<p>A family I know of with no Hispanic cultural identity or recent ancestry had their daughter classified as Hispanic after researching their family tree and finding a distant ancestor born in Spain. The girl was named a National Hispanic Scholar and was admitted to Stanford as an Hispanic student. Apparently, there is no way to prevent this sort of thing.</p>
<p>On the College Board website it clearly states that: “In order to be eligible for recognition as a National Hispanic Scholar, you must be at least one-quarter Hispanic/Latino as defined by the NHRP, meet the minimum PSAT/NMSQT cutoff score for your state, and achieve a minimum grade point average (GPA) requirement.” </p>
<p>I can’t imagine a guidance counselor that would allow their name to be associated with the official paperwork confiming hispanic status of a student based on the discovery of a distant relative found on a family tree. If you can confirm that the guidance counselor knowingly misrepresented this student, then at a minimum, you have a responsibility to inform administrators at that school. </p>
<p>In my son’s class this year there were two incredibly bright hispanic students, with outstanding academic and extracurricular credentials, who applied to Stanford. One was waitlisted/denied and the other flat denied. So, hispanic status aside, the girl of which you spoke must have presented a phenomenal admissions package to gain admission to Stanford.</p>
<p>I don’t pretend to understand college admissions practices. This young woman is socially inept, bright but not brilliant, except in Latin. She attended one of the top, predominantly Anglo, private schools in our city. My daughter attended a predominantly hispanic, all girls Catholic high school, and she–and we–would have been very happy for any of her classmates to have been accepted to Stanford. She herself had no interest in Stanford and is quite happy with the small liberal arts college she will be attending. My sympathies are entirely with the well qualified, genuinely hispanic students such as the ones you mentioned.</p>