I probably should have inquired about this first before submitting, but.....

Student Lounge Hispanic Students
1

<p>I'm part-Filipino and part-Spanish. I've always considered the Spanish side of me to be white until I started filling out the common app. All of my Spanish ancestors and even my Spanish grandma all look Caucasian. Spain is lumped together with Hispanic, so I just checked Hispanic and then checked Spain to indicate Spanish ethnicity. I'm not a National Hispanic Scholar, but a National Merit Semifinalist, so is there a possibility that colleges might think I'm lying to get an edge? Also, my surname sounds pretty Spanish. In fact, it's a province of Spain. I know I should have inquired about this first before filling it out. I've already submitted Penn ED.</p>

2

<p>The reason that your Spanish ancestors look Caucasian is because they are Caucasian. As you will see on the CA, ethnicity (Hispanic Y/N) and race (AA, Asian, NA, white, etc.) are two separate categories. Hispanics can be, and are, of any race(s). So what you put for ethnicity will be fine and you will be considered along with other Hispanic applicants. I’m guessing that if you were to fill out the race question, you would mark both Asian and White, but that’s just conjecture from what you have stated. See the sticky thread about who is Hispanic for a full discussion.</p>

<p>You say that you are not NHRP, but if you qualified for NMSF, your PSAT score was definitely enough to qualify for NHRP. And as long as you are 1/4 Hispanic and have a gpa of at least 3.5 you can be a NHS (3.0 for honorable mention); you don’t have to have marked Hispanic on your PSAT, as long as your GC will confirm that you are. And you have 2 more days to do so, see post #289:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/640730-national-hispanic-recognition-program-20.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/640730-national-hispanic-recognition-program-20.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Even if you aren’t a NHS, there are many Hispanics that are unaware of the program or don’t think they qualify for one reason or another, so it shouldn’t be a problem with Penn thinking you’re lying.</p>