- eg, some midwest state schools.) But understand that, the more competitive the school, just checking it isn’t the same as having some identity from that.</p>
<p>ps. Anyone concerned about a 1/32 “law” should be googling for the correct info. The US govt allows you to self-identify for Census purposes. You are confusing the fact that some tribes require minimum 1/32 lineage to be enrolled. Each tribe can have its own stand and particular expectations.</p>
<p>@austinmshauri Actually, it is true. Perhaps not everyone, but a large amount of people. 1/32 is a relatively small amount. It isn’t far fetched to think that. That’s about 3%. Do some research on slavery or even go back further than that. Even watch that video about the white man who tried to make an all white town in either North or South Dakota. He was 14% subsaharan African even though he appears to be white. You would be surprised with what you find out when you study history and genealogy. In fact the same applies for the reverse. Most African Americans have a substantial amount of European DNA and by substantial I mean more than say, 10%. I think referring to oneself as only black, or only white, or only Asian, is a gross oversimplification of our ancestries and how they are all connected. Just my $.02</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats, I do study history and genealogy, but it never once occurred to me to check how much of any group’s ancestry might contain traces of another group’s. Why would I care? However, if it’s brought up for discussion the details should be accurate. Blanket statements like ‘the majority of whites have black ancestry’ just strike me as implausible. Not all blacks came to this country on slave ships and not all whites were slave holders. </p>
<p>I never heard that URM status, as it relates to blacks, was specifically related to slave ancestry either. I suppose I imagined it had more to do with trying to end discrimination based on race. Perhaps my public school history teachers were remiss, but when they spoke of the US Civil Rights Era, they didn’t say only descendants of slaves were poorly treated; all people of color were equally discriminated against.</p>
<p>In any case, my point is that children should be taught to be proud of their heritage, whatever that may be. It’s my hope that any policy that encourages them to either deny that heritage or claim one that’s not theirs is not working the way it was intended. </p>
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<p>Isn’t that essentially what geneaology is? Tracing the lineage of one’s family almost inevitably leads to the tracing of racial and ethnic mixing within one’s family.</p>
<p>Either way, there’s been some research done on this. It’s not most, and it varies by region. Overall, it seems only about 4-5% of white Americans have at least 1% African ancestry. Southern whites are (unsurprisingly) more likely to have African ancestry than whites from other regions. It’s estimated that around 10-15% of Southern whites (depending on state) have at least 1% of African ancestry, which would be an African-descended ancestor in the last 6 generations (which would be 1/64). Let’s remember that in Southern slave states, blacks made up nearly half of the population in the mid-to-late 19th century, which is when the sixth-generation ancestor (great-great-great-great-grandparent, or the 1/64 relative) would’ve been born.</p>
<p>The reverse is much more common - the average African American is said to have about 20-25% European ancestry from various sources, lol. Part of that is power dynamics, but the other part is biological: African traits tend to be more dominant, and people were historically more likely to identify as black than white if they were biracial, because they “looked” black. So if you were half-white and half-black in 1850, most likely you would look at least part black and not allowed into white society. You’d marry someone black, and your kids would be black. They would also marry someone black - whether that black was mixed-race or not. You could see how a lot of black folks would have “hidden” white ancestry.</p>
<p>However, another researcher estimated that as many as 30% of white Americans had African ancestry, and that they averaged around 2.3% each. And then there are others who say that this is all foolishness either way, because racial and ethnic differences only account for about 10% of the diversity in the human genetic code.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>With that said - you’re however you normally identify, OP. Do you normally identify as biracial, white, black, or something else? Put that. Quite frankly, you can put whatever you want - there’s no race/ethnicity police that are going to come to verify, and even if there were, there’s no way to disprove your claims. Most forms should allow you to check off more than one box, as it were.</p>