<p>There are two related questions that are often asked:
- Could I claim to be a URM and get away with it, even though I’m not? The answer is maybe, but it’s too risky. I think this question is usually asked as an idle fantasy. There are some people with a tenuous claim to URM (ie, great-great grandma was a Cherokee), and it’s legit to try to figure out where the line is.
- Will I help my application if I don’t mark anything under ethnicity? This question is asked mostly by Asian students, who believe that they may be disadvantaged even as compared to white students. Personally, I don’t think that it is at all likely to help, even if the person’s ethnicity isn’t obvious from othere elements of the application.</p>