<p>lol i know the title of this thread sounds ridiculous and that i should be able to figure this out on my own, but it wouldn't hurt to get your input....
i'm peruvian american, but i also have some incan blood (a large majority of people from peru has indigenous blood)..so someone told me that technically i could be considered native american, and therefore i can put native american on my application when i apply to colleges....is this true?</p>
<p>i'm probably going to put down hispanic on the application (im pretty sure i put myself down as hispanic on the PSAT and stuff like that), but i was wondering if it would be acceptable for someone like me to put down himself as native american.</p>
<p>I'm the one who told you about the Native American thing, but that was in the context of MIT specifically. The answer to your question is that it depends on the school. Make sure that you read each school's guidelines, and ask the adcoms if you're not sure or they don't provide any guidelines. Some schools will want enrollment in a US tribe. Some lump all the indigenous populations of the US and the Americas (US tribes, Central & South American Amerindians/mestizos, Native Alaskans, Native Hawaiians) into a racial category, with subcategories for your specific ancestry. And so on. Again, check each school's policy.</p>
<p>Also note that different schools treat Hispanicity differently on applications. Some schools list it as one of the options in a single race/ethnicity question, so with those, if you pick Hispanic, you don't get to pick anything else. Other schools divide it into two questions - a question about Hispanicity and a question about race - and for those, an applicant can check off, say, Hispanic and White, or Hispanic and Native American, or whatever applies.</p>
<p>According to the definition, they recognize NAs from North, Central and South America. However, they also have expectations of tribal or some other form of connection for NAs. I know that Yale sends a form to NA applicants asking for further documentation of their tribal affiliation.</p>
<p>Based on the information linked above, you can rightfully call yourself an American Indian. Calling yourself Native American, on the other hand, is a little more complicated. I suggest you start by looking at this Wikipedia article:</p>
<p>IMHO, the term Native American refers to the native people of the 48 contiguous states, and may even extend to natives of Alaska, Hawaii, US territories in the South Pacific or Canada, but I have never seen it used in the context of the native people of Central and South America.</p>
<p>Well, the Common Application does extend itself to the Original Peoples of the Americas, which, I’m assuming, refers to tribes from all over this continent.</p>