<p>I'm opting to leave my race blank in my college apps.</p>
<p>I am lucky to have a rather inconspicuous last name, but there may be a few holes in my plan:</p>
<ol>
<li>My middle name</li>
<li>SAT and AP scores</li>
</ol>
<p>For importantly, the latter. Do you remember if we had to put our race on those scantrons, and whether or not colleges get to see the full report?</p>
<p>I believe that there was a “prefer not to state” bubble but I’m not 100% sure. I’m also in the same situation as you, but my name is a dead give away to my origin.
If you don’t mind my asking, is there a specific reason why you didn’t want to put your ethnicity?</p>
<p>Ahhh… the avoid the anti-asian bias strategy!</p>
<p>You can leave your ethnicity blank – that’s totally acceptable.</p>
<p>However, there’s no “How can I avoid blending in with the tens of thousands of other high achieving applicants but have an otherwise unremarkable profile” strategy to adopt.</p>
<p>I posit that is the real cause for many peoples’ presumption of anti-Asian bias.</p>
<p>I don’t know about OP but my reason for trying to hide my ethnicity is for being of biracial descent and I don’t want to get accepted into a college just because I’m a minority. I want to get in because of merit, although I’m doing a terrible job of hiding it because I’m a national achievement semifinalist.</p>
<p>I don’t think the anti-Asian bias is illusory, but I’m sure I’ll just annoy you all if I try to make this political, haha. In a nutshell, I want to try to conceal or at least make extremely difficult to notice my racial background. I’m afraid that I may have bubbled in my race in an SAT or AP - does anyone remember if we had to do that, and/or if colleges are privy to such information?</p>
<p>
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<p>University of Alabama does not consider ethnicity in frosh admissions.</p>
<p>University of Texas does, but most of the incoming frosh are auto-admitted based on class rank in the top 7% (i.e. ethnicity does not matter if that describes you). Other Texas public universities also have rank and test score based auto-admission where ethnicity is irrelevant for most of their incoming frosh (if it is even considered at all for non-auto-admission applicants).</p>
<p>Before you worry about such things, look up the admissions tab for the college’s entry at [CollegeData:</a> College Search, Financial Aid, College Application, College Scholarship, Student Loan, FAFSA Info, Common Application](<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com%5DCollegeData:”>http://www.collegedata.com) . If ethnicity is not considered, then don’t worry about its possible effect on your application to that school.</p>
<p>To the person hiding their biracial ethnicity- Consider that you may be excluding yourself from financial awards based on ethnicity if that is a consideration for your family.</p>
<p>*We are Christian I am trying to convince her that this was God’s will. We prayed and fasted but this was not what God wanted for her. *</p>
<p>Are students req’d to list their middle names on apps? </p>
<p>I have 4 nieces and nephews who are half Asian and half White. Their first, middle and last names are fully American and Italian, so no give aways there. They will be selecting White when they apply to Calif publics, because they fear that if they indicate Asian, they’ll be at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>For many kids, there is a positive to their backgrounds- cultural activities, achievements or some significance to the ways they supported their communities. For many, it’s just not helpful to bland yourself out. </p>
<p>If you are applying to the most competitive schools, you’re going to have fierce competition and shouldn’t assume the same old stats and hs activities will help create a good picture of you and the strengths you’ll contribute. Some put too much stock into an idea they will be judged on their race/ethnicity- it’s far more than that.</p>
<p>Most reputable schools are not going to admit someone unqualified just because they are part of a particular group. But, if it can help you, why not go for it? If you were from North Dakota, that would give you an edge at many schools as it is an under-represented state. Would you try to hide that? When schools are evaluating a group of students who are very similar, it’s hard to say what tips the scales one way or another.</p>
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<p>California publics do not consider race or ethnicity in admission.</p>
<p>I qualify for a national merit scholarship at the school I’m going to so being a minority won’t help out there anyway. It’s just really frustrating to have friends that say “Oh you got in to so and so school because you’re a URM” when I had to work my butt off the same way that they did.
I’m very proud of my heritage; I didn’t mean to come off like I was embarrassed of it or something :/</p>
<p>“I don’t know about OP but my reason for trying to hide my ethnicity is for being of biracial descent and I don’t want to get accepted into a college just because I’m a minority. I want to get in because of merit, although I’m doing a terrible job of hiding it because I’m a national achievement semifinalist.”</p>
<p>Pssshhhh, sure…</p>