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<p>Actually I think she’d just call herself “African.” Or maybe “South African.” Probably not “Afrikaner” even though she speaks Afrikaans.:)</p>
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<p>Agree. But then why are some people so freaked out about having a “black” president?</p>
<p>Isn’t South African American a subset of African American? 
This is exactly why census stuff is pretty much useless
everything is so unclear.</p>
<p>luisarose, no. This is actually something that bothers me. African American is an ethnicity separate from any African ones (like Chinese and Japanese are separate, but still Asian). African American is a fairly recent (in terms of history) ethnicity born from mixing the ethnicities of African slaves and white slave masters.</p>
<p>I really don’t like the census. </p>
<p>lookingforward, I don’t know if that was directed towards me or in general, but just to clarify, my point was about the term “Negro” not Black or African American.</p>
<p>Btw, the Census definition: “Black or African American” refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.</p>
<p>If we’re going to swing around casual info, let’s not. It’s easily checked on the web.</p>
<p>No, not you, CPU. And I believe Negro is there because it is still a term some use to identify themselves.</p>
<p>“If someone has one black parent and one white parent, I think it is more accurate to call him “mixed race” than black or white.”</p>
<p>If someone has one black parent and one white parent, it is extremely, extremely, extremely unlikely that one is half of each. That’s because Blackness in America has long been defined as even one drop of Black. Obama is a very rare exception.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to report anything as fact. I definitely am not an expert on this stuff. I’m just hoping to raise the point that census data is pretty meaningless because people identify so differently and there is so much ambiguity in the meanings of different terms.</p>
<p>Either way, no racial/ethnic label is as significant to college admissions as the overall context of the student’s life. Race may only be a small part of their life experience, but it IS a part. (And there are definitely situations in which it’s a BIG part of their life experience.)</p>
<p>The point is that racial categorization is ARBITRARY as you all have provided plenty of anecdotes and evidence of this. So why is preference being awarded on the basis of such an arbitrary criterion. </p>
<p>Other admissions criteria may be subjective, like leadership or EC’s (for the record, I think legacy preference should be eliminated-- they are the absolute worst kind of entitlement) but at least those subjective criteria are weighed for their depth. Race on the other hand is On or Off. Elizabeth Warren is Native American?</p>
<p>^ mini - where in the body might I find that “one drop?” (I want to check myself to see I’ve been answering the Census Questionnaire accurately.)</p>
<p>I don’t like the definition of Black or African American because there are Black people who didn’t “originate” in Africa. If that’s the case then all humans are Black (depending on what your beliefs are about evolution and human migration). Haitians, Jamaicans, they’re Caribbean but they’re Black, too. Unless I’m missing something about their origins, but I don’t think I am.</p>
<p>Edit
After a certain while, a persons 1/29373683 of whatever ethnicity isn’t significant anymore (IMO). Like Elizabeth Warren. Love her as a politician, but her 1/64 is minute (I wonder who brought that up—her, or her opponents?). I personally think past 1/16 is pushing it. I have close Native American lineage but I don’t call myself Native American.</p>
<p>The Census allows people to self-identify, as the Common App does. </p>
<p>My issue here is with sweeping generalizations.</p>
<p>“So why is preference being awarded on the basis of such an arbitrary criterion?”</p>
<p>Ah, an intelligent (and thought-provoking) question.</p>
<p>CPU, I’m pretty sure the indigenous people of most of those islands were Tainos who were not black.</p>
<p>*So why is preference being awarded on the basis of such an arbitrary criterion. *
Haven’t we been going over and over that “preference” is not being awarded on the basis of RACE. </p>
<p>Holy cow, this is all getting lost.</p>
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<p>If it were that simple, I’d agree with you. But it’s not. It’s not like the standards are set in stone: you need an 1800 SAT if you’re white, a 1400 if you’re black…no, that’s not it. But having a difficult upbringing can explain some sub-typical-acceptance stats (not a ton, and not TOO sub-par), and that often correlates with being a racial minority.</p>
<p>In many cases, I think a wealthy black student going to a private school who has a family income of $500,000 would probably be at an admissions disadvantage compared to a white student with a parent in jail and a $20,000 family income.</p>
<p>Exactly as lookingforward said: it’s not about RACE. It’s not that black people or Native Americans have an advantage. It’s that black teenagers and Native Americans (especially those living on reservations) often have really tough lives which can shed new light on some of their application.</p>
<p>lookingforward - Blame it on baseball. For many Americans “Tie goes to the runner” means the runner gets “preference.” What can I say?</p>
<p>romani-- I wasn’t speaking for all Caribbeans. Jamaicans, Haitians, West Indians (I know the WI includes some not Black peoples as well), Barbadians, they’re Black.</p>
<p>Again, whether one student is advantaged over another is not solely his family circumstances, but what he achieved in that context. The prep kid may very well have a more compelling package. That is an important detail to include. The white kid in your example has to have done something to show worthiness, as the U defines it. same for a minority kid in the particular circumstances you noted- parent in jail, low income. You cannot generalize.</p>
<p>I’d be careful with saying “blacks and other POCs often have tough upbringings”. SES and ethnicity have a strong correlation (does not imply causation in either direction), yes, but that’s not what you said, luisarose. Be careful with saying things like that. What you said is placing the cause of the upbringing on their ethnicity and not SES, which plays a stronger role to an extent.</p>
<p>I agree with lookingforward in #598. It’s what you do with what you were given, and how hard you worked to achieve that and what kinds of things did you go through to get there.</p>
<p>lookingforward, I apologize if I am being unclear: I am only talking about CONTEXT. For the sake of discussion, one could assume that my two hypothetical students had identical achievements. They are more impressive from the white student because s/he had more to overcome.</p>
<p>edit: CPU, that is exactly what I said, actually. I was pointing out the correlation. 
I know it is about SES. In fact, one of my first posts tonight (#552) I said this:</p>
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