<p>My daughter is Chinese, with an Irish name, and she’s 100% ethnically American. Likes country music, American food. Has nothing to do with anything Chinese. I told her she could check whatever she wanted or not check. That’s the joy of self identification - it’s how you see yourself.</p>
<p>Why would someone want to eliminate themselves from a group that makes up less than 6% of the population but will reap over 20% of the admission slots at the best schools in the country. Asian culture has established a level of academic success and achievement that those applying to schools should be proud of. </p>
<p>We need to stop assuming that someone is more or less interesting or smart because of their skin color.
It’s demeaning to everyone. Plus, when a black or Hispanic person is admitted, people always say it’s just because of their race. Wow, that would stink, to have to carry that around. </p>
<p>Universities go to great lengths to tell how they are Equal Opportunity Employers that don’t discriminate, then they discriminate like crazy for admits.</p>
<p>So, don’t put your race at all. Let your EC’s and essay show who you are!</p>
<p>Here’s an article written by a Dartmouth admissions officer that I think sheds some light on the supposed Asian discrimination in admissions:
“There was one girl who sued Princeton claiming she was discriminated against for being Asian, so you do find that some Asians can be disadvantaged in the process, and not only because admissions committees think about Asians in a specific way, but because recommenders do too. When reading recommendations you see these words—“diligent,” “hardworking”—because people tend to see East Asians in a certain way. You rarely see “creative” or “strong intellectual bent,” and they are less likely to be seen as “freethinking.” Same with issues of character. A lot of secondary teachers find it difficult to connect culturally with Asian Americans and the type of things they end up doing, so they won’t see as much talk about character.”</p>
<p>Read more: <a href=“Secrets of Dartmouth Admissions Office”>Secrets of Dartmouth Admissions Office;
I think that’s helpful in explaining one of the usually overlooked reasons why there might be a bias against Asians in the admissions process. </p>
<p>Are universities discriminating or have they made a decision to serve all parties within reason. The top private schools have pretty well established numbers based on ethnicity. Latinos admission percentages are close to their presence nationally. Blacks are still severely underrepresented due to the fact that there has not been enough qualified candidates. Asians are over represented due to their outstanding success as students and the large amount of Asian students who apply to the elite campuses. Discrimination infers that as a group you are being punished. As an African American I could say that we are being discriminated against in the process because of the low numbers that so many schools have. I do not feel that way I understand that there are social issues in play that greatly impact the admissions process. When I’m on these campuses I feel that most of them through Affirmative Action have a sincere interest in improving the amount of URMs on their campus. There are some individual aspects to the application process but it’s pretty easy to see that what schools are doing is admitting the best of the best categorically. </p>
<p>The race categories are too broad to be meaningful.
“Asian” lumps a bunch of ethnicities together. Vietnamese, Hmong, Indonesians are judged on the same level as Koreans, Japanese, & Chinese. Then there’s the Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis - they get lumped in there too. Let’s not forget the Filipinos - culturally they are Hispanic / Pacific Islander but they also get to compete with “Asian.” Then when we are talking about 2nd generations or more this makes even less sense as most kids raised in the USA are more American than anything else.
