<p>I'm white, 7/8 Irish and 1/8 Spanish from Spain.</p>
<p>Normally, on forms, I check "White".</p>
<p>But I was just reading up on this subject on the internet and some say that, as long as you have Spanish blood, it is okay to check Hispanic on your college application.</p>
<p>I have gone to college before and always checked "White" but this time I am thinking of applying to NYU-- would it be okay if I put Hispanic?</p>
<p>Please read the sticky thread on the definition of Hispanic at the top of this forum. Note the difference between ethnicity and race, a person can be Hispanic and any race(s).</p>
<p>You can mark Hispanic/Spain on your CA if you consider yourself Hispanic; and you can check white for race. You will not qualify for NHRP and some other Hispanic programs that require that a greater proportion of your background be Hispanic. Also note that within Hispanics, schools consider other factors:</p>
<p>I read through those threads, but I’m still confused.</p>
<p>So, checking Hispanic if my Great Grandfather was from Spain is okay? </p>
<p>And, this could help my application and could not, depending on the situation but that’s as much as anyone knows?</p>
<p>Any clarification could help…</p>
<p>Finally, marking Hispanic won’t be looked at as desperate if I’m only a small percent Spanish will it? If there’s any chance that this is not appropriate to do, I don’t want to check it…</p>
<p>Take home message from the sticky is that for college admissions you are Hispanic if you identify as Hispanic. So yes, if you identify as Hispanic via your great grandfather from Spain, then you can mark Hispanic.</p>
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<p>Being Hispanic can help in college admissions, but the degree to which it helps depends on: the school, your academic and outside achievements, and the other types of factors cited in the thread I linked to. </p>
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<p>There is nowhere on college apps where they ask what percentage Hispanic you are. The main point, and one ONLY you can answer is: do you identify with your Hispanic culture? If you do, then you should have no problem checking the box, if you don’t, then you shouldn’t. There are many factors beyond the percentage of Hispanic background you have that affects how much, if at all, you identify as Hispanic, so this is a very personal issue. Be honest and you can’t go wrong.</p>
<p>Ethnic identity is complicated because it involves questions of descent and family lineage as well as self-identification. Some people grow up thinking of themselves as Hispanic/Latino (and are viewed that way socially) while others develop that identity over time. Some Hispanics/Latinos experience discrimination because of the color of their skin, but H/L is not a specific race. It involves, culture, language, heritage, etc. </p>
<p>If I can address your questions specifically and going by the information you provide, it appears the real question is – if someone does not self-identify as Hispanic/Latino, can that person then draw on a great-grandparent to claim that identity, presumably to improve your chances of admission? I suppose you could. But is that an accurate representation of yourself? I sense some ambivalence, and thus the question needs to go back to you, do you feel comfortable doing that?</p>
<p>I am proud of my Spanish blood, and I want to visit my relatives in Spain and learn Spanish. But I don’t think of my self as Hispanic, and no one perceives me that way. Although one person said by my facial structure that I look Spanish (from Spain).</p>
<p>Does that make me someone who self-identifies as Hispanic(my pride?)</p>
<p>I think that I identify as white rather than Hispanic but if technically the correct answer for my ethnicity is Hispanic I would check that.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification both of you guys. Any other feedback would be great other than that: thanks!</p>
<p>Again, race and ethnicity are two different, non-exclusive categories. Hispanics can be of any race(s) and there are many white Hispanics. For instance, in Argentina the heritage of most people goes back to either Spain or Italy. So they are generally white racially, but are ethnically Hispanic.</p>
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<p>How you think of yourself is significant, but your appearance is not. My kids are half white/Hispanic and half Asian/non-Hispanic, one looks ‘mixed’ the other looks 100% Asian. That doesn’t make one Hispanic while the other one isn’t.</p>
<p>It’s confusing because it is a ‘fuzzy’ category and many factors come into play, but race and appearance are not two of these factors.</p>
<p>Albert, I’m not sure there is such thing as Spanish blood but perhaps you meant that metaphorically. </p>
<p>I agree with entomom that appearance is not a factor in defining Hispanics. We come ain all colors and sizes. But appearance is important to the way people experience being Hispanic in society. Darker-skinned people are more likely to be discriminated against or even profiled. (That’s another issue.)</p>
<p>Getting back to Albert’s queries, I encourage you to go back and read the thread noted above. And if you decide to self-identify as Hispanic, then just have an answer if someone asks you, how are you Hispanic? If it’s your great-grandparent, then someone might follow up with, and how does that make you Hispanic? And be ready to answer.</p>
<p>Thanks for the elaboration Copterguy! I should have stated that though appearance can/does affect a person’s experience, it is not relevant to what you mark on college applications. Your advice about being ready to answer questions if the OP marks Hispanic is spot on. I don’t think adcoms have a problem with the fact that students who mark Hispanic have a wide range of experiences and different types of relationships to the culture, but they do want them to be honest and sincere about it.</p>
<p>Spanairds are not Hispanic. They are European white. Does the census mark them down as Hispanic because that is gravely incorrect. I have met Spanairds, they are to Hispanics as the British are Americans.</p>
