My DD is struggling with the whole race/ethnicity issue for college apps. Sad because she’s never really had to think about it until now. She is actually part Asian, but we live in a predominately Latino area and people normally assume she is Latina. But she isn’t (at least not by birth). So I thought I would throw it out there to the CC experts…I am not Spanish by birth either but I spent eight years living in Spain, eventually graduating from Spanish high school before returning to attend college in the US. A portion of my time in Spain was spent living with a Spanish family until my parents relocated there. We have remained very close with our Spanish friends and consider each other family; to the point that my DD and her Spanish “cousins” alternate spending their Summers together. And although not fluent like myself, DD can converse in Spanish, and we easily lapse into it at home. She obviously has a strong affinity to her Spanish heritage and culture.
By birth she can legally claim Asian and white on her app, but can she also mark “Hispanic (Spain)” ? Do you think adcoms would view this negatively? What if she explained this in the additional comments section? TMI? Not worth it?
BTW, just to add more confusion, her transcripts list her as Caucasian, and I believe she listed herself as Asian on the SAT’s…
If she has grown up in a Hispanic community and those are the values that she embraces and the people she empathizes with then she should have no issue claiming to be Hispanic. The point of all of the ace and ethnicity questions is to assign certain biases and stereotypes to those groups of people. If that is where she lived and the community she is a part of then these factors are just as valid for her as they are for the other people there.
Reminds me of the NAACP leader that was white but claimed as black. Huge backlash. I would claim whatever she is the majority of. If she is half asian and half caucasian, then I would say that she can claim either one.
I don’t understand why, if she’s never had to think about it before, she has to think about it now. My ds1 always is mistaken for Indian or Pakistani. He has many Indian and Pakistani friends. Doesn’t make him Indian or Pakistani.
ETA: Sorry, but I can’t abide people who have a new-found ethnicity come college application time.
@clarinetdad16
ethnicity: the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition
race: a group of persons related by common descent or heredity.
@youdon’tsay it wasn’t a new found ethnicity, it was one that they were such seamless part of that they never had any need to try and split hairs about what their ethnicity was before a standardized form tried to identify this nonstandard person.
Not Hispanic by any definition. But perhaps this feeds into an essay about multiculturalism and how our life experiences are so much more than a single check box on an application.
Thank you for the thoughtful responses (especially the PM’s). I gather some of you are not of mixed race and haven;t had the privilege to assimilate to another culture. Those that have, understand the difficulty of identifying with a certain race or ethnicity, especially when given the constraints of the Common App. For those of you that do not understand the difference between race and ethnicity here is a quick review:
The concept of race as outlined for the U.S. Census as not “scientific or anthropological” and takes into account “social and cultural characteristics as well as ancestry”, using “appropriate scientific methodologies” that are not “primarily biological or genetic in reference.”
Ethnicity is the term for the culture of people in a given geographic region, including their language, heritage, religion and customs. To be a member of an ethnic group is to conform to some or all of those practices.
As far as my DD not having to think about it until now, it has been a blessing…She is lucky to live in a diverse enough community and attend a school where race and ethnicity are not an issue. She and her classmates accept each other for who they are. Unfortunately, the Common App is pushing her to pick a tribe. Welcome to the real world…
I disagree with many here. If she genuinely thinks of herself as Hispanic and is willing to publicly ID herself as such, then go for it. There are Asians, blond-blue-eyed whites, blacks, etc. who ID as Hispanic, so why not her?
Because she’s not Hispanic. People seem to be confusing ethnicity with cultural identity; one can adopt a cultural identity, but one is born into an ethnicity.
Of course, The OP’s daughter can say whatever she wants, although her first time saying she’s latina probably should not be on a college application. Whether the AO rolls his/her eyes at such a claim is a different question. Also, the reality is that she is also part-Asian, so a Hispanic ORM will be of little benefit.
Uh, your quote just made my point (“of…Spanish culture”). It appears to be the case that the app is not the first time OP’s kid has ID’d as Hispanic. When it comes to Hispanic ID, I don’t believe a DNA test can help much (might be wrong…?). Black ID is easier to prove with DNA testing (as Craig Cobb found out
I don’t think so. I used to live near lots of Hispanic but I wouldn’t identify myself as Hispanic. I think if you are so sure you are Hispanic, you wouldn’t have asked this question.