The same problem with “European.”</p>
<p>Yet another thread about trying to “game” the college admissions system by altering one’s ethnic status…</p>
<p>To be honest, it makes me sick reading posts recommending that the student check the box (or boxes) that confer some sort of admissions advantage.</p>
<p>That being said, with certain exceptions (Native American ancestry, in particular), students should feel free to check the box or boxes on the Common App that are consistent with their view of their own ethnicity. There is no “wrong” way to represent oneself as long as a reasonable case can be made to support the boxes checked.</p>
<p>The reason this thread exists is that ethnicity/race makes a significant difference in admissions results at highly selective colleges. I do understand why the colleges want to assemble an ethnically diverse entering class, and they have every right to do so. However, in the interest of fairness, I would like to see the schools consider socioeconomic status to a larger extent. In my experience, the kids who consistently get incredible admissions results are the well-qualified URMs (high GPA, strong extracurricular involvement) who attend private school, take advantage of one-on-one tutoring for standardized tests, and come from affluent families. They are very strong applicants, to be sure, but it’s the race card that separates them from all the other strong applicants who self-identify as “White” or “Asian.”</p>
<p>Sadly, I have heard rumors over the years of students misrepresenting themselves on applications to various Ivy League schools. One student, whose parents are both Filipino, decided to check the “Latino” box because he had an Hispanic-sounding last name. Did this student get a significant advantage in admissions? Almost certainly. His application moved from the “Asian American” stack to the “Latino” pile. As we know, there’s a big “numbers” difference for those two applicant populations. His self-reported ethnic status wasn’t the only thing propping up his application, though. There was some substance to his file. He was a strong student (near the top of his class at a large public school) with very-good-but-not-excellent standardized test scores. Rumor has it that he also took some liberties with his extracurricular activity list. (Not sure how reliable the rumors are. Apparently, he disclosed to other students how he had filled out his application.) He’s studying at Yale now. For his sake, I hope that no one ever finds out that he misrepresented himself on his college application. Yale would have the right to expel him or rescind any degree he had earned at the school. I would like to think that such examples of misrepresentation happen so infrequently that admissions committees don’t view it as a significant problem. Otherwise, more resources would be thrown at the issue, right?</p>
<p>Good post by Bartleby. As I’ve seen w my own children the fact that they were/are well qualified URMs did afford them in comparison w some of their peers more options when selecting a school. The one thing to keep in mind is that they’re called URMs for a reason. If it was up to the schools they would not be URMs which means Black enrollment would be at 12% on these campuses, only one or two of the elite schools are even close to that number. I’ve always looked at it from a different perspective which is not that other ethnicities are losing seats but that Blacks are forfeiting (not purposely) these seats and other ethnicities are filling in those spots.
One of the reason I responded to this post is I can’t understand how someone could change, forfeit, lie about or discard their racial identity. Maybe I’m different but it’s such an important part and positive part of my make-up how one can wake up and be unsure or decide to switch is beyond me. I agree with the previous post. I think the cases of such malfeasance are far and few between. </p>
<p>There’s nothing (morally) wrong with breaking an immoral law/rule, unless you’re telling me you would have advocated following the fugitive slave act in the 1850s (yes an extreme example) for moral reasons. But be prepared to face the consequences if caught. In this case likely get rescinded from the school. </p>
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<p>OP can reasonably tick “white” bcs OP is actually part white-- it’s not like OP is trying to mispresent self as a black, hispanic, or native american. </p>
<p>In any case, the Common App asks how do you identify yourself, not what is your genetic makeup. There are no jackbooted Adcom stormtroopers who are going to strap you down and extract DNA samples, or whip out calipers to measure your cranial proportions. This would be pointless, anyway, since Hispanic can be of any race. I seriously doubt the Adcoms care, as long as your answer is REASONABLE. I have a half asian/white nephew who looks entirely white. Most people are surprised when they learn one parent is asian.</p>
<p>Why are people here so upset w the the OP identifying as “white”? Wd u be half as bent out of shape if OP simply ticked “asian”?</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>My kids are bi-racial - half Asian and half white. I am not sure how they could identify with one more than another. My younger kid actually identify with Latino culture because she lived there for 2 years. Maybe she should have checked off another box. </p>
<p>Both of my kids did fine by checking off right boxes.</p>
<p>Great point about why people may be ticked off. I’m not bothered by the OPs choice. I’m bothered by the fact that OP thinks it’s something you choose. </p>
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<p>I don’t think OP wants to deny his/her part asian heritage, but is simply being PRAGMATIC in realizing that ticking the asian box can significantly negatively impact how fairly his/her application will be read by racist adcoms.</p>
<p>I don’t know if Columbia still requires this, when D1 was applying, she had to submit a picture.</p>
<p>Good reason not to apply to Columbia. The Adcoms probably sit around like WW2 SS “Jew hunters” trying to sniff out asian applicants. </p>
<p>@GMTplus7 @oldfort
Columbia does not request that applicants send pictures.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your replies!
(And no thanks to those of you who were just plain rude…)
To address some remarks I have read: no, I am not trying to deny my heritage in any way; in fact I am very proud of it. 
However, as @GMTplus7 pretty accurately stated, I am aware that affirmative action is prevalent in US colleges, and I think mine was an honest, reasonable question.
Just for the record, I am deciding to check both boxes, and not because the people accusing me of “gaming the system” tried to guilt me into it but rather for my own personal reasons.
Once, again, thanks everyone
Peace out</p>
<p>I’ve heard on NBR recently that there is a study from Bailey from Stanford. IIRC, Asian had the highest either wealth or income follow by white and then black and then Hispanic. So whatever discrimination you think you get at the game of college , it doesn’t matter in the end.</p>