STOP now. You did not misrepresent anything. Just lose the guilt. A “Hispanic” applicant with a wealthy background gets zero hook benefit. So don’t even worry about it. Seriously. Go to school. Enjoy it. Join a Hispanic cultural club and learn your roots.
The system works the way it does. Is it right or fair? Who is to say. My two lily white kids are more Hispanic than most who tick that boc bc they grew up with my Mexican partner and are both fluent as Spanish is spoken at home. But he is not their dad, so they tick caucasian.
Re: Hispanics of NA ancestry vs European, that is a good point that is not really addressed by the tick box. But technically, hispanics that are not of AA ancestry are supposed to tick “white”. Even if it is nonsensical!
@HRSMom do you see what I’m saying? There shouldn’t even be a question about whether someone is Hispanic/Latino because it doesn’t make a person a “minority” in many cases. Basque people (a region in Spain) are white and would under no circumstances be minorities or be as disenfranchised as people who physically look brown. Yet, they have a right to identify as Hispanic.
The reality in the United States, at least for right now, is that brown people face more prejudice. Being Hispanic doesn’t mean that a person is brown. Brown needs to be an additional option to identify with. I feel like the system is flawed and now I’m trying to bring about solutions.
I’m trying not to be guilty ha ha, I just want to be a morally upright person!
They have the right ti identify as Hispanic. So do you. Go off to school, be proud. This had no bearing,
The process should change, yes. But for now, just forget about it. Take some classes on the culture and enjoy school. DO NOT say anything to the school bc you didn’t break any rules.
@Soxx2021 I suggest you take some time to read up on the racial history of the Latin American colonial history and the continuing impact of Casta racism in those societies. There is a reason that many of the mexican self identify as white when given a short number of choices. I may be wrong but I think when I was a kid the US census did not have the option of choosing more than one racial choice.
Spend some time watching Mexican t.v. The presenters, business leaders, and politicians are all of European descent. In the soap operas the maids and lower class characters are mixed and indigenous. It is not considered good to be indigenous. To be indigenous carries connotations of being backwards, superstitious, rural, and low social class.
If you have the fewest economic options and fewest educational opportunities, and the fewest economic resources to protect yourself from criminal gangs, that is the population that will see the benefit of moving to the US.
Did you know that in some countries it is an acceptable practice to specify skin color when advertising a job? It may be couched in term of “attractive receptionist” but color is what they mean.
When we vacationed in the DR, the front desk staff and customer facing employees were all light skinned. The maids and groundskeepers were dark. Coincidence? No.
Please educate yourself before you go to college, especially if as you claim, you want to be an advocate of social change.
“Re: Hispanics of NA ancestry vs European, that is a good point that is not really addressed by the tick box. But technically, hispanics that are not of AA ancestry are supposed to tick “white”. Even if it is nonsensical!”
For the record, that statement isn’t really true. It is perfectly acceptable - and accurate if applicable! - to check the hispanic/latino box and then white and/or other boxes.
It’s TWO separate questions - ethnicity and race.
You can find plenty online explaining differences. So, yes, one could check of hispanic for ethnicity and then one or more boxes for race. There are plenty of folks who could accurately check off just white, or white and NA, or white and Asian, or just Asian or just black or ANY combination.
I have a friend who was born in Venezuela to Venezuelan (of European ancestry) and American parents. They fled Venezuela when she was about 10. Her only language was Spanish until she immigrated here. She’s white. She’s now middle-aged and is only now identifying as Hispanic. She always considered herself just white and was confused when other people referred to her as Hispanic. Now she’s embraced it. She realizes that in this country her background makes her Hispanic. I have no doubt that her children will check the Hispanic box on their college apps. As they should.
OP: You did nothing wrong, and I doubt it make any difference for your admission. You would have gotten in anyway, and as a bonus I am sure the college is happy to be able to count you in its minority statistics.
I suspect that if we looked back far enough most of us could check a lot of the boxes. I have also wondered why they care if we are 1/8 Spanish, but don’t seem to care at all if we (or our kids) are 1/8 Italian. I certainly couldn’t tell the difference between someone who is 1/8 Spanish versus someone who is 1/8 Italian. Perhaps they should allow us to enter percentages, in the unlikely even that we even know.
I have met people who got their jobs partly because they were URMs, and yet grew up going to private schools with private tutors and lived in a house with servants. One very good engineer that I knew could barely change a light bulb and couldn’t change an electric outlet because both were tasks that the servants always did.
I think that if your great-grandfather was a Dominican national, then you are 1/8 Hispanic. They aren’t going to do a genetic test. If you tell your school anything, I would suggest that you tell them that you are only 1/8 Hispanic, and are not sure whether or not you should have checked the box.
“I have met people who got their jobs partly because they were URMs, and yet grew up going to private schools with private tutors and lived in a house with servants.”
Not that socio-economic status is an indicator of race or ethnicity.
When a college makes a decision to accept an applicant, they aren’t doing it in a vacuum. Checking off a certain box does not give an applicant automatic preference. Other attributes are considered. It’s not a binary decision.
@Soxx2021,
I guess I should have clarified my position. This is why I think the URM status should be limited to those students who really need a second look-over in the application reviews.
If you’ve recently discovered your ethnicity, and truly hope to connect with your family, then you clicked the right box.
If however you have only used it to gain admission, (and when graduation rolls around, you’ve discovered you’re not “Hispanic” anymore,) then that’s wrong. You have to understand, it was a minimal part of your application. Perhaps it edged you a little, but it won’t change your current status. Guilt? That’s on you. You said your relative is DR. Take that as you see it.
