<p>I am Hispanic and Indian. My counselor (former Harvard admissions) said to pick whichever I felt like, or a combo. In terms of hooks and admissions, should I say H or I or HI?</p>
<p>You don’t. You’ve been told multiple times: “Portuguese backgrounds are not considered Hispanic for college admissions.”</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1536645-these-races-actually-counted-urm.html#post16237294[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1536645-these-races-actually-counted-urm.html#post16237294</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/16237994-post4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/16237994-post4.html</a></p>
<p>Seriously, your academic profile is fine:
2350SAT, 3x 800 SAT IIs, multiple top ECs. Just relax. </p>
<p>Your toying with marking “Hispanic” to eke some additional advantage has real consequences. You should think about that – it’ll be good practice since you said you want to be pre-med and want to help people.</p>
<p>If you are trying to play the race card for admission, you can do what you want. Being of Portuguese descent does not make you Hispanic, and choosing that on application could have consequences in the future. My son’s HS classmate is attending an Ivy League school this fall and knowingly said he was Hispanic when he is of Portuguese descent. </p>
<p>I agree that it’s to move on to something else.</p>
<p>I see. I’m just terrified still…</p>
<p>Your interviewer for college interviews will see what you indicated. Just FYI, as an interviewer, I have “called out” in part of what I return to Brown on at least one instance a student who had indicated a background, that in interviewing this student it became obvious that said background was a European familial connection, with no language, home culture etc to really indicate that student would provide “ethnic diversity” to the college experience. (eg he was a WASP as can be.) You can decide where your ethical line is, but it cannot help if you get “called” on it. I would have more sympathy for Asian students wanting to list as “Caucasian”.
and ps, declining the interview if offered is not a great idea either.</p>
<p>I have the culture and all but my question was just whether I should include it as Hispanic or not which seems a no</p>
<p>but your culture is Portuguese, which, if I’m understanding others correctly, makes you European, not Hispanic, since the latter refers to Latin American descent. It’d be like a white American Jew saying that they know Israeli culture and thus are “Middle Eastern” or someone whose parents are white South Africans claiming to be “African”</p>
<p>It’s just like how a student from Spain is not considered to be “Hispanic,” despite being from a Spanish-speaking country. They share no background with actual Hispanic people, since they’re from Europe. You are in the exact same boat as them with your Portuguese heritage.</p>
<p>ankscript: I don’t want to be indelicate but even if we put aside the “Is Portuguese considered Hispanic” for now, being your family is from India and Portuguese explorers did have interaction many centuries ago – how “close” is your Portuguese heritage? Are you telling us you’ve come to the US and embraced fellow Portuguese people?</p>
<p>I had several classmates of pure Portuguese heritage at my Ivy alma mater. They did not consider themselves Hispanic whatsoever.</p>
<p>I would avoid putting Indian if I were you…</p>
<p>Ivy leagues are packed with enough Asians that putting yourself as one will just put you at a disadvantage. I would go with being portuguese.</p>
<p>there is a place in india called goa where portuguese peoples ruled until 1961. my mother was born of portuguese parents in india whereas my father was born of indian parents in india</p>
<p>I just want to know what to put down, ignoring the advantage stuff, I have heard that putting the wrong thing down is bad so I want to put down whatever I should</p>
<p>It sounds like the most accurate descriptor is to check off that you are both white european (your mom) and south asian/indian (your dad). It’s been a very long time since I looked at the common app. What are the options presented - then I can say which ones I think are most accurate given my understanding of the situation.</p>
<p>that’s the reason i asked…i have never seen the common app…</p>
<p>Just to clarify a point - descent from any spanish speaking country, including SPAIN is definitely part of the definition of HISPANIC - for both the US Census and the college oriented National Hispanic Recognition Program (copied below).</p>
<p>Portugal is not included in those definitions.</p>
<p>European background does not make someone less Hispanic - Spain is included in virtually every definition I have ever seen of Hispanic for these purposes. </p>
<p>What is the NHRP’s definition of Hispanic/Latino?
To qualify for this program, you must be at least one-quarter Hispanic/Latino. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnic category, not a racial category; you may be of any race. For purposes of the NHRP, you must be from a family whose ancestors came from at least one of these countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay or Venezuela.</p>
<p>The ethnic background from the common app. has become pretty much useless data.
- More and more students leave this optional section blank over fear of being discriminated against, hurting their chance of admission, or believe it’s not relevant. (up to 10% at some universities)
- Many schools do not include the ethnic background of international students in their reporting of ethnic mix of their students. (10-15% of class)
- Some students stretch the truth. (up to 10%)
- Students from 2 or more races often select the one that will help them. (up to 5%)
- The definition of URM varies from person to person.
- No one cares to check on the validity of the data entered.</p>