<p>The only misinformation here is your own. I suggest that you start by learning the difference between ethnicity and race. For the census definition of Hispanic, you should read post #1 of the Hispanic definition sticky thread (as the OP was instructed to do in post #2 of this thread):</p>
<p>If you go to the CA you will see that 2 questions are asked. One about Hispanic ethnicity and one about race. Also note that Spain is an option listed when a students designates that they are Hispanic. That student can go on to indicate that they are white (and/or any other race) with no conflict with their Hispanic designation.</p>
<p>Of course all of this information was given previously in this thread and you have chosen to call it “gravely incorrect” based solely on your own personal definitions of ethnicity and race and not supported by any fact, so I’m a little confused at how to proceed with a rational discussion.</p>
<p>“If you go to the CA you will see that 2 questions are asked. One about Hispanic ethnicity and one about race. Also note that Spain is an option listed when a students designates that they are Hispanic. That student can go on to indicate that they are white (and/or any other race) with no conflict with their Hispanic designation.”</p>
<p>The census must be using the literal meaning of “Hispanic”, which translates to “Spanish-speaking”, rather the most commonly used meaning, which translates to people originating the South and Central Americas. That’s weird because doing so is obviously an equivocation fallacy, as the only logical qualifier for Spaniards in Hispanic AA is their native language, yet the census also lists Chicano, which is a racial group, as another sole qualifier. </p>
<p>This proves race does mean something, just not in the case of the Spanish.</p>
<p>Ethically and racially, the Spanairds do not count as “Hispanics”. Filipinos sometimes have Spanish ancestry, should they receive Hispanic AA too? No, because they are not Hispanics. </p>
<p>One of my parents is from Brazil, and it makes no sense that we don’t classify as Hispanic yet people originating from the European country of Spain do. </p>
<p>Perhaps some other nice poster will discuss entities that include students of Brazilian heritage as Hispanic, or perhaps you will do a Search on this forum with all of it’s ‘weird misinformation’ and find it for yourself. But as I said earlier, I’m not in the mood for a continuing emotional, irrational rant, so I won’t comment further or waste your time with information at is likely wrong anyway ;).</p>
<p>Just remember when you file your complaint, that you will need to file it with the private colleges which are the perpetrators of this ‘equivocation fallacy’ (the CA is just the messenger after all).</p>
<p>Frankly, your passive aggressive style bothers me more than anything else. </p>
<p>Putting the census classifications aside, do you agree or disagree with the notion that Spaniards are Hispanics? If you agree, on what logical premises do you assume the conclusion is true?</p>
<p>Looks like this started with Keilie saying there is misinformation on the board. Entomom spends a lot of time making information available so that students can have access to various definitions used by the US government and colleges. Entomom helps a lot of people who have all types of questions, so I could see why saying there is “misinformation” could be taken as an insult. </p>
<p>It appears that Keilie wants to argue ethnic labels and their signification, and so we have to be aware of the differences between Census definitions and the various definitions that circulate in society, some of them personal and subjective. I would just start by saying that “Hispanic” means in its most basic sense “of or pertaining to Spain.” Since the designation “Hispanic” has been used by the US government people from Spain have been included in that category. Now some people may not like that. Actually, some people don’t even want to be called Hispanic and prefer “Latinos” or national categories (e.g. Colombianos) – or not to be called anything. Maybe it’s not fair to include Europeans who grow up in Spain in a category with US Hispanics – but the ethnic label “Hispanic” is broad enough to include both. Again, the difference here is the definition used by governmental and educational institutions and what an individual person thinks is the right or more accurate definition.</p>
<p>Debates over ethnic labels are very complicated, and they can make for good discussions. Some students may want to have those types of debates as they prepare college applications, but I also think a lot of the questions that come up on the board are about the definitions used on applications. And in some cases students who have not thought of themselves as Hispanic/Latino may start to think about that part of their background when they are asked to identify themselves in relation to ethnicity and race.</p>
<p>Btw, the CA intentionally no longer uses the word “race.”
It asks: 1. Are you Hispanic/Latino?
Yes, Hispanic or Latino (including Spain) No If yes, please describe your background.
2. Regardless of your answer to the prior question, please indicate how you identify yourself. (Check one or more and describe your background.)
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<p>Here’s a nifty take from the Pew Research Center’s Hispanic research project:
*If you turn to the U.S. government for answers, you quickly discover that it has two different approaches to this definitional question. Both are products of a 1976 act of Congress and the administrative regulations that flow from it. </p>
<p>One approach defines a Hispanic or Latino as a member of an ethnic group that traces its roots to 20 Spanish-speaking nations from Latin America and Spain itself (but not Portugal or Portuguese-speaking Brazil). </p>
<p>The other approach is much simpler. Who’s Hispanic? Anyone who says they are. And nobody who says they aren’t. </p>
<p>The U.S. Census Bureau uses this second approach. *</p>