Those of us who are, what I believe to be in the URM category, and I stress the word under-represented, didn’t go to great schools, but still earned decent grades.
We didn’t have the money to do test prep, so we may not have gotten top scores, but worked hard on recycled, highlighted, scribbled-over, used copies.
Lots of different scenarios, but the point is, true URM’s often have a hard time just getting a HS diploma because life (in the barrio, 'hood, reservation) gets in the way. Getting to go to a college, is icing on the cake! If we get a reread, because a counselor thinks we need to be given a second look, then an extra admissions review is the prerogative of the university. Hence the URM label.
I disagree with aunt bea on this. URMs bring more to the table than a rough life with a barrio, ‘hood, reservation background. We’re not talking about just socio-economics here. Colleges can get to that in other ways - income level, parents’ occupations, neighborhood, high school experience, first generation applicant, etc. This is also why programs like Questbridge exist. Being Latino or black isn’t defined by how “rough” you grew up. There isn’t a blackness, latino, native american scale whereby growing up in the barrio, 'hood, on the reservation makes you “more”.
However, that’s why I said before checking off a box isn’t that big of a deal and binary. College admissions folks are going to look at your application in context to ALL the other components you have going on to reach a decision. Increasingly, there has been more emphasis by colleges on SES and/or first gen.
Regardless, having a cross-section of students from diverse backgrounds adds value to a community regardless.
No, there is no scale, but it IS harder for URMs to get in.
As I’ve said before, my URM children didn’t want to go to schools where they didn’t academically qualify. They wouldn’t have ever qualified through Questbridge because we are not low-income.
For me, I needed the URM boost, and I have no idea if it helped, because my grades were considered high for many equal opportunity programs at my universities.
The OP got in, but she’s feeling guilty about marking the box.
It probably wasn’t just the “URM” that got her in; it’s her “package” as presented and mentioned above^.
She’s the only one who can make herself feel guilty.
"There shouldn’t even be a question about whether someone is Hispanic/Latino because it doesn’t make a person a “minority” in many cases. "
Take it up with the government, then. It’s essentially the same wording the Census/Dept of labor use, comes from them, for their purposes.
You cannot insist that the boxes are the basis for admission.
And it makes me so uneasy (to put it mildly,) when people insist to be Latino or Hispanic means poor, barrio, limited chances, etc.
This is an amazingly striving group. Scores are increasing, community involvement is serious, the best of these kids are not stereotypes.
OP is not the only person of Hispanic “affiliation” (let me call it that,) who applied to a top college without immersion or financial challenge. He or she DID NOT get in because of a check box.
The wealthy latino student obviously does not need a socio economic boost but they can provide a different perspective in class. In my daughter’s high school American history class she emphasized the devastation of european diseases and the cultural oppression. Her anglo classmates had no idea.
And you know, the wealthy latina student can bust some stereotypes that all latinas are “spicy” and come from rough neighborhoods.
I agree that the OP didn’t get in because they checked the box. He/she deserved to get in and doesn’t have to feel guilty about taking someone’s spot, but the OP admits that they got caught up in the admissions process, thought there might be some advantage there, and that IS why they checked the box. No other reason.
We’ve seen posts from people before about taking DNA tests or digging into their ancestry to justify checking a box that would represent them as an URM, so clearly there’s a perception out there that there is some advantage to it, and I do think someone’s willingness to do so says something about someone’s character, integrity, and ethics.
As I said earlier, when the time came for me to check the box (or not), I made a different decision than the OP despite being 50% Spanish because of the very emotions the OP is going through. Neither of us felt it was the right thing to do under our personal circumstances, but I thought far enough ahead to realize I might still feel the way the OP does now. Even if my logical mind knew it would make no difference, my gut would have nagged at me and made me question why I still checked it. What was my purpose in doing so when I have never identified as Hispanic or had any meaningful connection to the culture? I know it would have bothered me and made me feel I’d somehow compromised my integrity.
So while the OP doesn’t need to feel guilty about taking someone’s spot, I understand why he/she still feels guilty. I also think it can serve as a valuable lesson that will lead to thinking more about what he/she is willing to do to get ahead in this world. You can’t change the past, but you can take life’s lessons and learn from them so that you make different decisions in future situations when it really does matter.
The flaw is with the government, who created twisted and illogical categories, primarily to prevent intermarriage of whites and blacks in the 19th century. There are only 3 races. There are thousands of cultures. So the OP can identify as whatever he wants.
Thank you everyone for your replies, but I am going to tell the school. I’ve decided that integrity is much more valuable than any degree ever will be. I’m confessing to the school (I don’t know if I will tell them now or once I am enrolled) that I am only 1/8 “Hispanic” and that I didn’t feel content the way my background was expressed on my common app. I will also tell them that I regret pretending to be apart of a culture of people that isn’t represented as much at colleges. My reality is not a Hispanic one. The best they will do: remove me from being listed as an URM in their computer systems/on official documents, etc… The worst they will do: reject me altogether for fraud, and I start over. Maybe starting over wouldn’t be bad because it would give me a chance to be honest.
I appreciate everyone defending my claims for Hispanic ancestry, but I am not. I will never be. My great-grandfather was by cultural experiences, but I have not shared in those experiences. All I share with him is his anglo blood. If any future applicant reads this, please don’t identify with a minority group on the basis of a technicality. Do what is right and identify the way you and others would identify you. Thanks everyone.
'Scuse me, but don’t lay it on too thick. Skip the melodrama. Seriously. In life, even in tough circumstances, you start, then see how they respond. You may get as far as 1/8 and they may say, “Fine.”
