<p>do the admissions counselors automatically assume you're Asian?</p>
<p>i mean the people who don't check the box to signify their ethnicity would most likely do so because they think their ethnicity is hold to higher standards.</p>
<p>No, they don't "automatically" assume anything.</p>
<p>in the college profiles, many colleges list how many percent of their students listed their race as undisclosed. out of those students, how do you think their ethnicities are spread out?</p>
<p>They will probably look at your last name though, lol.
And if you joined a bunch of Asian-related clubs, play the piano/violin, excel in math/sciences, then...you know...-_- (<---And if you accidentally put in one of these smilies)</p>
<p>yeah thats what i thought. looking at your last name gives it away unless you don't have an Asian-sounding last name. but if you don't check the box, is it fair to assume that they will think you are definitely not an under represented minority?</p>
<p>They only thing that happens is that you are categorized as Other/Race/ethnicity unknown. No one assumes anything about you.</p>
<p>"They will probably look at your last name though, lol."</p>
<p>Oh boy, could I give you amazing examples of how this does not apply.....just one for now.....We have friends with the last name of Cohen...Do you want to guess ethnicity?........</p>
<p>1/2 african-american, 1/2 asian.....</p>
<p>One more....last name Chan......100% Jewish</p>
<p>are most people who don't check that box probably Asian?</p>
<p>I have a FAQ about this issue. </p>
<p>Self-reporting ethnicity is OPTIONAL on the Common Application, which is what many colleges (for example Harvard) use as their main or sole application form. Self-reporting ethnicity is also optional on the Universal Application, which various colleges, including Harvard, also accept. Every college in the United States is required by federal law to track voluntarily self-reported ethnic data on students. The colleges ask for this information, and have to report it to the federal government, but students don't have to report it. Harvard's U-CAN page</p>
<p>U-CAN:</a> Harvard University :: Page 1 </p>
<p>shows, based on that federally mandated data tracking, that 15 percent of its students are "race unknown," so evidently quite a few applicants to Harvard decline to self-report their ethnicity and yet are still admitted. MIT still has its own application form, and asks its own brand of the ethnicity question. Ethnicity questions are optional on the MIT application also, but the application notes that MIT has an "Affirmative Action Plan" plan, with the comment that MIT "guarantees equal opportunity in education to students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds." About 10 percent of MIT's enrolled class is counted as "race unknown." </p>
<p>U-CAN:</a> Massachusetts Institute of Technology :: Page 1 </p>
<p>Don't worry about it. Self-report or not as you wish. Recognize that students from a variety of ethnic groups--including whatever one you would claim for yourself--are admitted to each of your favorite colleges each year. On the other hand, admission to some colleges (e.g., Harvard) is just plain competitive, so lots of outstanding students of each ethnic group you can imagine are not admitted each year. Do your best on your application, apply to a safety, and relax.</p>
<p>College admissions offices refer to the U.S. Census bureau definitions for ethnic categories, because they required to report by federal regulations, and you can look the definitions up on the Web.</p>
<p>
<p>Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "Black, African Am., or Negro," or provide written entries such as African American, Afro American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian.
</p>
<p>Black</a> or African American persons, percent, 2000 </p>
<p>Is that clear?</p>
<p>i'm still not quite clear, if being an asian and leaving the box unchecked, would that harm or help the applicant?</p>
<p>neither .</p>
<p>^Basically checking it would hurt so don't.</p>